A lesson in QB geography

It's common knowledge that California, Florida, Pennsylvania and Texas are hotbeds for high school football. But Rivals.com ran an interesting story last week breaking down where the starting quarterbacks from each of the 120 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams are from.

The results are interesting, though not earth-shattering.

California leads the way, producing 23 starting FBS quarterbacks. Of note are USC's Matt Barkley, Nevada's Colin Kaepernick, Notre Dame's Dayne Crist and Utah's Jordan Wynn.

Florida produced 18 starters, but boasts a better crop of players. It sent starters to Clemson, Florida, Georgia, Miami (FL), Michigan and West Virginia. There must be something in the water in the Sunshine State.

Texas has 19 quarterbacks starting in the FBS, and has by far the best group of quarterbacks. That's not entirely surprising, as high school football is as serious as a heart attack in the Lone Star State. Texas has produced SEC starters Alabama's Greg McElroy and Arkansas' Ryan Mallett.

It's also responsible for Arizona's Nick Foles, Baylor's Robert Griffin III, Florida State's Christian Ponder, Oregon's Darron Thomas, Stanford's Andrew Luck, Texas' Garrett Gilbert, Texas A&M's Jerrod Johnson, TCU's Andy Dalton and Texas Tech's Taylor Potts.

There are also several states that haven't produced a starting quarterback, including Alaska, Rhode Island, Delaware, Idaho, Maine, Montana, North and South Dakota, Vermont, New Hampshire and Wyoming, among others.

The biggest -- or most surprising -- state without a starter? New York, with more than 19 million residents, can't come up with one FBS quarterback. Same with Colorado, the 24th-biggest state.

And the smallest state that has given FBS a quarterback? Hawaii, which actually has two starters: Hawaii's Bryant Moniz and Ole Miss' Jeremiah Masoli. Two starters coming from a state of 1.3 million. Really makes New York look soft.

Lesson learned? If you need a quarterback, head to Texas, Florida and California, in that order.

Week 5 winners and losers

As another weekend of college football came to a close, conference championship races became a bit clearer. Oklahoma emerged victorious from the Red River Rivalry, while Florida State and Virginia Tech won ACC road games to take the lead in the Atlantic and Coastal divisions.

Some teams left Saturday feeling great; others left nauseated. Let's break down the weekend's winners and losers.

WINNERS:
Oregon -- The Ducks rose to the occasion and stomped No. 9 Stanford, 52-31 on Saturday night. After trailing 21-3 at the end of the first quarter, Oregon's duo of quarterback Darron Thomas and running back LaMichael James combined for seven touchdowns. Thomas was electrifying, finishing with 238 yards passing and 117 rushing, while James added 31 carries for 257 yards. With the win, Oregon rose to No. 3 in the rankings.

Alabama -- It doesn't seem to matter who Alabama plays each week. The result is always the same: a convincing win for the Crimson Tide. This week's victim was Florida, who some pegged as a National Championship contender coming into the season. Alabama blew the game wide open early, going on to win 31-6 after putting it in neutral after the third quarter. Some would argue it's Alabama's title to lose at this point.

LOSERS:

Michigan's defense -- The Wolverines beat Indiana 42-35, but nearly beat themselves on Saturday. Make no mistake about it: Indiana, despite a 3-1 record, is bad. Not average, but flat out bad. Yet, the Hoosiers were able to rack up 568 yards of offense -- 480 of which came in the air -- and took the game to the wire. If Michigan wants to get to the next level, it'll have to figure out how to stop good teams, much less bad ones.

Boise State -- A 59-0 road win over New Mexico State was pretty much all Boise State could have done, but that pesky strength of schedule came into play. Instead of staying put as the No. 3-ranked team in the country, the Broncos dropped to No. 4 as Oregon's win over No. 9 Stanford allowed the Ducks to leapfrog Boise State.

Georgia -- Nice knowing you, Mark Richt! The Georgia coach is almost definitely on his way out the door after leading the Bulldogs to a 1-4 record this year. The latest stumbling block? A botched handoff in field goal range while down two points late against Colorado. The Bulldogs simply needed to run out the clock and center the ball, but turned it over and it cost them the game.

USC/Penn State/Texas -- For the first time in I don't know how long, Southern Cal, Penn State and Texas are all unranked, and deservedly so. USC is 4-1 with wins over nobody of note, and a recent last-minute loss to Washington. Penn State fell to 3-2 with a lopsided loss to Iowa on Saturday, and Texas is 3-2 after losing its second game in a row -- most recently to Oklahoma.

Week 5 bets

Well, Week 4 was a bummer. Texas gave me seven days of nightmares. Losing 34-12 at UCLA? Jeez. I know the Longhorns are a bit down this year, and that they were looking ahead to the Red River Rivalry game, but c'mon. I would have been up 22 units. Instead, I was down 12 units. That's a 34 unit swing on a game Texas wins 90%+ of the time! Time to dust myself off and crawl out of the ditch.

Week 4 recap: 2-8-0, -13.6 units
Season recap: 30-30-0, -6.52 units

This week, the teams I'm using in all of my parlays are: Pittsburgh, South Florida, Ohio State and Nevada.

