- The Lions have promoted Rudi Johnson to the starting lineup at tailback. Rookie Kevin Smith has been demoted to Detroit’s second-string tailback. Johnson had a solid performance against the 49ers last week and likely deserves the chance to get a start. Smith should still get some carries, however it won’t be the same amount as if he was starting.”I didn’t get an opportunity,” Smith said. “I know that I’d have done the same thing. I’m good. I’m good enough to make as many plays as anybody on this offense. Anybody. So we’ll see what happens.”

- Rookie offensive guard Mike Pollak has resumed practicing for the Colts following a knee injury. The Colts could use his help along the interior of the offensive line. Pollak was the team’s second-round pick in the 2008 draft.

- Chiefs head coach Herm Edwards acknowledged that rookie left tackle Branden Albert’s status for Week 5 is “in question.” Albert dislocated his left elbow in the game against the Broncos, so it’d be pretty surprising if he ended up being ready to play in the team’s next game against Carolina.

- First-round pick Derrick Harvey has overtaken Reggie Hayward as the Jaguars’ starting right defensive end. Harvey still has yet to record a sack this season, however his development could pick up as the season progresses.

- Rookie running back Rashard Mendenhall fractured his left shoulder in the Steelers win over the Ravens and will be placed on injured reserve, ending his season. Mendenhall went out in the third quarter after rushing for for 30 yards on 9 carries in his first career start.

- Here’s a good look at Alabama defensive tackle Terrence Cody.

AP Top 25
1. Oklahoma (43) 4-0 1,599
2. Alabama (21) 5-0 1,565
3. LSU 4-0 1,466
4. Missouri (1) 4-0 1,453
5. Texas 4-0 1,362
6. Penn State 5-0 1,252
7. Texas Tech 4-0 1,105
8. Brigham Young 4-0 1,098
9. USC 2-1 1,087
10. South Florida 5-0 1,035
11. Georgia 4-1 1,018
12. Florida 3-1 914
13. Auburn 4-1 860
14. Ohio State 4-1 829
15. Utah 5-0 713
16. Kansas 3-1 650
17. Boise State 3-0 549
18. Wisconsin 3-1 520
19. Vanderbilt 4-0 459
20. Virginia Tech 4-1 290
21. Oklahoma State 4-0 277
22. Fresno State 3-1 232
23. Oregon 4-1 199
24. Connecticut 5-0 126
25. Wake Forest 3-1 107

Outside of Georgia and South Florida, and LSU and Alabama switching spots, my Top Ten that I predicted yesterday was pretty close.

What a weekend for college football. We see the top ranked team go down on a Thursday night, then see the #3 (Georgia), #4 (Florida), and #9 (Wisconsin) teams all lose. My picks were 5-2 yesterday. I’m happy with it, but I think I can do better. As for what the new Top 1o in college football may look like, here’s what I think it could be:

#1 – Oklahoma

#2 – LSU

#3 – Alabama

#4 – Missouri

#5 – Texas

#6 – Penn State

Above is what I think the top six will look like. The next four teams in the rankings, in my opinion, will be hard to decide. You can choose from undefeated teams in Texas Tech and BYU, or you can go with one-loss teams in USC, Georgia, Florida, and Ohio State.

#7 – Texas Tech

#8 – BYU

#9 – Georgia

#10 – USC

I put Georgia ahead of USC because of the one team that each of them have lost to. Georgia lost to an outstanding Alabama team, whereas USC suffered a tremendous upset to an unranked team. Florida and Ohio State should be among the teams vying for the #11 and #12 spots.

- Giants rookie wide receiver Mario Manningham has been inactive the first three games, but he may get a shot to play in Week 5. The suspension of Plaxico Burress’ could lead to Manningham’s first game action.

- Rams rookie wide receiver Donnie Avery is guaranteeing a touchdown dance in Week 4.

- Rashard Mendenhall reportedly sent a text to Ray Rice recently, promising he’ll have a “big game” against Rice’s Ravens on Monday night.

- Raiders coach Lane Kiffin said Friday that Darren McFadden will be a game-time decision in Week 4 against the Chargers. McFadden has “limited” participation in practice Friday for the second straight day.

- Coach Mike Shanahan said Friday that rookie running back Ryan Torain remains on track to return to practice before the Broncos’ Week 8 bye.

