Can't comment on the game - hell, I didn't even know the two teams were playing.  As a Penn State fan, though, I find it highly interesting that the Beavers were good enough to knock off SoCal at their digs, but get pummeled by the Lions at Beaver Stadium.  Must have been the travel.

What this meams is that the pre-season favorites for everything under the sun are no longer at the moment in the picture.  The Saturday night tilt between LSU and Georgia takes on a national championship-type game - even though they don't play in the same division in the SEC, these two teams are without a doubt front-runners for the SEC title game, and then the mythical national championship game.

It also opens the door to the Big 12, and to a lesser extent, the Big 10.  Both conferences have rising powers, or traditional powers that have already flexed their muscle.  Oklahoma looks very good, and Missouri is dangerous.  In the SEC you have Georgia, LSU, Florida and Alabama all making noise.  Now that's a powerful conference!  The Big 10 has Ohio State, whose loss to USC now looks that much worse, and a resurgent Penn State and a solid Wisconsin.  It's certainly feasible to believe that either Wisconsin or Penn State **could** emerge from the Big 10 unbeaten, although that's a long way off and purely conjecture.  What's not so difficult to imagine is the likes of at least 1 SEC team going undefeated - despite the schedule - nor is it difficult to think that a team like Oklahoma will go undefeated.  The ACC and Big East are both down this year in talent and power, and there's little likelihood that a national championship contender will emerge from that conference. 

Basically, that leaves a very interesting situation.  You have really 3 conferences to watch, and the battle in the SEC will leave the eventual conference champion probably with one loss.  Oklahoma has the horses to run the table, but even they've been subject to the Big 12 conference championship upset bug - so no one is yet safe in the Big 12.  The Big 10 does not have a conference championship, so if the winner of that conference goes undefeated, you can bet that the winner will be rooting for upsets in the conference championship games if they are the odd team out. 

It's feasible, too, that USC ekes its way back into the title contention.  The Pac-10 is weaker this year, without that much star power except for SoCal.  So if USC climbs back into the top 5, sits there with an undefeated Big 10 team, and watches two 1-loss teams from the SEC battle it out and Oklahoma battle it out with whomever, it's possible that SoCal is back in the championship if both B12 and SEC conference winners go to underdogs.  Hard to fathom that one game determines the fate of so many schools, isn't it? 

I will say this for the BCS (of which I am normally a detractor).  Although someone will likely be the odd-man out come late November/early December, it makes all college football games compelling, especially the conference championships.  One game can make or break a season, and that means that everyone - especially fans of those teams in the hunt - will be watching with intense interest.  That means revenue.  So yeah, I hate the BCS.  I really do.  But yet at the same time, I see why it suddenly makes every game so good to watch.  And whether or not your team makes it into the national championship game or not, you'll find yourself watching and waiting. 

Because in college football, you just never, ever know.

How are your brackets this morning? Woe to all of those folks who picked Kansas to not only obliterate Bradley, but also go on a deliver a spanking to Pittsburgh.

How about Iowa? How far did you have them going? Michigan State's early exit wasn't all that expected, either - nor was Oklahoma's.

So, the way its broken down thus far...

The Big Ten and Big East are leading in major conference losses right now with 3 each. The highest seeded loser was Iowa at #3, followed by Syracuse #5. The other losers in the Big East were Marquette (7) and Seton Hall (10), while the Big Ten also had Wisconsin (9) and Michigan State (6) dropping out.

The biggest winner overall was the ACC - a stellar 4-0 record in the first round. Their seedings included a 1, 10, 3 & 4. The SEC also performed well, tying the Big East with the most conference wins in the first round with 5.

The mid-majors performed well, but how will they hold up today & tomorrow as they go against tougher, better teams? More important, did any of the big upsets zap your bracket? Not mine - I did have Syracuse and Seton Hall getting into the sweet 16, but I'd dropped Iowa and Kanasa in the second round games. My other bracket is completely intact - an amazing feat given my history at picking teams in this tournament. So long as UConn doesn't get upset early, I'm in good position. Otherwise, I've just donated some money to someone else. So at least I'm still hopeful!

Of the teams that were upset, I don't think any of them were really major upsets in truth. I was shaky on both Iowa and Kansas - picking Big East teams to beat them to get into the Sweet 16. I rarely pick Cinderellas to go far - it usually plays out that the stronger seeded teams win in the end. The draw will get more interesting after today's game, and we'll be well on our way to finding the 2006 national champion.