What a day of interesting developments in college football yesterday.  Three teams in the top 10 (if you include USC Thursday night) suffered losses.

Here's the interesting part: Their timing was good.  If you are going to lose in college football, lose in September because after you take your poll medicine and fall back to say number 10, there is plenty of time to enjoy the attrition and climb back up the charts. 

As dark as it may seem in Athens today, it's really no big deal, because chances are that Oklahoma, Florida, Alabama, LSU, Missouri, et. al will lose at least once this year.  When they do, they will slip and a team that lost in September will rise.  There is still a lot of football left. 

• Oklahoma 35 TCU 10-This one turned out exactly how it was supposed to.  OU will take over for USC at #1 this week.  Bob Stoops has a great team, but they play in a tough conference and running the table against the likes of Texas and Mizzou may be a bit on the tough side.
  
• Alabama 41 Georgia 30-This was far from a shocker and Alabama did cough up thirty points in the second half, but the Tide showed that they are now a force in the SEC West.  We'll see what Les Miles and LSU have to say about that.  Or Tommy Tuberville and Auburn.  Alabama should move up to as high as maybe five.  Any higher would be silly and make them a bit overrated.
• Ole Miss 31 Florida 30-Think Arkansas misses Houston Nutt now? While this isn't one of Urban Meyer's better teams, there is no excuse losing in the Swamp to Ole Miss.  Florida will sink like a rock, maybe out of the top ten.
• LSU 34 Mississippi State 24-LSU is not the big, bad dog it was a year ago.  This year, they seem to play well enough to beat you.  That was the case last night.  I think LSU probably should make it into the Top 5, but not higher than three.
  
• Texas 52 Arkansas 10-Here's your new #2, Texas.  They just didn't beat Arkansas, they put them on a spit and had a pig roast.  It is possible the Big 12 could have the top three teams in the country with OU, UT and Mizzou.
• Michigan 27 Wisconsin 25-What a huge win for Rich Rod and devastating loss for the Badgers.  Wisconsin gets an angry OSU team next week in Madison, but this loss really hurts because Michigan is totally unpredictable right now and that could affect whatever BCS hopes Wisconsin may have.
  
• Penn State 38 Illinois 24-Don't kid yourself, Illinois is a mid-tier Big 10 team at best.  Still, penn State is the class of the Big 10 right now and should move into the top 10, maybe as high as nine.
• South Florida 41 NC State 10-Okay, so the Bulls are undefeated, but still, MC State isn't very good.  They might slide into the top 10, but they won't be there in the end.  ESPN will begin to hype them just to tilt the BCS discussion.
• OSU 34 Minnesota 21-Ohio State did what it needed to do, score a convincing win over an easy opponent.  This still probably will not get them back to the top 10, although the USC loss helps them more than anybody.
• Navy 24 Wake Forest 17-My buddy Eric Ruden is probably thrilled to death about this one, him being a big poobah at Navy and all.  Games like this are the difference between playing on New Year's day and playing December 30th.  Wake really shot themselves in the foot with this loss.
• Auburn 14 Tennessee 12-There was nothing offensive about this game.  Seriously.  These two teams put three quarterbacks out on the field and none of them were any good.  For Tommy Tuberville, the win means he lives to fight another day; for Phillip Fulmer it means the clock ticks louder.  My advice to you coach Fulmer is if you have a ball play who can play quarterback, give him a try.  It can't hurt.
• Maryland 20 Clemson 17-Tommy Bowden pretty much has signed his death warrant at Clemson with this loss.  Maryland continues to improve.  My dream bowl matchup is Maryland vs. Kansas with a pie eating contest at half time.
• Houston 41 ECU 24-Houston ECU has a problem.  In the last two weeks, the Pirates have gone from maybe playing in a New Year's Day game to playing that game in Mobile.  Or Birmingham.  That's sad.
  
• Fresno State 36 UCLA 31-Wow.  Losing to a WAC opponent (albeit a good one) on your home turf.  What's that they say?  You have to hit rock bottom before you rise to the top?  Welcome to rock bottom, UCLA.  

Non Ranked but interesting:

• Pitt 34 Syracuse 24-For a while in the first half, you actually thought Syracuse had a chance at the upset.  But then you realized the Orange is so bad, even Dave Wannstedt couldn't screw this one up.  Greg Robinson, thanks for playing.
• Duke 31 Virginia 3-Don't look now, but David Cuttcliffe has Duke at 3-1.  Think Phillip Fulmer misses him at UT?  Virginia, on the other hand is a mess and Al Groh is about to become unemployed.
• Northwestern 22 Iowa 17-This might be the year of the egghead with Vandy ranked nationally and Duke and Northwestern turning things around.  The Cats came from way back to beat Iowa in Iowa City. This is the second straight week Iowa, who must be using a Lovie Smith playbook, had it in the bag before they blew it late.  Best news for beleaguered Iowa Head Coach Kurt Ferentz?  There will be NFL openings in Oakland and St. Louis soon.

Some of the more interesting games for next week:

• Pitt vs. South Florida (Thursday Night)-Pitt gets back in the rankings with a win here.
  
• Ohio State vs. Wisconsin-Either team can't afford to lose if they want to go BCS bowling
  
• Illinois vs. Michigan-Nothing at stake, just an interesting matchup and a good gage for Rich Rod.
• Auburn vs. Vandy-Auburn needs a decisive victory of some kind.  This could be it.
• Oregon State vs. Utah-Let's see if the Beavers have a hangover.
• Nebraska vs. Missouri-Nebraska is on the rise.  Could be a good game.