My picks for today’s slate of games:

- Georgia over Alabama

- Wisconsin over Michigan

- Notre Dame over Purdue

- Auburn over Tennessee

- Oklahoma over TCU

- Penn State over Illinois

- Fresno State over UCLA

What a game last night. What is the deal with USC not being able to beat Oregon State in Corvallis? The Beavers had the perfect gameplan in place for the game last night: hand the ball to Jacquizz Rodgers and pressure the quarterback on defense. Rodgers, a true freshman running back, ran the ball 37 times for 186 yards and scored two touchdowns. This is really an outstanding performance, especially when you consider that he did it against what most people consider to be the top defense in the nation. This loss obviously hurts USC the most. They are now the first one-loss team among the contenders for the National Championship. This means that Oklahoma and Georgia should move up to #1 and #2 respectively. It also means that Florida, Missouri, LSU, Texas, Wisconsin and even Penn State all should move up as well. If you remember, the Nittany Lions dismantled this same Oregon State team in Week 2 45-14. While it isn’t time to panic for the Trojans, seeing as last year nearly every contender was upset at one point, this definitely isn’t the most comfortable situation for USC’s title hopes.

- USC linebacker Clay Matthews has gone from a walk-on to a legitimate NFL prospect.

- Rams rookie wide receiver Keenan Burton says his recovery from knee surgery is “coming along on schedule.” Burton hopes to return in Week 6 after St. Louis’ Week 5 bye. The former Kentucky wideout has had a slow start to his career with the Rams.

- Bills rookie wide receiver James Hardy is expected to get more playing time as a result of Roscoe Parrish’s thumb injury. Hardy had two catches for 12 yards and a touchdown in Week 2, but since then has yet to catch a pass.

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin did not give any indication that the team will use a committee attack to replace the injured Willie Parker. According to Tomlin, Rashard Mendenhall is practicing well and is ready to take over Willie Parker’s role in the offense.

- The Dolphins have waived rookie running back Jalen Parmele and signed rookie tight end Joey Haynos.

- The Redskins are making an increased effort to get the ball to rookie wide receiver Devin Thomas.

- Bears first-round pick Chris Williams will resume practicing on a limited basis this week.

- Leodis McKelvin will take over on punt returns after Roscoe Parrish’s injury.

- 49ers rookie wide receiver Josh Morgan revealed that his “undisclosed illness” that cost him 15 pounds was a staph infection.

- Rookie Matt Forte currently leads the NFL in carries with 73. If Forte keeps it up for 16 games, he’d finish with 390 carries.

- Falcons’ rookie left tackle Sam Baker did not practice on Wednesday.

- Edgerrin James could lose more carries to backup rookie Tim Hightower, the East Valley Tribune reports. There is talk that the Cardinals may feel Hightower has an explosiveness that James hasn’t shown in his time with the Cardinals.

- Falcons’ rookie offensive tackle Sam Baker was excused Monday after he missed the second half of Sunday’s game with dizziness and nausea. The team was not sure if the flu-like symptoms, as they called them, were connected to a concussion Baker suffered in Week 2.

- Cowboys rookie running back Felix Jones had his leg heavily wrapped Monday after sustaining a bruised calf in Week 3. The injury is not thought to be serious.

- Eddie Royal was held out of a few plays in Week 3 with what Mike Shanahan called “ankle tightness,” but appeared to be fine Monday.

- The Chargers have cut rookie cornerback DeJuan Tribble. The sixth-rounder had to go to make room for the newly signed defensive tackle Ian Scott.

- Panthers beat writer Scott Fowler believes rookie running back Jonathan Stewart will start getting the ball more.

I’ve updated my mock draft and player rankings, so feel free to check those out. Obviously, the rankings of the teams will change as the weeks progress, however I feel that that is a pretty accurate estimate of how the teams’ rankings currently stand.

- Panthers rookie linebacker Dan Connor tore his ACL in the team’s Week 3 loss. He will be placed on injured reserve, ending his season.

- Not since Iowa State’s Troy Davis logged 149 carries to start the 1996 season has a running back run more than Michigan State’s Javon Ringer has through the first four games of 2008. Ringer has 143 carries so far for an average of 35.8 per game.

- Jets rookie tight end Dustin Keller caught four passes for 41 yards and one touchdown in Week 3 against the Chargers.
Keller had two catches in each half and hauled in a 13-yard score late in the fourth quarter for his first career touchdown.

