The mustache still plays, Dave Wannstedt, as did the Tiny Tim ju-ju the Panthers coach summoned with his crutches to spare Morgantown couches a Viking funeral and deny border rival West Virginia a shot at the national title. Lost in translation in Rich Rodriguez's mournful postgame news conference: an explanation for why the Mountaineers' Steve Slaton got only nine carries. We had assumed there would be some learned behavior, Coach Rod, after that same script led to your only other loss this season at South Florida.

UP: BCS CHAOS

Pittsburgh and Oklahoma played their pre-ordained roles, and the prophecy has been fulfilled. Sports talk radio heads rejoice with five full weeks to fulminate and pontificate on how Teams X, Y and Z got jobbed out of a spot of the BCS Championship Game. Someone send ESPN's Mark May and Lou Holtz an emergency supply of espresso and electrolyte-laden sports drink. It's going to be a long holiday season.

DOWN: ARKANSAS

A word of counsel to the Razorbacks "brain" trust. Your most favored alum coaching over in Chapel Hill seems to have figured out the art of negotiation while you watched your embattled coach Houston Nutt turn down a reported offer to remain in Fayetteville, instead bolting to Ole Miss. Has anyone in the SEC thought of inserting a no-compete clause to stop this incestuous coach swapping?

DOWN: JACKSONVILLE

The announced crowd of 53,212 for Saturday's Virginia Tech-Boston College rematch was a new low in the not-so-storied (three-year) career of the ACC title game. Tampa or Charlotte can only do better.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

National: "D-Mac" or "Run DMc" -- whichever moniker he prefers, we're on board with Arkansas' superb Darren McFadden.

ACC: An honorable mention to Virginia's Chris Long, but the Iceman Cometh in the form of Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan. It's a toss-up who'll miss Matty Ice more: the ACC and its dearth of quality QBs, or BC?

COACH OF THE YEAR

National: It's been a great run for The Zooker, whose recruits won the 2006 national title at Florida. He turned his current program, Illinois, around from 2-10 to 9-3 and a spot in the Rose Bowl.

ACC: It's your world, Joe Sweatshirt, and we're just renting space. (But it wouldn't hurt, Coach Groh, to mix in a win over the Hokies sometime soon.)

GAME OF THE YEAR

National: It took 44 years, and three overtimes, but Navy finally beat Notre Dame, 46-44. The only down side for the Middies is fabulous coach Paul Johnson has nothing left to prove at Annapolis.

ACC: All three of UNC's in-state games were memorable here, but BC's 14-10 Thursday night win at Blacksburg, Va., was the only conference game that made a dent on the national radar. Well, at least the final three minutes did.

CALL OF THE YEAR

National: Ron Cherry's "giving him the business" line in the Maryland-N.C. State put the ref in the YouTube pantheon with Andy "[Christmas] in a box" Samberg and Brian "Boom goes the dynamite" Collins.

ACC: Duck ... duck ... Virgil! The Exxon Valdez made the most unforgettable call of the season, or more accurately missed call of the season, when he ruled a third-quarter field goal by Chris Gould of Virginia no good against UNC on Sept. 15. To the best of anyone's recollection, it was the first time a field goal was overturned by replay.

CALLOUT OF THE YEAR

National: Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy for his "Come after me! I'm a man! I'm 40!" postgame tirade against a Daily Oklahoman columnist's rip job on his junior quarterback, Bobby Reid. Not as emotionally stirring as Coach Taylor's "Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose." mantra on "Friday Night Lights," but infinitely more hilarious.

ACC: Boston College athletic director Gene DeFilippo all but drove up on the curb to deliver a belated "Tom did a wonderful job here, but nobody was having fun here" parting shot at departed coach Tom O'Brien, last week. Forgive us if we wait for Matt Ryan and the rest of O'Brien's recruiting classes to age out before we jump on DeFilippo's "Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy" bandwagon for new coach Jeff Jagodzinski.

Honorable mention: Duke coach Ted Roof's words of caution -- "Make sure you get all the facts, and ask the right questions before you walk in the door." -- to whomever the Blue Devils lure into taking over the woeful program after Roof's firing last week, because the promise of season tickets to Duke men's basketball won't be enough to land Roof's replacement for what has devolved into college football's Mission Impossible.