There’s always a little one here and a little one there but upsets are generally sprinkled throughout the season and none too shocking. Usually. Rewind to the past weekend of NCAA college football and that above axiom is twisted, broken, and shot in to space. Let’s start with the first and perhaps most shocking upset.

Thursday in Corvallis.  The Oregon State Beavers shock the world and defeat the supposedly unbeatable USC Trojans 27-21. The Beavers stymied the Trojans offense for the majority of the game and sent the number 1 team down several spots in the AP rankings.

The upsets only continued on Saturday. After USC was bumped from number 1 status several teams were ready to usurp the spot. It wouldn’t be number 3 Georgia, however, as they fell to Alabama in a deceiving score of 41-30 (deceiving because Alabama far outplayed the Bulldogs). It also wouldn’t be number 4 Florida Gators whose late point after attempt was blocked, resulting in a 31-30 loss to Ole Miss. In addition to these two games, another top ten team Wisconsin Badgers fell to Michigan 27-25.

All in all, six ranked teams lost to unranked teams over the weekend. In addition to USC, Florida, and Wisconsin, upsets occurred for Wake Forest, East Carolina, and Clemson as well. This weekend it was Oklahoma who really made out like a bandit, winning easily over TCU 35-10 and now sitting atop the NCAA rankings totem pole.

They did it in 2006 and they want to do it again. Tonight the Oregon State Beavers have a chance to dethrone the monolith that is USC football. The number one ranked USC Trojans football team will play the Beavers in Corvallis, and the Beavers will have recent history working for them, as well as the mentality of everything to gain and nothing to lose.

Back in 2006, USC fell down to an early deficit as the Oregon State Beavers defensive and offensive units fired on all cylinders. Though USC rallied back and scored with only 7 seconds left in the game, the Beavers’ secondary swatted down the 2-point conversion that would’ve tied the game. Ultimately, Oregon State beat the then-number 3 Trojans 33-31. Neither side has forgotten it, and each side wants to make a statement tonight.

It will be a bigger game for the Beavers, however, as they sunk to an early 0-2 start losing to both Stanford and Penn State before winning last week against Hawaii. If they can defeat the powerful USC program, it will do wonders not only for their national ranking, but for their spirits and momentum for the rest of the season. The game starts at 9:00 ET.

It was 14-3 at halftime last Saturday in a match between two sets of Tigers: those from LSU and those from Auburn. Number 5 ranked LSU was down at halftime (literally and mentally) after their offense was consistently stymied by the number 20 Auburn defense. But head coach Les Miles wouldn’t let that fact deter his team from victory.

After a motivated speech in the locker room that stressed the fact “We’ve been here before,” a new LSU team emerged. Neither the score nor the oppressive shouts of an Auburn crowd could hold the physical nature of the LSU team or the cunning mind of the LSU coach.

After the Auburn special teams returned the second half kickoff to the LSU 19, it seemed like things were turning worse for LSU. Not so. The LSU lineman drove the Auburn squad back out of field goal range. The next drive, replacement quarterback Jarrett Lee drove down Auburn territory, completing the drive with a 39-yard touchdown pass.

Then the tricks began. The following kickoff, Miles ordered the onside kick which was successfully recovered. Though they were unable to progress the ball, the LSU defense intercepted a 4th and 1 pass on the next Auburn drive. From there, trick number two guided the LSU Tigers to another touchdown as running back Keiland Williams threw a 22-yard pass to Demetrius Byrd for a touchdown.

Between crafty plays and dominating LSU offensive and defensive lines, Miles and his Tigers went on to beat Auburn 26-21 and once more prove why they won the National Championship last year.

It was a wild one in Boulder Colorado Thursday night when no. 21 West Virginia came into town to play against the Colorado Buffaloes. West Virginia was just coming off of a loss to East Carolina and was fired up to regain some momentum but the Buffaloes had other plans. It took them four full quarters and a period of overtime, but the Buffaloes defeated the higher ranked team 17-14.

Overall, the Buffaloes offense looked fairly solid. In the first quarter, Colorado QB Cody Hawkins threw two touchdown passes at the end of their first two possessions, taking a 14 point lead. Running back Rodney Stewart tallied 166 yards for day, which was the highest yard total ever posted by a Colorado freshman.

The Mountaineers answered back quickly, however. Just after the second touchdown, West Virginia ran one in for a touchdown to close the lead to 7 at the half. In the third, West Virginian running back Pat White ran another one into the end zone and the 14-14 tie held until overtime.

Colorado won the toss and chose to defend first, stalling the Mountaineers at the 6 yard line where kicker Pat McAfee’s 23-yard field clanged off the uprights. Four offensive plays later, Colorado’s kicker Aric Goodman sent one through the posts to give Colorado it’s first 3-0 start since 2004.

What better way to show the nation that you are a Bowl Championship Series caliber team than by routing the UCLA Bruins football team 59-0? This past Saturday, Brigham Young University simply dismantled (destroyed, dominated, whatever you want to call it) the Bruins and added another victory to their now 13-game winning streak.

