Harper's Index—a digest of odd, ironic statistics in Harper's Magazine—has long provided an informative, critical look at economics, politics, health and the world. Unfortunately, it has never been applied to stuff of real importance, like college football.

Now is as fine a time as any. After an unpredictable weekend of games—from Virginia Tech again falling out of the national-title race ahead of schedule to Alabama and Wisconsin embarrassing Florida and Nebraska, respectively—here is a Harper's-inspired look at some of the...