Wilson and Vandenberg posting serious stats

Four weeks in, and there are all sorts of things to note about college football 2011.

1. James Vandenberg is picking the wrong year to be really good.

OK, that's crazy talk. That's just a way to draw you in. The Iowa quarterback has statistics that are mighty, mighty good. But if the voting for the Big Ten's all-conference team were today, the quarterback would be Russell Wilson of Wisconsin.

Wilson has a rather insane quarterback rating of 218.38. He has completed 75.8 percent of his passes for 1,138 yards, with 11 touchdown throws and just one interception.

Vandenberg's QB rating is a sharp 158.12. He has 10 TD passes, one INT, and has thrown for 1,095 yards. He has 38 more pass attempts than Wilson.

But in fairness to Vandenberg, he has faced two teams (Iowa State, Pittsburgh) that are better than anyone Wisconsin has played. And I'm not so sure Louisiana Monroe isn't as good as anyone the Badgers have played. Oregon State and UNLV have both lost to FCS teams.

Nonetheless, Wilson has been fantastic. So has Vandenberg in the last two weeks. There's a considerable amount of season left to play for both. Like the entire Big Ten schedule.

By the way, Robert Griffin III of Baylor is ahead of Wilson in QB rating. Griffin has more TD passes (13) than incompletions (12). To see the entire passing efficiency list, click here.

2. Dan McCarney, Big Ten-slayer.

He was Saturday night, at least. McCarney's North Texas Mean Green, which had lost its first three games by an average of 30 points, built a 24-0 lead against Indiana and hung on for a 24-21 win in Denton.

The Indianapolis Star's Terry Hutchens, who has covered IU football for 14 years and seen some ugliness, ranked this loss the second-worst by the Hoosiers in that time.

I'm just curious why Indiana was playing at North Texas, a Sun Belt Conference team. The crowd, for lack of a better word, was 21,181.

That's the same Sun Belt that sent Louisiana Monroe to Iowa on Saturday. By the way, it wouldn't shock me if ULM won that league. Coach Todd Berry was disgusted with his team's effort Saturday, but playing at Florida State, TCU and Iowa in a four-game period was asking a lot.

Anyway, that's a nice win for McCarney. Real nice.

“This is what I dreamed about when I took the job,” McCarney said. “To do it against a team that I have such respect for, a coach I have such respect for [Indiana's Kevin Wilson] and a conference I have such respect for is really meaningful.”

3. Gophers. What a concept.

Tim Brewster really didn't do Minnesota Gophers football fans any favors. He obviously left new head coach Jerry Kill with a substandard roster of players for competing in the Big Ten. But ... a two-touchdown loss at home to an FCS team? A Big Ten team?

Here's what Chip Scoggins wrote for the Minneapolis Star Tribuneafter the Gophers' 37-24 loss to North Dakota State Saturday night:I wrote that the Gophers hit rock bottom after a six-point loss to North Dakota State back in 2007. I stand corrected.

They dug a little deeper Saturday night in a 37-24 loss to the same school at TCF Bank Stadium.

This is the bottom, right?

"I feel bad for our students, I feel bad for the state of Minnesota, I feel bad for our fans and I feel bad for our kids," Gophers coach Jerry Kill said.

It's never a good sign when you can't distinguish the Big Ten team from the Division I-AA (or whatever they call it now), but that was the case if you ignored the color of their uniforms.

In a very unfortunate development, Kill will be admitted into Mayo Clinic for testing after suffering a seizure on Sunday morning. He was hospitalized for five days after suffering a seizure during the Gophers' Sept. 10 game.

4. The Big 12 is really good.

Oklahoma. Oklahoma State. We're familiar. But Baylor has the quarterback who would win the pre-conference Player of the Year and probably Heisman Trophy in Griffin. Kansas State, believed to be a conference doormat, won at Miami (Fla.). And Iowa State is getting more votes in the AP Top 25 balloting than Ohio State, Penn State, Notre Dame or USC.

At the end of Oklahoma State's 30-29 win at Texas A&M, a few thousand Okie State fans had a chant for the remaining Aggies in the house:

"Big 12! Big 12! Big 12!"

SEC-bound A&M blew a 20-3 halftime lead. Which prompted Chris Dufresne of the Los Angeles Times to write this:

School President R. Bowen Loftin reiterated nothing could stop his school from bolting from the Big 12.

After watching Texas A&M implode, why would you stop them?

"They kind of wilted," ABC game analyst Matt Millen noted.

Message to A&M: don't let the score hit you on the way out. Take your 12th Man and go to your 13-team league.

5. Notre Dame is last in the nation in turnover margin.

This link proves it.

But the Irish did whomp Michigan State and win at Pittsburgh.

San Diego State, Vanderbilt and Wyoming are in the top 10 in turnover margin. That didn't help them Saturday.

6. Iowa to the TicketCity Bowl?

That's what ESPN.com's Big Ten blog said Sunday.

Which begs the question: What in the heck is the TicketCity Bowl?

Phil Steele, the college football magazine savant, has Iowa going 5-3 in the Big Ten. That would be 8-4 overall, and that wouldn't let Iowa plunge to the TicketCity Bowl. Steele has Iowa State winning just once in Big 12 play, against Kansas.

Here's how Steele sees all conference games shaking out:

7. Ruthlessness abounded Saturday.

Bryant Moniz threw seven touchdown passes for Hawaii in its 56-14 win over FCS Cal-Davis Saturday night in Honolulu. In the first half.

Hawaii passed 40 times in the half while building a 49-0 lead.

At least the Cal-Davis players got to see Hawaii.

Meanwhile, Air Force was merciless in its 63-24 win over FCS Tennessee State. The Falcons amassed 792 yards, 595 of them rushing.

In fairness to Air Force, it had to scramble for an opponent last winter when two Mountain West teams left the conference and only one was added. And, it wasn't like the Falcons passed, passed, passed. Like Hawaii.

8. College kids.