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The oddest thing about the first half of the 2016 college football season is that so little odd happened at the top. Alabama? Ohio State? Clemson? Michigan? All predicted to be at the top before the season, all still undefeated. Washington, everyone's favorite preseason dark horse, has more than fulfilled the faith of the smart guys. There remains room for surprise at the top of several division races. At this point, whoever wins the Pac-12 South, the SEC East or the ACC Coastal will be a surprise. And as dominant as the five programs mentioned above have been, history tells us that the Ohio State-Michigan loser won't be the only one to stumble. 1. Quarterbacks are arriving onto college campuses more prepared to play than ever, and the top 10 is full of teams with quarterbacks in their first or second year. Two of the top contenders in the Heisman race are sophomores Lamar Jackson of Louisville and Jake Browning of Washington. Redshirt freshman Alex Hornibrook provided a spark for Wisconsin, and Deondre Francois has played well for Florida State. The biggest surprise has been the ease with which freshman Jalen Hurts has taken over the Alabama offense. He has a presence, and Crimson Tide offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin has put Hurts in position to succeed.  2. Coaching candidates for the College Football Hall of Fame must have a career winning percentage of .600 over at least 10 years. It is the essence of the Bill Parcells axiom that you are what your record says you are. Purdue's decision Sunday to fire Darrell Hazell, who went 9-33 in three-plus seasons, made me think again about Joe Tiller, the only coach to win even a share of the Big Ten at Purdue since 1967. Tiller went 126-92-1 (.578) at Wyoming (1991-96) and at Purdue (1997-2008). He went 87-62 (.584), an average of 7-5, at Purdue. Anywhere else, meh. With the Boilermakers, very good. Tiller is a good example of why the Hall of Fame should grade candidates on a curve.  3. Ohio State won its 20th consecutive road game by beating Wisconsin on the same day that Kansas lost its 38th consecutive road game, an FBS record. But let's talk about the Buckeyes' remarkable streak. It includes only three games against nonleague opponents (bowl games not included): California in 2013, Virginia Tech in 2015 and Oklahoma this year. It might be harder to maintain a road winning streak against conference foes that know your tendencies. And Ohio State is more willing to go on the road than most SEC teams. But it would be even more impressive if the Buckeyes' streak included more nonleague road games. Home-and-home deals among the Power 5 are becoming an artifact.  4. If this isn't a first, it hasn't happened in a long time. Stanford senior field goal kicker Conrad Ukropina has made 7-of-10 field goal attempts this season, and all three misses have hit the left upright. The 45-yarder that Ukropina missed on the Cardinal's opening drive at Notre Dame on Saturday night bounced off the top of the upright, a good reminder that the ball must sail inside the uprights and the imaginary lines that extend upward from them. Ukropina made 18-of-20 field goal attempts last season, including the buzzer-beater that beat Notre Dame, 38-36. On an offense that scored only on a fumble recovery in the end zone against the Irish, Ukropina is critical to Stanford's hope of salvaging this season.  5. The ever-conspiratorial fans of the SEC believe it's no accident that the member which is closest geographically to the league office in Birmingham is the University of Alabama. And Crimson Tide fans are just as sure to bet that the league is biased against their team in the way it schedules games. The fans might have a greater case. As our Stats & Info data miners say, Texas A&M is the 28th opponent in Nick Saban's 10 seasons in Tuscaloosa to have an idle week before playing the Tide. No other SEC team in that period has had more than 16. 6. Two weeks from the College Football Playoff Selection Committee's first ratings, the last two unbeaten Group of 5 teams, the Boise State Broncos of the Mountain West and the Western Michigan Broncos of the MAC, look like dual Cinderellas. Both teams have two Power 5 victories, Washington State and Oregon State for the former; Northwestern and Illinois for the latter. Boise State (6-0), which never trailed this year until Colorado State went up 3-0 on Saturday, will have an edge in schedule strength once it plays BYU on Thursday night. WMU's (7-0) efficiency will appeal to the committee's veteran coaches. The eastern Broncos didn't commit their first turnover until Saturday. 7. Every year there is a coordinator or two demoted or fired at midseason. Two coaches this season are showing those setbacks are not permanent. Dino Babers, who had the offense taken from him at Texas A&M in 2001, is the first-year head coach at Syracuse, which knocked Virginia Tech out of the top 25, 31-17, Saturday. Manny Diaz, fired as defensive coordinator at Texas in mid-2013, has the same job this season under Mark Richt at Miami, which is giving up only 14 points per game. It took Babers eight years to become a coordinator again; Diaz went from Texas to Louisiana Tech. Both men understood that everyone in coaching gets knocked down. The trick is getting back up.
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