Orange rush: the early returns on a few BCS favorites have come in. Freshman running back Adrian Peterson has turned Oklahoma's weakness into a strength, giving the Sooners balance and a championship makeup, but co-defending champs LSU and USC look vulnerable

Nobody's perfect

We are barely a month into the season, and flaws have been exposed.
Southern California and LSU have issues, but so does every other
preseason contender. A look at the problems and potential solutions
for other teams on the road to the national title games.

 LINGERING
   ISSUE                                          HOW TO FIX IT

   MIAMI        [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]    Berlin sees the field better
   Brock                                    and has more time to read
  Berlin's                                defenses while working in the
   shaky                                  shotgun. Miami will use more
    play                                  shotgun sets for its quarter-
                                          back, but Berlin's history of
                                          forcing poor throws will cost
                                          the Canes in ACC road games.
 OHIO STATE     [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]    The Buckeyes must get speedy
     A                                       wide receivers Santonio
predictable                                 Holmes and Bam Childress
  offense                                 more involved, but that means
                                                giving more free-
                                          dom to first-year quarterback
                                             Justin Zwick--something
                                             conservative coach Jim
                                          Tressel must grant gradually.
  GEORGIA       [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]     If freshman tailback Danny
Inconsistent                               Ware is healthy, the Dawgs
  running                                  solve half of the problem.
    game                                   The other half: the perple-
                                          xingly poor start of histori-
                                           cally efficient quarterback
                                          David Greene, whose struggles
                                          have put more pressure on the
                                                  running game.
  FLORIDA       [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]        After three years of
   STATE                                      coddling the erratic
  The fall                                   quarterback, the staff
    and                                        finally is publicly
(potential)                                   cizing him and push-
  rise of                                    ing him to play to his
 Chris Rix                                      potential. If he
                                               responds, FSU won't
                                                   lose again.
   TEXAS        [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]     Texas will use more shotgun
   Vince                                  sets so Young doesn't have to
  Young's                                 turn his back to the defense.
 run-first,                               But, ultimately, the quarter-
pass-second                                back must trust his protec-
 mentality                                tion, stay in the pocket and
                                           use an underrated receiving
                                          unit instead of scrambling at
                                            the first sign of a break
                                                   down.--M.H.