1. Navy +9.5 + Pittsburgh + South Florida + Ohio State + Nevada -- 3.5u to win 6.35u
2. Texas Tech -275 ML + those four -- 3.5u to win 3.54u
3. Alabama -330 ML + those four -- 2.5u to win 2.3u
   
4. Michigan -410 ML + those four -- 2.3u to win 1.92u
   
5. Tennessee +16.5 + those four -- 2.2u to win 3.99u
   
6. Maryland/Duke OVER 59.5 (-160) + those four -- 2.2u to win 3.07u
   
7. Georgia -200 ML + those four -- 2.2u to win 2.66u
   
8. Florida State -255 ML + those four -- 1.6u to win 1.68u
9. Parlay: Michigan ML + Texas Tech ML + Ohio State ML + Georgia ML + Florida State ML + Alabama ML + Nevada ML + Pittsburgh ML + South Florida ML + Navy +14.5 + Maryland/Duke OVER 59.5 + Tennessee +21.5 -- .22u to win 5.02u
   

Not a huge card this week, and I expect it to do pretty darn well.

Total risk: 20.22 units to win 30.52 units.

Stanford-Oregon showdown this weekend

There are three must-watch college football games this weekend, including the Red River Rivalry, between No. 21 Texas and No. 8 Oklahoma, and the SEC matchup where No. 7 Florida travels to No. 1 Alabama.

If you had to choose, though, you should tune in for No. 9 Stanford at No. 4 Oregon.

It may not be a true rivalry game, but it's a battle between two teams that have been absolutely slaughtering teams left and right this season. And it's likely going to be prequel to the Pac-10 Championship Game.

Over the past eight years, this game hasn't been much of a nailbiter. Oregon has won all four by an average of 27 points. But Stanford head coach Jim Harbaugh has the Cardinal playing out of their minds right now.

Both teams have outstanding, high-octane offenses and shutdown defenses.

Oregon ranks first in the country in points per game (57.8) and third in offensive yardage (555). Its rushing game is fourth-best in the country per game (316.8).

But Stanford isn't far behind. It ranks fourth in points per game (48) and 24th in offensive yards per game (457.5).

On defense, the Ducks may hold the edge. While Stanford is tied for second in the country for most sacks (14), Oregon leads the country in passes defended (27), is third in interceptions (nine) and has two defensive touchdowns this year, good for fourth in the nation.

Oregon has shut teams down this season, winning its first three games by a 189-13 margin. But two of those teams were powder soft: New Mexico and FCS Portland State. Meanwhile, Stanford has been putting up huge numbers and beating teams like UCLA, Wake Forest and Notre Dame.

Though Oregon enters the game as a seven-point favorite, it'd be surprising if this game didn't come down to the last possession. And there may be nobody else in college football that I'd rather have leading the two minute drill than Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck.

Heisman Trophy update

Just four weeks into the season, and the Heisman Trophy race is beginning to look like a three-horse race. But Las Vegas is misleading you. While Alabama running back Mark Ingram might be the best player on the best team in the country, his statistics aren't worthy of earning back-to-back Heisman Trophies.

At +375, Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson has gone from under the radar to one of the most likely candidates. And while his statistics are out of this world (731 passing yards, 688 rushing yards, 10 total touchdowns and one interception), he and the Wolverines should both come back down to reality before season's end.

Here are some guys who present an interesting value:

Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor (+500) -- Pryor deserves to win the Heisman as much as anyone, and at 5-to-1, that's great value. The Buckeyes are clearly a top five team with a chance of winning the National Championship. If they get there, it'll be because of Pryor. That in itself could be deserving of the Heisman.

Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck (+1000) -- Luck has done nothing to deserve not being among the top for consideration of the Heisman Trophy. Without him, Stanford is at best a seven- or eight-win team. With him, they're a national contender. Luck has been phenomenal, throwing for 11 touchdowns and only two interceptions despite playing a tough schedule. He's completing 63 percent of his passes and, if this keeps up, may lead them to a Rose Bowl.

Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett (+1000) -- Mallett leads all FBS quarterbacks with 1,838 passing yards, more than 500 yards ahead of the No. 2 passer in the country. He leads the country in passing touchdowns (13) and is completing 68 percent of his passes, too. Though Arkansas won't be in the National Championship race, it's hard not to consider Mallett a legitimate contender with those numbers.

Oklahoma quarterback Landry Jones (+1800) -- Oklahoma could end up in the National Championship. If it does, the Sooners don't have a ton of options for where the trophy could end up. Jones has played very well this season, filling in admirably for Sam Bradford, who was the No. 1 pick in the 2010 NFL Draft. Jones is throwing for more than 300 yards per game and has nine passing touchdowns through four games. He's an interesting darkhorse if Oklahoma runs the table.

Oregon running back LaMichael James (+2300) -- James' 158.3 yards rushing per game is good for second in the country, but his team is currently ranked No. 4. The Heisman committee loves to give the award to a star player on a highly ranked team, and James is Oregon's best bet by far.

Oklahoma running back DeMarco Murray (+6000) -- Murray is a workhorse on a Top 10 team. He leads the country in carries (105) and is fifth in rushing touchdowns (4). He's 20th in rushing yards, but if Oklahoma runs the table and wins the Big 12, much of that will be because of Murray.

Alabama running back Trent Richardson (+6000) -- If Alabama gets to the National Championship undefeated, the award could easily go to the best statistical guy on the Crimson Tide. Last year that was Ingram. But so far this year, Richardson has more carries and more yards (albeit in two more games) than Ingram. He's averaging 7.6 yards per carry, too.