- First-round pick Gosder Cherilus has overtaken George Foster as the Lions’ starting right tackle. Detroit’s ground game fared much better with Cherilus in Sunday, averaging a season-high 5.8 yards per carry.

- Raiders coach Lane Kiffin said in his Monday press conference that he expects Darren McFadden’s turf toe “to be better” in Week 4.

- Jerome Simpson was a healthy scratch in the Bengals’ Week 3 game. Fellow rookie Andre Caldwell was active over him.

- The FOX crew covering Sunday’s Lions-49ers game mentioned that rookie wide receiver Josh Morgan lost 15 pounds while battling a flu virus over the past month. This is likely the reason why we haven’t seen Morgan be that active in the regular season after having a very productive preseason.

- Redskins beat reporter Jason La Canfora writes that coach Jim Zorn “tore (punter Durant Brooks) up on the sidelines like nothing I’ve seen around here for a long time” during the team’s Week 3 win. “The tongue-lashing seemed to go on forever,” La Canfora adds. Brooks hasn’t had the best start to his career so far.

- The Jets have waived rookie wide receiver Marcus Henry. The former Kansas Jayhawk should make it through waivers to the practice squad. Henry was the Jets’ sixth-round draft pick this past April.

Yesterday I had a great chance to scout a few key players for the 2009 and 2010 NFL Draft. Here are some of my notes from yesterday’s games:

Rusty Smith QB Florida Atlantic – Did not impress me at all. Against a poor Gophers secondary, Smith threw four interceptions before being benched in the fourth quarter. It was pretty apparent that he’s being forced to try and force the ball down the field to his receivers, however his lack of surrounding cast is really hurting him. If he had even one NFL caliber receiver on his team, then he could be a stud. Good thing is that he’s only a junior and still has a year and a half to prepare before entering the 2010 Draft.

Alphonso Smith CB Wake Forest – This is a guy that I almost want to guarantee has success in the NFL. His playmaking ability is some of the best that I’ve seen. His knack for creating turnovers and his outstanding return ability really makes me wonder why more people aren’t as high on this kid. At this point, with a mid-late first-rounder, I’d take his guy without a doubt.

Brandon Spikes LB Florida – I really hope that this guy enters the draft this season. The junior linebacker is by far one of the fastest linebackers that I’ve scouted in the past few years. His instincts, intensity, and competitiveness remind me a lot of Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis. If he comes out, I think he’d be a first-round pick.

Everette Brown DE Florida State – This is another guy that impressed me last night. His anticipation of the snap count, firing off the ball, and his ability to make plays behind the line of scrimmage were all things that I really liked seeing from him. Only a junior, he would likely be a first or second-round pick if he were to declare for the draft.

Sen’Derrick Marks DT Auburn – Marks’ stock is on fire right now. He’s soaring up boards and could end up being the first defensive tackle taken in the 2009 draft. This is assuming, which most people are already predicting, that he will forgo his senior season and enter the draft as a junior. He reminded me a bit of Glenn Dorsey last night with his enthusiasm, however I think that Marks is a bit smaller and maybe a bit more agile than Dorsey was. However, I don’t think that he’s able to plug the hole as well as Dorsey does. He could be a Top 10-15 pick if he were to come out this year.

- Jets head coach Eric Mangini says he isn’t concerned about Vernon Gholston’s slow transition from college end to NFL outside linebacker. “Guys develop differently,” Mangini said. “There’s no one set timeline that I’ve ever seen for a rookie. All he has to do is keep chipping away at it and keep making progress each week.” Gholston has yet to make a tackle.

- Bengals rookie linebacker Keith Rivers has logged 11 tackles in each of his first two games. Don’t be surprised if he’s a favorite for Defensive Rookie of the Year by the end of the season.

- Darren McFadden was “limited” in Raiders practice Friday, despite the team saying officially that he had a full workout.

- Coach Scott Linehan says that the Rams are “going to factor in a significant amount of plays” for rookie Donnie Avery in Week 3.

- Ravens beat writer Mike Preston guesses that Ray Rice will start in the Ravens’ three-man committee this week. Preston believes that Rice could be Baltimore’s feature back of the future, but also says that among the three (also Willis McGahee), only LeRon McClain is built to be a 25-30 carry runner.