"The more you know, the less you understand."
--Tao Te Ching
College football is more than a game, more than a sport; it's a way of life. I'm assigning lessons from Tao Te Ching to teams and their fans throughout college football. Read along, for there is an abundance of knowledge to go around, grasshopper.
- Humility is the highest virtue -- Nebraska
You've been a bully in the Big 8/12 for many years. You were greedy and took unnecessary satisfaction in the vicious dismantling of your weaker opponents. Last Saturday, Missouri took a big piece out of your ass, and I was not alone in the pleasure I took from your demoralizing loss. They ran up the score on you. You know why? Because they could. Savor the taste of humility, Cornhuskers, for you will learn more from its bitter flavor than you will from the sweetest nectar of victory.
- One whose needs are simple can fulfill them easily -- South Florida
You have the eye of the tiger. You have a singular vision, and that vision is victory. You seem to be oblivious to everything else. The season is a marathon, not a sprint, and I think your attitude will serve you well.
- Victory in war is not glorious and not to be celebrated, but stems from devastation, and is to be mourned -- LSU
Get that stupid look off your face. You're the hunted now. There are no titles handed out at mid-season so deny yourselves the spoils of victory until real victory has been achieved.
- Self-absorption and self-importance are vain and self-destructive -- Texas
You stared so long in the mirror that you've lost yourself, Longhorns. Take a step back, a deep breath, and reexamine. Football is a team sport but success is found through the sacrifice of the individual. Are you willing to sacrifice for the guy next to you, Longhorn?
- When we lose the fundamentals, we supplant them with increasingly inferior values which we pretend are the true values -- Wisconsin
You built your team on force and fundamentals. You lost last week because Illinois controlled the line of scrimmage and you displayed the worst tackling I've seen all year. You are not going to win on talent alone, so get back to what got you where you are. Do it now.
- The more one acts in harmony with the universe (the Mother of the ten thousand things), the more one will achieve, with less effort -- California
You are a beauty to behold. You have been on the cusp of greatness many times but it wasn't until you found your identity, as you have this year, that you have found true success. You don't have to be USC to beat USC, and I think you understand that now.
- The qualities of flexibility and suppleness are superior to rigidity and strength -- Tennessee
Your team has molted like no other team I've watched this season. You've taken a beating, both on the field and off, and you have quietly become a different team in the process. When all trappings of success have been stripped away you are left with only yourself and the men in the locker room. You are no longer looking for others to be proud of your accomplishments, as you are proud of yourselves, and this is all that matters. What you did against Georgia was a thing of beauty, it should have been set to music. 7 game remain, favor us with 7 more songs, won't you?
- Glorification of wealth, power and beauty beget crime, envy and shame -- USC
How'd that taste? You're a joke. You may be the biggest show in town but I hope you realize now that they don't really love you. You aren't a hero to them; you're a trophy wife. Gain another pound and LA will dump you in a New York minute. Things just got real, what are you gonna do about it, Trojans?
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | LSU | -- |
| 2 | California |
 1 |
| 3 | Ohio State |
1 |
| 4 | South Florida |
1 |
| 5 | Cincinnati |
1 |
| 6 | Hawaii |
2 |
| 7 | Boston College |
3 |
| 8 | Missouri |
4 |
| 9 | South Carolina |
4 |
| 10 | Arizona State |
6 |
| 11 | Kansas |
14 |
| 12 | Oklahoma |
3 |
| 13 | Illinois |
13 |
| 14 | Southern Cal |
 12 |
| 15 | Wisconsin |
8 |
| 16 | West Virginia |
2 |
| 17 | Oregon | -- |
| 18 | Texas Tech |
6 |
| 19 | Kentucky |
10 |
| 20 | Virginia Tech |
6 |
| 21 | Florida State |
5 |
| 22 | Florida |
2 |
| 23 | Tennessee |
3 |
| 24 | Purdue |
13 |
| 25 | Michigan |
1 |