We packed five Saturdays into September. That's a whole lot of blocking, tackling and, in some locales, whining for one month. The Dash reckons it's time to figure out what we learned in that time:

This was a surprisingly unsurprising September. As Dashette Vida Guerra (2) was asking over tailgate ribs, "What happened to all that unpredictability you were talking about before the season, Dashman? You said every top team had a weakness, and there would be a lot of upsets, and a lot of upheaval in the polls. Looks like you were wrong."

The Dash's response: There is a first time for everything, Vida. Now pipe down or Adriana Lima (3) makes a comeback.

Vida is correct. There has been almost no turbulence to date. Heading into the sixth full week of games, a mere 30 teams have been ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 -- the fewest number at this point since the poll expanded from 20 to 25 in 1989.

Only four ranked teams have lost to unranked opponents, compared with 16 victories by the unranked over the ranked through five weeks last year. The only two Top 25 losses that would register as truly surprising are NC State over Boston College on Sept. 23 and BYU over TCU in Fort Worth last Thursday.

So what has happened? Or, more accurately, not happened?

For starters, top teams have loaded up on home games against beatable opponents. That 12th game on the schedule has been a popular spot for easy marks from I-AA and the Sun Belt, Mid-American and Western Athletic conferences. Of the currently ranked teams, only USC (4) and Notre Dame (5) have played all their games against opponents from the Big Six conferences.

Second: the best teams have taken care of business. Maybe all those scare tactics coaches have used for decades to get their players to respect outmanned opponents are working.

Third: the underdogs haven't been able to finish off an upset. Winless Colorado gave up two fourth-quarter touchdowns at Georgia (6). Troy State scared the starch out of Florida State (7) but threw a crippling interception late. A dropped touchdown pass by South Carolina kept Auburn (8) out of overtime in Columbia.

If the law of averages does its job and remains in effect, all of this could and should change in October. And what if it doesn't change and a bunch of "big six" conferences (say the Pac-10, Big Ten, Big East and SEC) produce undefeated champions? Tell the BCS guardians to prepare for unparalleled bitching.