In college football today, it’s all about the rout

It was not a day to play nice.

With two precious national title game spots up for bid, and so many voters to impress, the schools taking this season seriously got serious Saturday.

Top-ranked Alabama said “put up your dukes,” but Duke couldn’t. The Crimson Tide rolled into Durham and recorded a basketball score in the den of the defending NCAA hoops champions.

The 62 points Alabama scored against Duke, which contributed 13, were the most the team has scored in 19 years.

Nothing personal — it’s just badness.

Alabama scored at least a touchdown in each quarter. Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram, coming off a knee injury, rushed for 151 yards in his season debut and acted like a guy who might like to win a second.

No. 2 Ohio State jumped Ohio for 34 first-half points on its way to a 43-7 cruise. Quarterback Terrelle Pryor completed 16 consecutive passes at one point against the Bobcats, who passed mostly as road kill.

Best wishes, though, the rest of the season.

No. 4 Texas Christian scored touchdowns on its first five possessions en route to a 45-10 beat-down of Baylor, which entered the game 2-0 but left out the back door. And to think Baylor thought last June it was worthy of joining an expanded Pac-10.

Two weeks after it beat New Mexico, 72-0, and one week after it crushed Tennessee in Knoxville, 48-13, No. 5 Oregon returned to Eugene and turned barbarian on the Vikings of Portland State.

The final score was 69-0, with a final body count not immediately available. Oregon led 45-0 at the half, with tailback LaMichael James rushing for 227 in two quarters. The Ducks have scored 189 points in 180 minutes this season.

No. 8 Nebraska was supposed to be in for a rough time in Seattle, but it was Washington that got roughed up.

Nebraska left with a 56-21 mission statement and newfound national respect, all while ransacking Washington quarterback Jake Locker’s Heisman hopes.

What about sportsmanship?

That may be nice for golf, but it’s always been a complicated virtue in college football.

In a sport with no playoff, clobbering teams has always mattered. Officials try to address the problem a decade ago when they ordered Bowl Championship Series computer operators to remove “margin of victory” from their formulas. The guys who didn’t like it got out of the BCS — everyone else adjusted.

You can’t remove margin of victory, though, from the eyes of poll voters. Writers try to track all the games — except those on the West Coast — while coaches rank teams based on box scores.

By the time No.3 Boise State took the field Saturday evening at Wyoming, everyone knew the scores.

In its uphill quest to stay in the title conversation, Boise State can’t afford a hangnail, let alone a cliff-hanger.

The school is already paying a political price for Virginia Tech’s loss to James Madison, and Boise State had to win two games Saturday if you count its hip-attachment to Virginia Tech.

The Hokies actually flirted with losing a third straight game before rallying to defeat East Carolina, 49-27 — and Boise lived to play another day.

Boise State probably can’t afford to fall behind this year, and played with that urgency in Laramie by jumping out to a 37-0 lead before Wyoming located the end zone.

To the schedule critics, please note: Wyoming is in the Mountain West, not the Western Athletic Conference, and has been a historically tough place to play. Texas, last year, trailed at Wyoming just before the half before turning things around.

Shoot, last week in Austin, Texas led Wyoming only 20-7 at the half.

It didn’t go as well for some of other national title aspirants.

No. 7 Oklahoma improved to 3-0 with a 27-24 win over Air Force, but struggled for the second time in three week at home against schools outside the six power conferences. Three weeks ago, the Sooners had to hold their breath in the end to hold off Utah State.

No. 10 Florida defeated Tennessee in Knoxville, 31-17, but the Gators were not nearly as impressive as top-10 Oregon was a week earlier in the same stadium.

And No. 11 Wisconsin almost lost at home to Arizona State. The Badgers prevailed, 20-19, against a team projected to finish ninth this year in the Pac-10. Arizona State blundered several chances to win and, in the end, botched the extra point that could have tied the game at 20.

To the contenders who won big — congratulations.

To those who won small, win bigger next time or get out of the way.

chris.dufresne@latimes.com