No matter how set in stone the national title picture might seem, it’s never truly over until the last BCS standings are released. The past few years certainly taught us that much.

As the analysts continue to believe, the winner of the Alabama-Florida SEC Championship Game will meet Texas on Jan. 7, 2010 for the national title.

But be wary—the BCS is a wild ride, and we’re nowhere near the end.

And LSU is going to have something to say about it by the end, and they get their first crack on Saturday.

The Tigers will travel to Tuscaloosa to face the Crimson Tide and Mark Ingram, knowing that a victory over Alabama would likely give them another chance to face the Gators, this time at a neutral site for the SEC Championship Game.

Don’t look now, but a victory there could very well get the Tigers to the BCS Championship Game, but we’ll cross that bridge if we get there.

Other than that ranked matchup in the SEC, the weekend doesn’t bear much possibility of a BCS-influencing game, but, then again, you never know with the BCS.

Ohio State versus Penn State will be very good game, but neither team is realistically in the national title picture.

They can still compete for a BCS bowl bid if Iowa, on the edge of losing for weeks, finally falters.

At this point in the season, strong displays of skill from top teams might affect poll votes, but it won’t be much. Usually, the media and coaches don’t like changing team rankings without a significant reason.

Look out for changes on the computer, if we want any real change next week other than the precipitous drop from whichever team loses in that SEC battle.

Alabama—with a victory—would get a big boost from the victory over an opponent with the strength of LSU, and could jump Texas (facing a very computer-mediocre UCF) again, as the two teams battle for the No. 2 ranking in the BCS.

The TCU-Boise State computer showdown will continue to make noise this week if both win.

Boise goes up against Louisiana Tech, while the Horned Frogs face San Diego State. Neither will see much gained from victories, but as we all know, a loss would be devastating.

So while this weekend doesn’t seem like the most interesting one of the year, every once in a while, it’s these kinds of weekends that bring the most shocking changes to the college football landscape. All you have to do is stay tuned.

Enjoy.

USA Today Coaches’ Poll

Harris Interactive Poll

Parity.

It’s a great thing for a college football fan. On any given Saturday, anything can happen. Or at least that’s what ESPN wants you to think.

Evidentially, it looks like that’s exactly what we’ve got this season, as the top teams continue to fall, and fall hard to unranked and out of the blue opponents putting on clinics to beat the teams the “experts” had deemed worthy of top national rankings.

This weekend’s slate didn’t seem ripe for any major upsets, but after Thursday came and went with another one of the big upsets we’ve already come to expect from this season, the tone was set for even more on Saturday.

First to fall was #6 Cal. And fall they did to an Oregon team that had looked listless against Boise State just a few Thursdays ago. Then it was #5 Penn State, falling to Iowa as a top five team for the second straight season in a row, making it six top six teams to lose to unranked opponents on the season, approaching 2007-style numbers just four short weeks into the season and still three long weeks from the first BCS standings.

Speaking of, the projected BCS standings definitely took a hit this weekend, with four of the top eight teams losing, including Miami (FL) who lost to Virginia Tech in a match up of ranked teams. But this week will mark the first appearance of the Harris Poll, one-third of the final BCS calculation, bringing us ever closer to a fully-projectable BCS standings. Four of the six computers are also up and running, making us 89% of the way to a full BCS calculation.

Making major moves this week will be all the teams that lost, yes, but the losses leave four very open spots for new teams, which this week will likely include Virginia Tech, Oklahoma and (cue the BCS detractors) USC. Yes USC, who just two weekends ago lost to a very unranked Washington team would likely enter as #8 in a BCS standings if released this morning.

The Harris Poll was released for the first time this weekend, making BCS projecting a little easier, and results were surprising at best. The top three remained the same, as the Harris had little to say different than the Coaches’, but the shake up is strong after than. LSU, Virginia Tech and Boise State all move up, taking the vacated spots of Penn State, Ole Miss and Cal. Surprisingly, or not surprisingly depending on your rooting affiliation, one loss Oklahoma and USC both reenter the top 10 very soon after their respective losses.

The BCS is certainly shaping as we approach its October 18th release date, but in the intervening weeks, even more shake up is certainly a possibility.

-BCSKnowHow.com