Oklahoma (6-0) separated from the rest of the college football family with its resounding 65-13 embarrassment of Texas (4-2). Maybe there should be a superconference only for the superpowers like Oklahoma, Miami (6-0) and Virginia Tech (6-0), and perhaps Southern Cal (5-1) and Georgia (5-1). But who would be left to play them? Texas separated from reality. (There was actually one college football maven at a major New York metropolitan daily newspaper who said he did not think Oklahoma had a chance to win.) Oklahoma scored 50 points for the fourth consecutive game. While separating, Texas should separate itself from the pretense that it is back and that Coach Mack Brown can win the big games. Texas turned over the ball six times and lost for the fourth consecutive year to Oklahoma. This was the worst setback in Texas since the Alamo. And some fans in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas jeered Texas as "Over-Rated." One medium called Okahoma's afternoon "The Red River Rout." How about the Red River Drowning?

Several teams separated from unbeaten seasons:

Ohio State (5-1) could not defend its national title, its 5-0 start or its 19-game winning streak at wet Wisconsin (6-1) and skidded, 17-10, under a team that earlier this year lost to John Robinson and Nevada-Las Vegas at home!

Minnesota (6-1) could not defend its 6-0 start or its 35-14 lead after three quarters and fell to Michigan (4-2), which has had problems winning on the road, 38-35. Michigan pulverized the Golphers by 31-7 in the fourth quarter alone.

Louisiana State (5-1) could not defend its 5-0 start and fell to flaccid Florida, 19-7.

Arkansas (4-1) could not defend its 4-0 start and fell to Auburn (3-2), which opened its season after two losses and netting three points in eight quarters, 10-3.

Nebraska (5-1) could not defend its 5-0 start accrued against apparently weak teams and collapsed at Missouri, 41-24.

Bobby Bowden did not prepare his 5-0 Florida State team to play in the Swamp, this one at home in Tallahassee, and Miami muddied its way to a 22-0 lead, before letting Florida State (5-1) come closer, for a 22-14 victory. Bowden remained one behind Joe Paterno for the most victories by a Division I-A coach.

Boston College permanently separated itself from the Big East (or was it a divorce?) by agreeing to join the Atlantic Coast Conference and complete the defection by Miami and Virginia Tech. The B.C. decision came before collegeBLITZ. com was to begin a campaign for B.C. to be the 12th team in the Big Ten. The Boston market would not be inviting to the Big Ten? Instead of the Brown Jug, how about Revere's Lamp?

In other separations:

Notre Dame (3-2) separated itself from mediocrity by spending its off week designing an offense to complement tailback Julius Jones. (Too bad he does not play for Tennessee, where he could be Orange Julius.) He then ran for 260 yards at Pittsburgh (3-2), which separated itself from national title contention in its 20-14 loss.

Tennessee (4-2) separated itself from Southeastern Conference contention by being humiliated by Georgia (5-1) , 41-14.

Kansas State (4-3) did likewise in the Big XII, losing to Oklahoma State, 34-31. Coach Bill Snyder has never had three losses in a regular season since he turned around the program.

And Penn State (2-5) separated itself from tradition (See Paul Smith's Report From the Midwest.) In nine of its 10 losses before Saturday, the losing difference was eight or fewer points. This time it was 14, by 28-14 at Purdue. Special teams broke down. Punts were outflying the coverage. Quarterback Michael Robinson had a woeful passing day. Freshman tailback Austin Scott was home with mono. And Joe Paterno, whose season is all but the Spirit of 76, was peeved after the 25th loss in his last 47 games (22-25 since Minnesota ended a 9-0 start in 1999).

"I'm not discouraged," Paterno said. "I'm angry. You can point a finger at everybody, but you ought to point a finger at the head man first. I've got to figure out a way to get us over the hump." As Neil Rudel of The Altoona Mirror wrote Sunday, "That hump is a mountain." To collegeBLITZ.com, that hump is Mount Nittany.

Things are so separated for the Nittany Lions that the Penn State Football Story was pre-empted in New York Sunday for a day-old Yankees' wrap-up show on which another septuagenarian was shown taking his lumps. When Yankee coach Don Zimmer, 72, went at Pedro Martinez, 31, he was flung to the ground by the Red Sox pitcher. Zimmer later said he was retaliating for a Martinez pitch that hit a batter an inning earlier. Did Zimmer have a Brain Delay?