Of all instances of a weekday game foreshadowing the college football weekend, none were greater than last Thursday's. Unranked Oregon State, led by freshman running back Jacquizz Rodgers, created a domino effect in the top 25 with a victory over the No. 1 USC Trojans. From there on out, the rest of the dominoes fell as the top 25 posted a 10-8 record, including losses from the No. 3, No. 4, and No. 9 teams. Georgia, last week's No. 3 team, was embarrassed in their own stadium by No. 8 Alabama and were relegated to the No. 11 spot while Alabama moved up to No. 2. Unranked Ole Miss used a blocked field goal to topple No. 4 Florida in Gainesville and in Ann Arbor; everyone reading this article knows what happened last week to the Badgers.
USC DROPS THE BALL
The question asked before last week's games was what team would eventually face USC in the National Championship. The question now being asked is what two teams will be playing for the National Championship. With USC's shock upset at the hands of the Beavers, no Pac-10 team is undefeated, thus making the conference huge underdogs to send a team to the National Championship. In the Big Ten, only Penn State will be able to make a case for a National Championship bid, but only if they can win on the road at both Wisconsin and Ohio State. It will be interesting to see who comes out of these two conferences to meet in the Rose Bowl, as this may be the first time since 2003 that neither a Pac-10 nor Big Ten team will be in the National Championship.
BIG 12 BEHEMOTH
Arguably the nation's best conference, the Big 12 boasts four teams in the top 10, including new No. 1, Oklahoma. There will be many teams competing for the Big 12 Championship, but posing the biggest threat to Oklahoma at the moment are the Missouri Tigers, led by quarterback and Heisman hopeful Chase Daniel. The senior, who finished fourth in Heisman voting last year, has looked unstoppable this year and will hope to carry the Tigers' momentum on through the season. The Texas Longhorns will have a chance to overthrow the Sooners in two weeks, but in order to get the upset they will need a big game from their junior quarterback, Colt McCoy. McCoy, who is the team's leading passer and rusher, has completed 80 percent of his passes this year and has his Longhorns firing on all cylinders. No. 7 Texas Tech, No. 16 Kansas and No. 21 Oklahoma State will also pose a small threat to the aforementioned teams, but it is unclear who will come out on top so early in the season.
SABAN AT IT AGAIN
As always, the SEC boasts some of the greatest talents in the college game. For now it appears Alabama is the best team in the conference, but with such an abundance of great teams, upsets are always in the making. The team from the SEC West that will look to present the greatest challenge to the Tide is LSU. Head coach Les Miles always has his Tigers prepared for big games, which gives them a great chance of running the SEC and making it back to the National Championship. Another team that poses a threat in the SEC are the Florida Gators. After losing on a late blocked field goal to Ole Miss, the Gators will look to rebound against LSU this week and there is no doubt that Heisman-winning junior quarterback Tim Tebow is ready to chomp. Other challengers for the SEC title are Vanderbilt, Auburn and Georgia. All three teams play each other during the year, and if one team can prove more dominant than the others, they will have a solid case for an SEC Championship bid. Like the Big 12, there is a great chance the winner of the SEC will find themselves playing for the National Championship due to a lack of challengers from other conferences.
MWC AIMING HIGH
From the Big East it appears South Florida will make the strongest case for their respective title, while the ACC is a bit unclear. No team is undefeated and it may be two-or-three-loss teams that make the ACC Championship game. In all of the hoopla that surrounds the major conferences, the outlaying question is who will be this year's Boise State? It may be the Broncos again, but a more realistic option will come from the Mountain West Conference, as both Utah and Brigham Young University are top 15 teams. While the MWC does not have a title game, Utah and BYU meet on the last day of the season and will likely be fighting for an at-large bid to a BCS Bowl.
The chances of Utah or BYU making their way to the national championship are slim, as it would take at least one loss, maybe more, by each of the teams currently ranked in the top six.
