Nittany Lions holding steady at #2

The latest Stiles Points Top 16+1 (games through 10/18/08)...this is the third week of the Top 16+1...the Longhorns have a solid grip of #1 after their beatdown of Missouri...this coming Satuday is "Knockout Saturday" in which the loser of a few games will be knocked out of the national title picture... (note, the second number in parenthesis is the previous week's ranking)...

1. Texas (7-0) (1) - Texas showed right from the get-go that there was not going to be any letdown from the Oklahoma victory...Okie State comes calling this Saturday...
2. Penn State (8-0) (2) - JoePa has not won in Columbus since he beat Woody Hayes 19-0 in 1978...this may be his best shot...
3. Alabama (7-0) (3) - the Tide has been winning ugly of late...they cannot sleep on Tennessee this week...
4. Southern Cal (7-1) (4) - 69-0!...I think the Trojans are mad...
5. Oklahoma (6-1) (5) - a nice bounce back win against a very pesky Kansas team...

6. Florida (5-1) (7) - the Gators were idle...
7. Georgia (6-1) (8) - Vandy's days are done after Dawgs bite them...
8. Texas Tech (7-0) (9) - T2 had a tough battle at A&M but took care of business in the end...they have a tough one at Kansas this week...better be on Upset Alert...
9. Oklahoma State (7-0) (10) - no let down as they took care of business at Baylor...this is the Pokes chance - they march into Texas on Saturday...
10. LSU (5-1) (12) - they scummed out a tough win at South Carolina...the loser of this week's Georgia-LSU game is out of the picture...

11. Ohio State (7-1) (13) - Ohio State throttled a good Michigan State team...a win this week against Penn State and a few other upsets may land Ohio State back in the BCS title game...
12. Utah (8-0) (15) - the spotlight is now on Utah after BYU got dumped by TCU...
13. Pitt (5-1) (NR) - the Panthers impressed me by whooping on Navy this week...who knows what could have been if not for the Bowling Green loss in week 1...
14. TCU (7-1) (NR) - the Horned Frogs stunned BYU...their only loss was to Oklahoma...
15. Boise State (6-0) (NR) - Ian Johnson is still running the ball on the blue rug...
16. Kansas (6-2) (14) - I have a feeling the Fighting Manginos are going to upset Texas Tech...
+1 - Boston College (5-1) - remember when BC jumped to #2 in the nation last season...after losing Matt Ryan, the Eagles are quietly putting together another solid team...

Heisman Four Horsemen
1. Colt McCoy, qb, Texas - he is getting a firm grip on the Heisman...
2. Daryll Clark, qb, Penn State - an impressive performance this Saturday at Ohio State will make him a legitimate threat to McCoy...
3. Sam Bradford, qb, Oklahoma - he is still in the race...
4. Tim Tebow, qb, Florida - did not play this week...

Games of the Week
Stiles Points will be previewing the following three games this week:
Georgia @ LSU - the loser will be out of the title picture...
Oklahoma State @ Texas - both are undefeated...a loss will hurt their chances...
Penn State @ Ohio State - the loser is out of the BCS title game...

Other games to keep an eye on:
Michigan State @ Michigan - Sparty should be ashamed of their showing against Ohio State...they can redeem themselves by beating a hated rival...
Alabama @ Tennessee- Alabama is the better team, but they cannot sleep on this big rival game...the Volunteers have the talent to pull an upset...
Southern Cal @ Arizona - the Trojans smashed Wazzou on Saturday...Arizona is a sneaky team that could make things interesting...
Boston College @ North Carolina - BC has only 1 loss this year and the Tar Heels are coming off a heartbreaking OT loss at Virginia...take UNC...