The statistics of the match are pretty much as you’d expect. BYU had a total offensive output of 521 yards, with BYU quarterback Max Hall throwing for 7 touchdown passes, tying the school record. As for the BYU defense, they held the Bruins to 9 total rushing yards and 230 yards in the air. The only time UCLA threatened was on a field goal that was ultimately blocked by BYU special teams. It should also be noted that for most of the 3rd quarter and all of the 4th, BYU was using their reserves.

Because of this simply outstanding performance, the Cougars have moved up to number 14 overall in the nation, a four-spot climb. Now, they want to prove that they are capable and deserving of making it to one of the four big bowl games. Standing in their way will be two more matches against BCS hopeful teams: TCU and number 20 Utah. If they can beat both of these quality teams, the Cougars should be preparing for a trip to a bowl game.

This weekend, two of the best college football teams will meet in a huge regular season matchup. Number 5 nationally ranked Ohio State Buckeyes will face off against number 1 USC Trojans in a game with huge playoff implications. It will go a long way for either team when they beat the other. Ohio State has the possibility to strip USC of their number 1 status and USC can further establish themselves as the best of the best if they beat the perennially fantastic Buckeyes.

However, even though one team will ultimately lose, neither side’s reputation can be tarnished. The problem for both teams is that they’ve set their standards so incredibly high that when they do falter, fans and critics consider it a failure rather than a great season.

Take USC, for example. The Trojans have played inspired football over the past six years; winning six PAC-10 titles, going to the BCS bowl game, and earning a number 5 ranking. But the last two years the Trojans have gone 11-2 and people consider this a disappointment. That they regularly dominate other football programs is not taken into consideration. Trojans are measured on Bowl Game success.

Ohio State, similarly, has high standards of its own. The Buckeyes are 75-16 since head coach Jim Tressel was hired back in 2001. Since that time, the Buckeyes have won Big Ten Championships, a BCS Championship in 2002, and have left other divisional teams in their dust. But when they lost two BCS Championship games in a row, a large shadow overcast all their success.

So this game is more than just number 5 against number 1 or just a regular season matchup. It will go along way to help keep (and probably further) the standards of these two great teams.

The game starts at 8:00 pm ET on ABC.

Knowshon Moreno (Georgia’s star running back) is making it clear that he was no fluke last year and that all would-be defenders need watch out any time he’s got the ball. This is a Bulldog that can outrun you, out-strength you, or if all else fails, he’ll just jump right over you like an Olympic hurdler.

This previous Saturday in a matchup between the Georgia Bulldogs and Central Michigan, Moreno led the way as the Bulldogs trounced the Chippewas 56-17.  Moreno himself tallied three of those touchdowns en route to his 168 yards-gained performance. Moreno once again displayed his talent to make a defender miss in a small area and to simply run over the defenders he can’t elude. But one play stood far above the rest.

In the third quarter, when the Bulldogs were already set on cruise control to an easy victory, Moreno took a hand off around his right end where he encountered Chippewa safety Vince Agnew. Agnew went for the knees. Mistake. Moreno simply hurdled in the incoming tackler and continued on his way for a 29-yard gain.

That was just one of the many eye-popping athletic feats Moreno accomplished Saturday. Many more happened and (to the vexation of future opposition) will continue to happen.

The last time Miami played the Florida Gators was back in 2002 when the Hurricanes trounced the Gators 41-16. Miami was then the defending National College Champions and Florida was but a run-of-the-mill college football team. Leave it to the then-coach of the Gators Ron Zook to make a Nostradamus-like prediction. “We’re going to look like them in four or five years.”

Nail on the head.

Not only are the Florida Gators now one of the premier teams in all of the NCAA but the Hurricanes have fallen to the ranks where the Gators used to be. Last year, the Hurricanes posted a lackluster 5-7 season record, as compared to the Gators’ current number 5 national ranking.

Now the two teams will meet for the first time since that last match in 2002 and don’t think for a moment that Florida players have forgotten, even though they weren’t present for the last match.  “It’s a whole different year,” Florida linebacker Brandon Hicks said. “Miami’s going to come in here and we’re going to show them what the Florida Gators look like.”

The game is this Saturday at 8:00 pm ET at the Gators’ home stadium.

The hush that fell over the Ohio State Buckeyes crowd was deafening last Saturday as their star running back went down with an apparent right foot injury. Buckeyes nation has had trouble sleeping wondering about the extent of the injury to Chris “Beanie” Wells’ preferred foot. These anxious thoughts have been recently quelled by Ohio State Head Coach Jim Tressel.

“…Worry about Gustav and Rita and those kinds of things. Beanie’s going to be fine,” remarked the head coach.

In the third quarter of their 43-0 victory over Youngstown state this past Saturday, Beanie fell backwards on his foot near the Youngstown goal line. While X-Rays have shown that nothing has been fractured or broken, Beanie did tell reporters that he heard something pop in his foot. “I may have rolled it or planted it wrong a play or two before…Then I think I felt a pop. But the X-Rays are OK, so we’ll see how it feels in a day or two.”

A day or two Buckeyes fans can wait… even a week or so. The Buckeyes have depth at running back and feel confident in their matchup against Ohio Bobcats this upcoming weekend. It’s the big matchup against number one ranked USC on September 13th that fans definitely want their “Beanie” back.