Auburn, Oregon impressing everyone

Gene Chizik and Chip Kelly are not into publicity stunts.

They don't do things as football coaches simply to draw attention to themselves and their star players. Their No. 1 goal, of course, is to win games.

But they are also smart enough to realize what is good for their teams can also be extremely good for their players and perfectly suited to the long-term prospects of building and maintaining national prominence for their programs. And in the case of Auburn and Oregon, chasing down a Heisman Trophy is good for both these short- and long-term objectives.

This is not something every coach understands. Often, coaches will actually minimize their star players' impact in order to maintain something akin to team unity.

Saturday's impressive victories by the Tigers and Ducks, which kept them atop the polls and BCS rankings while others are fading away, included messages to Heisman Trophy voters, too. The victories got them one step closer to reaching Glendale, Ariz., on Jan. 10, and the performances by Cam Newton and LaMichael James – because of the way the coaches put the stars in position to make incredible plays – moved them a step closer to midtown Manhattan on Dec. 11.

Chizik and Kelly know that the reason the Rebels and Ducks are where they are because they have been able to attract outstanding athletes and help coach them into superstars. The ultimate evidence of one feeding the other has been achieved by only a handful of players in the past 50 years:

1976 – Tony Dorsett, Pittsburgh
1993 – Charlie Ward, Florida State
1997 – Charles Woodson, Michigan
2004 – Matt Leinart, Southern California
2009 – Mark Ingram, Alabama

Those are not fly-by-night, one-and-done programs. It takes a special confluence of factors to achieve college football's trifecta: A perfect record, a national championship, and a Heisman Trophy in the same season. And Chizik and Kelly recognize that their programs are in position to pull it off.

And the one that does – if one does – will be something that they will forever be able to take into recruits homes: "We know how to win, and we know how to feature our superstars (like you)." Thing is, they showed they have the coaching acumen and sense of drama to pull it off perfectly to enhance their teams' chance of winning.

If you didn't see it, Cam Newton's 20-yard touchdown catch Saturday might look like just another highlight contrived for a Heisman Trophy candidate. It's fun to see quarterbacks catch touchdown passes, a la Leinart, Sam Bradford, etc., and Newton's reception was just one of Auburn's six touchdowns Saturday in the 51-31 win over Ole Miss.

But Newton's touchdown catch from Kodi Burns out of the wildcat formation (er, "War Eagle Formation?") was not frosting It was the cake. It came at an important moment in an important game. And it was sensational.

This was not one of those gimmicky flea-flicker throwback passes. It was a simple fade pattern into the corner of the end zone, where the 6-foot-6 Newton, in a full run, leaped high over Mississippi cornerback Jeremy McGee, hauled in the pass and instinctively, barely, got both feet in bounds.

It was a play that sent the Tigers on their way, and it also sent NFL scouts into a panic. This is the pure athlete they love, with football sense, serious leadership qualities, and oh yeah … he's supersized, too.

A few hours later, there was Kelly calling James' number time and again in putting it on USC on the big stage of the L.A. Coliseum. It might not be clear to spectators in other parts of the country, but well, the Coliseum is where big things happen out West. Even if USC is not the elite powerhouse it has been in recent years, there is still something very special about striding into showtime with the klieg lights and showing what you've got.

And Kelly made absolutely certain that James got every bit out of that opportunity, giving him the ball 36 times for 249 yards and three touchdowns – including six carries in a row on the Ducks' final drive that netted him and his team 77 yards and the touchdown that put them over half-a-hundred. James not only looked faster than all of USC players in the 53-32 victory, but he looked tougher, too.

You think that won't play in the living rooms of high-profile recruits? The only thing that could make it play better for the long-term health of Kelly's Oregon program would be a perfect record and national championship to go with the Heisman Trophy. And he's working on it. All of it.

OTHER KELLY IN TROUBLE: The other coaching Kelly is not having as good a time of it. Obviously the tragedy at Notre Dame practice this week transcends football, and I don't mean to lump it in with the games, other than to say that there is no person in sports I would less like to trade places with these days than Brian Kelly.

