College football landscape still wide open after four weeks

In most other sports, four weeks would be enough time to gauge which teams are contenders.

That's not the case in college football this year -- or any year, for that matter. Just look as far back as . . . last season.

"Remember West Virginia last year," ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit said. "Everybody thought they were going to go to the national championship, Geno Smith was going to win the Heisman. Things can change in a hurry with this sport."

Herbstreit, making the rounds to promote the Allstate Ultimate Road Trip, said that no team in college football is "flawless." That includes No. 1 Alabama and No. 2 Oregon -- two teams that are early favorites to reach the BCS National Championship game.

"I think people are still working on trying to figure out how to become complete teams and become more consistent," Herbstreit said, adding that teams that already look consistent "are now going to start to play a lot better competition."

Translation: there's still a lot of football to be played between now and Jan. 6, 2014.

Herbstreit pointed to a few games as potential landscape-changers:

- No. 2 Oregon at No. 5 Stanford, Nov. 7: Stanford beat then-No. 2 Oregon in an overtime thriller last season. Could it happen again this year? "I think Stanford doesn't get enough credit on a national level," Herbstreit said. "I think they are a legitimate program."

- No. 8 Florida State at No. 3 Clemson, Oct. 19: The winner of this game will be in an "interesting position to try to get up there," Herbstreit said. Clemson already has a big win this season against then-No. 5 Georgia, but Seminoles freshman QB Jameis Winston has what Herbstreit called "tremendous accuracy" to go with his athleticism.

- No. 4 Ohio State at No. 18 Michigan, Nov. 30: Ohio State doesn't have many big-name opponents, and Michigan has not played particularly well so far. But the Wolverines are still undefeated, which could make for a situation that would make rival Buckeyes fans cringe. "Ohio State's best friend has to be Michigan," said Herbstreit, himself an Ohio State alumni. "Ohio State needs Michigan to keep winning as much as they can to potentially set up a heavyweight showdown late in the year during the end of the regular season."

At this stage, though, all signs point to an Alabama-Oregon title game in Pasadena, Calif -- a game that would present challenges for both teams.

For the Ducks, it'd be Alabama's defensive line. "It's one thing to have one guy that's dominant," Herbstreit said, "but if they're facing a big, physical defensive line, that's the area that I think Oregon is still trying to improve."

On the other hand, Oregon's up-tempo, speedy offense could doom Alabama in the same way that Johnny Manziel and Texas A&M nearly upended the Crimson Tide earlier this year.

"With Oregon's tempo," Herbstreit said, "with a quarterback that can run and throw, with a lot of speed around Marcus Mariota, that's the biggest concern that Alabama faces."

That is, provided neither team is this year's West Virginia.