1. It seems unfathomable that a chain of players that began in 1966, when Joe Paterno took over as Penn State head coach, is about to be broken. The last six Nittany Lions who signed with JoePa play their final home game Saturday. Jay Paterno, Joe’s son and former quarterbacks coach, saluted the fifth-year seniors, among them the All-America defensive-line candidate Carl Nassib, in his column Wednesday in the Centre Daily Times. This class signed to play for a legend and found itself in a maelstrom of scandal and controversy. That the players stuck it out is worth a bigger salute than they receive here.

2. Here’s some perspective for you: No. 5 Iowa is 10-0 for the first time in school history. No. 3 Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer is 10-0 for the fifth time in his 14-season career. According to ESPN Stats & Information, that ties Meyer with Bobby Bowden and Bud Wilkinson for fourth all-time among FBS coaches with 10-0 starts. The coaches ahead of them: Tom Osborne (seven), Joe Paterno (eight) and Bear Bryant (nine). Meyer has gone 11-0 in each of his previous four tries. Bowden is the only coach among the other five who went 11-0 every season. Bryant went only 6-3 in that 11th game.

3. The old saw about the farther away you line up from the snap, the quicker you can get on the field might not be true anymore. Alabama sophomore left tackle Cam Robinson has started all 24 games of his collegiate career. BYU sophomore center Tejan Koroma has started 22 of 23 games. And at Oklahoma, in the five games since freshman Dru Samia began starting at right tackle, the Sooners have averaged 284.4 rushing yards per game, nearly double what they rushed for in the first five games. They’re growing up fast these days, aren’t they?