That job is extremely difficult as it is. Then add a lousy season, which included a last-second loss to Michigan State, a humiliating loss to Navy, and then that mind-numbingly sad circumstance of the death of one of the young men involved in his football program? Suffice to say it would be very difficult to keep going through that – and very definition, it is a coach's job at Notre Dame to coax the most he can out of his staff and players, literally, to be all they can be.

Just thinking about being in that position is truly chilling. And then for him to make the really bad football decision to call for a pass in the final minute of the Tulsa game that prevented his team from winning and gaining at least some measure of joy after what they have been through? Instead of having kicker David Ruffer kick a 36-yard field goal (he's NEVER missed one; 18 in a row in his career), he had freshman quarterback Tommy Reese throw a pass that was intercepted, leading directly to the 29-28 loss.

Seems to me that never has a team needed a bye more than Notre Dame needs this one.

CAM'S THE MAN: Heading into November, here's how one Heisman ballot shapes up:

In the lead: Newton is awesome, but it's going to be fun to see him against Alabama in a game with lots of marbles.

On the ballot: Oregon's James and Michigan QB Denard Robinson, who returned to his position as highlight hero, but the Wolverines continue to fade.

Still in the hunt: Boise State QB Kellen Moore, Stanford QB Andrew Luck who looked especially lucky that he wasn't playing for Washington on Saturday (Jake Locker, not so lucky).

The fascinating way of looking at Luck and Locker during Stanford's 41-0 rout of Washington was to think, "what if they switched teams, how would they do?" It's not a fair question, but one that spectators had to wonder, and NFL scouts, too. And even when completely ignoring the score, the stats and the supporting cast, just looking at the mechanics, the body language, and the passes, it was easy to answer in favor of the Stanford guy.

'BAMA BACKERS IN BOISE: It didn't seem likely that Boise State would go into November pinning its national title-game hopes riding on the Alabama Crimson Tide winning.

But that's certainly what it looks like it's going to come down to. Auburn is not going to lose to Chattanooga or Georgia, so the only way for the Blue Turf Broncos to get past the Tigers is going to be for Alabama to beat Auburn in the Iron Bowl on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Of course, then the problem is going to be the computers' unabashed love for the SEC, and the way that they'll be likely to leap the Tide over the Boise State. Will that be enough to balance the human polls' respect for Boise? Ah, we'll just have to stay tuned for that.

Speaking of which, will TCU leapfrog Boise State if the Horned Frogs beat equally unbeaten Utah this week?

And what about Utah? The Utes are still behind Alabama! If they beat TCU, how likely would it be for the Utes to move up significantly enough to even become a serious part of the conversation?

It's interesting to see how much the computers love Auburn (No. 1) and hate Alabama (No. 12) this past week. That'll change this week when the Tide beats LSU, which the computer fawns over at No. 6. Hmmmm … does that mean if Alabama loses to LSU, Boise State would receive a jolt of insulin?

This stuff is kinda sickening, isn't it?

THIS WEEK'S BIGGEST GAMES

Thursday, Nov. 4
Georgia Tech at Virginia Tech – Hokies have won six in a row, Bees trying to salvage disappointing season.

Saturday, Nov. 6
Chattanooga at Auburn
– Is this a misprint? The No. 1 team facing a lower-division opponent in November? Puhleeze.
Washington at Oregon – Suffice to say that Chip Kelly will not call off the dogs on the Huskies in this bitter rivalry.
Hawaii at Boise State – This is no walkover: Hawaii has won six in a row and has already beaten Nevada and Fresno.
TCU at Utah – College football's game of the week, with very possibly a BCS bowl in the offing.
Alabama at LSU – Tigers were granted an extra week to find their missing offense.
Arizona at Stanford – Winner of this could work into position for a BCS bowl invitation.
Nebraska at Iowa State – Hey, Cyclones beat Texas, so anything is possible, right? Could throw Big 12 North into a tizzy.
Baylor at Oklahoma State – Who would have thought that the Bears would be 4-1 in Big 12 action, leading the South?