While we all wait for the biggest game of the 2019 college football regular season – No. 1 LSU versus No. 2 Alabama on Saturday, November 9 – plenty of other stories are unfolding in the sport. Let’s tackle some of them here:

1 – Wisconsin’s defense might still be great, but it was never THAT great

The Wisconsin Badgers face Ohio State this upcoming weekend. They got caught looking ahead to that game against Illinois, losing a stunner to the Illini, 24-23. Wisconsin started reasonably well but was never able to completely subdue the Fighting Illini. The cutthroat version of Wisconsin, witnessed in home games against Michigan and Michigan State, plainly did not emerge in this road game in Champaign, Illinois.

This was just the second road game of the season for Wisconsin, and the Badgers clearly looked like a team which was removed from its natural element.

Wisconsin played with caution and timidity in some ways, and with a sense of panic in a fourth quarter which spiraled out of control. These things happen to 19- and 20-year-old athletes who aren’t experts in handling the emotional cauldron of big-time sports. This is why we have huge college football upsets such as Illinois over Wisconsin and South Carolina over Georgia.

Wisconsin’s defense is a lot better than it showed versus Illinois, but that same defense was oversold – partly because its high-profile matchups were at home, partly because Michigan and Michigan State didn’t bring much to the table.

2 – Baylor and Minnesota might not be elite teams, but they will get their chances to prove it

Baylor trailed Oklahoma State by 10 points on the road… and then ran away with the game in the fourth quarter. The Bears keep passing tests – not the biggest ones on their schedule, but the kinds of tests which separate a 9-3 team from a 6-6 team. Baylor might not be elite, but the Bears have played their way into the Big 12 title discussion. They will get a crack at Oklahoma and Texas later in the season, with both games being at home in Waco, Texas.

All the Bears – or any other unlikely challenger in a Power Five conference – can ask for is a chance to make a statement. The Bears have given themselves that chance.

Everything which applies to Baylor also applies to Minnesota. The Golden Gophers are also unbeaten. They play a backloaded November schedule against the big boys in the Big Ten, much as Baylor does in the Big 12. We don’t know if Minnesota belongs in the same league as Wisconsin or Penn State, but the Gophers will be able to play those teams for very high stakes. If they can win even one of the really big games on the upcoming schedule, they will receive a high-quality bowl bid.

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3 – Miami and Florida State remain mired in misery

If you are new to college football – more precisely, if you didn’t start following college football very avidly or closely until the 21st century – you missed the golden age of one of college football’s historically significant rivalries: Miami versus Florida State.

From the mid-1980s through the 2004 Orange Bowl game between the two teams, a period of nearly 20 years, Miami-FSU was college football’s most important annual game. The winner often played for the national title in that same season. The two teams dominated the NFL Draft and kept cranking out elite prospects for the pros. There was nothing quite like it.

Miami-FSU was a more extended version of the Florida State-Florida rivalry which also captured the nation’s attention for more than a decade. When the Atlantic Coast Conference brought Miami into the league in 2004 to join Florida State (a member since the early 1990s), everyone thought that Miami and Florida State would play for the ACC championship almost every year.

In 2005, the ACC went to a two-division format. Miami went to the Coastal Division, Florida State to the Atlantic. It was expected they would play for four out of every five ACC titles.

They haven’t played once in the ACC Championship Game.

This year, the two schools are both 3-4 after terrible losses in Week 8. Florida State lost to Wake Forest and Miami fell to Georgia Tech.

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\Wake Forest is a good team, but the loss was bad for Florida State because of how poorly head coach Willie Taggart managed the fourth quarter. He didn’t go for a first down on fourth down and inches. He called a timeout before his own kicker attempted a 50-yard field goal late in the game. When the kick missed, FSU lacked an extra timeout which could have saved the Seminoles 45 precious extra seconds.

As for Miami, the Hurricanes lost to the ACC’s worst team, Georgia Tech, at home. First-year coach Manny Diaz looks lost.

These programs are adrift. Even if they moderately improve in 2020, they will merely be seven- or eight-win programs, which is never the desired standard of success in Miami or at Florida State.

This is in many ways the biggest surprise in college football over the past 15 years… and it’s not about to get better.

4 – Oregon, King Of The North

The Oregon Ducks were down 28-14 to the Washington Huskies in the game which would determine how much drama the Pac-12 North Division race would contain in November.

Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert, in a prove-you-are-elite game, answered the call. He led Oregon to three straight touchdowns and a 35-31 victory which essentially ended the Pac-12 North race. Oregon will play in the Pac-12 Championship Game in December, probably against Utah or USC, maybe Arizona State. The Ducks have a great chance to play Wisconsin or Penn State in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day.

This is huge for coach Mario Cristobal, who is trying to restore the magic Mike Bellotti created and Chip Kelly sustained in Eugene.

5 – SMU and Memphis get their chance

The SMU-Memphis game coming up later this season might be the game which gives us the Group of Five champion. Boise State suffered a loss to BYU on Saturday night, playing without starting quarterback Hank Bachmeier. The door is open for SMU and Memphis – possibly Cincinnati or Appalachian State as well – to become the Group of Five leader at season’s end.

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