Parity is the word for Michigan (4-2), which lost its second game of its last three and its second consecutive road game, this time to Iowa (5-1), 30-27, for the second consecutive year. Why does Lloyd Carr fail to get his team ready for road games?

Disparity is the word for Oregon (4-2), which could upset Michigan but then could not handle the pressure of being on the cover of Sports Illustrated, losing its next two games to Washington State, 55-17, last week and to Utah, yes those Utah Utes, on Saturday, 17-14.

Quarterback controversy are the words for Texas (4-1), which escaped Kansas State, 24-20, after switching quarterbacks, and for Penn State (2-4), whose Michael Robinson's 379 passing yards in his first start could not prevent a 30-24 loss to Wisconsin as injured Zack Mills watched on the sideline.

Recovery is the word for Auburn (3-2), which had only 3 points in its first eight quarters this season and has gone on to win its next three, including Saturday's upset of Tennessee (4-1), 28-21, and for Washington State (5-1), which beat clueless Arizona, 30-7, but could be prevented from a possible national title by the opening loss at Notre Dame after squandering a 19-0 lead.

And Week 7 may bring more words to the college football lexicon when Saturday's idle teams return: Ohio State (5-0) plays Wisconsin, Florida State (5-0) plays Miami (5-0), Arkansas (4-0) meets Auburn, and Pittsburgh (3-1) plays Notre Dame.

Northern Illinois (5-0) continued its marvelous season, after having beaten three Bowl Championship Series conference teams, by returning to the league of its own, the Mid-American Conference, and escaped Ohio University, 30-23, in overtime.

Parity could be the word for the Big Ten's most surprising team, Minnesota, which reached 6-0 by overcoming Northwestern's 14-0 lead with a resounding 42-17 rout. As one college football maven wrote, "Minnesota CAN run!"

And disparity could be the word for fickle Florida, which lost to Mississippi, 20-17.

A Young Man Saves Texas

The Texas quarterback controversy developed when Kansas State rallied from a 17-3 halftime deficit for a 20-17 lead. As they recovered, the Wildcats had sacked the starter Chance Mock four times. Texas then replaced Mock with the red-shirt freshman Vince Young to avoid the rush.

Kansas State quarterback Ell Roberson lost a fumble on his 12-yard line with 9:55 to play, and Young, the top 2001 recruiting prospect in the nation, led the Longhorns back. So who will start next week against Oklahoma (5-0), Young, the hero now, or Mock, who was No. 2 nationally in passing efficiency before Kansas State sacked him.

Heartbreak for a 379-Yard Passer

The Penn State quarterback controversy centers on Michael Robinson, a Michael Vick in the plain vanilla and dark blue. Robinson completed 22 of 43 passes for 379 yards, with two touchdowns and no interceptions. He was 20 yards short of the school's single-game record, set by Mills against Iowa last year. But after Penn State lost three of four fumbles, and missed two field goals and one extra point, and allowed two big punt returns, all Robinson could say was: "We're heartbroken."

The best news of the day for Joe Paterno was that Bobby Bowden and Florida State were off and Bowden thus could not tie Paterno for the winningest record among Division I-A coaches. Next week Paterno plays at Purdue (4-1) while Bowden tangles with Miami, which will be without tailback Frank Gore, who will miss the rest of the season with a torn knee ligament suffered in the 22-20 defeat of West Virginia last Thursday night. Asked if his team was demoralized, Paterno said: "I'm worrying about my morale.”

Was That the Hayden From 'Coach'?

Did Iowa give Hayden Fry the game ball? The retired Iowa coach who inspired the television show "Coach" watched the Hawkeyes end Michigan's season from the stands.

"His presence is felt by everybody in the stadium," said Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz, who succeeded Fry in 1999 after his 20th season, said. "I couldn't have written a better script than what happened today."

Iowa rallied from a 20-6 deficit on two touchdown passes from Nathan Chandler, including the Ramon Ochoa 31-yard touchdown with 5:16 to play for a 30-20 lead. Michigan's John Navarre completed 26 of 49 passes for a school-record 389 yards. Iowa's Fred Russell ran for 110 yards on 26 carries.

"This was a very disappointing loss for us," Michigan Coach Lloyd Carr said. "I take full responsibility." Like road game preparation, Lloyd?

Ferentz was grateful: "Michigan has an excellent football team, and the way we bounced back after their first two scores showed how much heart we have on this team."

Auburn Takes Out the Trash

The road to recovery continued for Auburn, which finally unleashed its touted running game and defense against Tennessee. Carnell Williams ran for 185 yards on 36 carries.

"They were talking all week about them being so physical and us being so soft," Auburn linebacker Karlos Dansby said. "We just came up and hit them in the mouth."

"From here on out, I think we're going to show the country we are one of the best teams in the country," said Williams, who had his first 100-yard game of the season.

Tennessee's running game that netted 4 yards on 16 carries, 184 yards below the season average.

"Some of their backs were talking trash and stuff, saying they're the best backfield in the S.E.C," Williams said. "I felt like we as a team needed to come out and make a statement."

"This is probably the best job we've done on offense in the last two years," said Tommy Tuberville, whose team beat a top-10 team for the seventh consecutive time.