In the spirit of Thursday's impending gluttony, here's our annual moment to give thanks around college football.

-- Thanks to the courage shown by two members of the college football community. Boston College senior LB Mark Herzlich, a legit NFL prospect that pondered leaving early for the NFL last spring, faced every athlete's greatest fear when he was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer in May. Following aggressive radiation and chemotherapy treatments, his body is now said to be virtually cancer-free and he may return to the field next season.

Sadly, Stefanie Spielman, wife of former Ohio State All-American and ESPN analyst Chris Spielman, died last Friday after battling breast cancer for 11 years. You might remember how Spielman, an underutilized, class act amid so much of the nonsense ESPN dishes out, took a hiatus from his NFL career back in 1998 when Stefanie was diagnosed to comfort her with her treatments.

Chris Spielman showed real perspective at the time. "People say, 'It's a great thing that you're doing.' I always say it would be a terrible thing if I didn't." Through the years, the Stefanie Spielman Fund for Breast Cancer Research at Ohio State has raised more than $6 million for research on the disease.

-- Thanks to living long enough to type the following words: the seventh-longest active winning streak in the nation belongs to Temple. The Owls' 9-game streak (the first time Temple has ever won nine straight games in a season) puts them into a showdown Friday at Ohio with the winner heading off to the MAC Championship Game.

Yes, this is the same Temple team that has averaged eight losses per year with only two winning seasons since the Owls' last bowl trip in 1979 and was a combined 13-57 the last six years coming into this season.

Can there be an easier choice than Al Golden as coach of the year, win or lose Friday in Athens? No matter how crooked the BCS is or how many calls officials miss, stories like the 2009 Temple Owls are why college football remains such a phenomenal sport.

-- Thanks to Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson hammering home that his option attack will work at the highest level of the sport. The seventh-ranked Yellow Jackets are second in the nation at 314 yards rushing per game, up 40 yards a game from last year. And at 36 points per game (up 11 ppg from last year), Tech is 11th nationally in scoring.

And yes, we know Nevada's "pistol" offense has rolled up a staggering 373 yards a game on the ground to top the nation. The problem, Wolf Pack fans, is that six of UN's opponents (UNLV, Utah State, Hawaii, San Jose State, Fresno State and New Mexico State) all happen to rank 102nd or worse nationally against the run. Tech has played only two such teams (Vanderbilt and Florida State).

-- Thanks to the brotherly love of No. 16 Oregon State's Rodgers' brothers, sophomore running back Jacquizz and junior receiver James. Both listed at just 5-7 and around 190 pounds, all these two have done is account for 30 of OSU's 43 touchdowns with the elusive Jacquizz ranking second in the Pac-10 with 1,313 yards rushing (8th nationally) while leading the Pac-10 with 20 TDs (third in the nation). James' 77 catches (9 TDs) lead the Pac-10.

"They're amazing athletes," USC coach Pete Carroll told the Los Angeles Times.

Like most athletic brothers, the Rodgers stuck together growing up in Houston -- and not always by choice.

"We couldn't play on different teams because we were real competitive and it might end up in a fight," James said.

Here's hoping the Rodgers duo brings that edge to the Dec. 3 Civil War showdown at No. 10 Oregon where a win would deliver the Beavers' first Rose Bowl since 1965.

-- Thanks to the intuitive mayhem of Virginia Tech senior LB Cody Grimm for leading the nation with seven forced fumbles, our favorite stat and the ultimate play for any defensive player.

-- Thanks to the never-say-die determination of New Mexico sophomore LB Carmen Messina, who leads the nation with 146 tackles, including 11 in Saturday's win over Colorado State the 1-10 Lobos first of the season. As a freshman last year, the 6-2, 210-pound Messina had just 35 tackles.

UPSET PICK: Break out the Hallelujah Chorus! Texas Tech's romp clinches our first winning season ever. At 8-4, let's get greedy with South Carolina salvaging some pride by ambushing 3-point favorite No. 15 Clemson Saturday in Columbia.

BATTERED IRISH EYES: Now that outgoing coach Charlie Weis has become Notre Dame's most pitiful figure since Gerry Faust, things somehow still have gotten worse in South Bend. Reports are now surfacing that a drunken, irate ND fan punched Jimmy Clausen early Sunday morning as the Fighting Irish QB and his girlfriend and family were leaving a local bar.

Ignoring that Clausen has been the only consistent, functional part of yet another underachieving ND team, the cost of this moron's actions might run deeper. We know Urban Meyer, Bob Stoops, etc. have no interest in ND. But this stuff may make realistic possibilities like Cincinnati's Brian Kelly reconsider what is becoming one of the worst jobs in the nation (Weis' successor will be ND's fifth coach since 1996).

(E-mail John Lindsay at lindsayj(at)shns.com. Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)

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