Let's face it, other than Florida remaining at the top of the college football rankings, nothing has been predictable about the first half of this college football season.

Oklahoma and USC -- the two likely candidates to challenge the Gators' national reign -- have already stumbled.

Elected officials from Idaho will join those from Utah and Texas this winter in calling for congressional inquiries into the BCS format after Boise State finds itself on the outside looking in at the national championship game.

The two best teams in America -- Florida and Alabama -- likely will meet in Atlanta in the first week of December rather than in Pasadena in the first week of 2010.

But so it goes, and the trend of shocks and awe shucks does not escape our area.

Raise your hand if before the season you would have been willing to bet on any of the following:

* Tennessee quarterback Jonathan Crompton would be tied for the SEC lead in touchdown passes midway through the schedule.

* Georgia's defense that is dotted with enough four- and five-star guys to start their own skyline would be inching toward the historically bad level.

* At 4-1 entering today's game against Georgia Southern, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga would have a better record than the Volunteers or the Bulldogs regardless of what happens today when the Mocs go to Statesboro, Ga., and Georgia visits Nashville.

* New Vols coach Lane Kiffin would get into a war of words with Florida coach Urban Meyer. Well, strike that, we probably should have seen that one coming.

As for the others, Crompton's erratic play was clearly predictable, and nine of his 13 touchdown passes have come against the subpar defenses of Western Kentucky and Georgia.

As for Georgia's defensive woes, well, the fact that the Bulldogs surrendered almost as many Crompton touchdown passes as Western Kentucky speaks volumes. The clock has started on UGA defensive coordinator Willie Martinez, and the buzzer could ring Monday if offensively challenged Vanderbilt finds a way to beat up the Bulldogs today.

As for the Mocs' shocking success, I will say it's not the success that should be surprising as much as the timing.

I met Russ Huesman during the summer at an area golf course and quickly believed he would have more success than his immediate predecessors at UTC.

A few things left an impression from my first encounter with Huesman, who at the time had never been a head coach in a game and was still riding the honeymoon buzz that embraces new hires.

He was respectful to longtime Chattanooga Times sports editor Buck Johnson, who had finished his round as our group was about to get started.

Huesman was focused on every golf shot, and even more focused and ready for the shot to come. He played golf quickly, moving with a purpose -- and more importantly a plan -- to his next chance to swing the club. There was little delay and even less wasted effort. The man was efficient, be it behind the wheel of the golf cart or behind the green with a pitching wedge.

Finally, there was the confidence in his voice. It was as far from overconfidence as it was from filibustering.

He asked about area high school programs and area high school talent. He talked -- prophetically as it turned out -- about the magnitude of a quick start for this team, which has ridden the wave of frustration for the better part of two decades.

Every question, every statement was direct, and it carried something unseen in the UTC football program for years. It was belief, and if only the most diehard of Mocs fans shared it before the season, Huesman built these Mocs' strong start on it.

Come to think of it, maybe I should have seen the Mocs' surprises well before now, huh?