Sunday 7: What else did you think the first item would be?

Seven college football story lines to consider Sunday:

• If you stayed up until early Sunday morning, it was too late. Hawaii's Colt Brennan already was out of uniform in the second half. But in the first half a 63-6 victory over I-AA Northern Colorado, Brennan kicked off his Heisman campaign with six touchdown passes. He completed 19 passes in the first quarter and 34 in the half before mercifully being taken out.

"We didn't want to come out and be like Michigan," punt returner Michael Washington said.

Oh boy, here we go ...

• Nice tuneup game by Appalachian State, which enters the Power Poll this week at No. 10. Sure, Jerry Moore's squad needed to work the kinks out before playing Lenoir-Rhyne. But to beat Michigan and grab a $400,000 guarantee? Moore has to quit scheduling patsies in the non-conference.

There, obligatory cheap shot fired. Now on to the rest of the country ...

• You've got to like Charlie Weis' strategy of hiding his starting quarterback until game time. Georgia Tech sure was confused. Somehow the Yellow Jackets only won by 30 in the worst loss of the Weis era. "Secret's out," a Chicago Sun-Times headline blared, "this stinks." Stinks out loud. Weis didn't even pick the right starter. Demetrius Jones had more fumbles (two) than completions (one). He was replaced by Evan Sharpley, who was OK, hitting 10 of 13. Some kid named Clausen also played. Who is going to start this week against Penn State? "Good question," Weis said.

• Fourteen first-time I-A coaches made their debut and went 4-10. The highs: Randy Shannon winning his first game at Miami, 31-3 over Marshall; Boston College's Jeff Jagodzinski doing the same in a 38-28 over Wake Forest. The lows: North Texas' (Todd) Dodge Ball crashing and burning at Oklahoma 79-10; Gene Chizik losing his first game at Iowa State 23-14 to Kent State on Thursday.

• The Big 12 is now 0 for its last 17 against ranked teams in non-conference games. Saturday's victims: Baylor (loss to TCU), Oklahoma State (Georgia) and Kansas State (Auburn). While we argue about the relative strengths of the Pac-10, Big Ten, SEC, etc., consider that a Big 12 team hasn't beaten a ranked non-conference opponent since the 2005 season.

• Speaking of the Large Dozen, can I switch my pick in that conference? I liked Texas over Oklahoma because of Colt McCoy. Even if it was a 69-point victory over North Texas, OU was crisper than a new can of Pringle's. Freshman DeMarco Murray scored five times. Redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Bradford threw three touchdown passes. Meanwhile, Texas struggled with Arkansas State.

• Memo to USC: It's on in two weeks, Trojans. Nebraska ran 96 plays, gained 625 yards and whipped Nevada by 42. Marlon Lucky ran for 233 yards. It's looking more and more like 1995 in Lincoln.

There, that's seven. Got through it without mentioning Nick Saban. OK, if you must know, there are Southern Conference teams that roll over and play dead like they're supposed to. Fighting Sabans 52, Western Carolina 6.