Sunday 7: Hard to explain LSU jumping over USC in AP

Seven things we learned on Sunday:

• LSU is your new No. 1.

At least in the AP poll, and for the first time since 1959. Strange, because USC remains a comfortable No. 1 in the coaches poll.

Did not enough AP voters stay up to watch the Trojans lose a couple of offensive linemen and still pummel Washington for most of the game? Did they not see the Huskies held to fewer than 200 yards?

Or are they fed up with John David Booty (two interceptions) and 16 penalties? The Trojans are not a complete team, but to be jumped by LSU after it routed Tulane?

Give Washington some credit.

After a weekend of upsets, the AP voters pulled one more shocker.

• The Big Hurts really hurt. Top tens Florida, Texas, West Virginia, Oklahoma and Rutgers all went down in the most stunning weekend of upsets in years.

Bad news: Seventeen of the 18 teams in the nine previous BCS championship games started No. 6 or higher in the first BCS standings. None of the Faulty Five remained in the top six in either human poll Sunday.

Good news: LSU started 12th in the first BCS standings of 2003 and won the whole thing.

Better news: We're still a couple of weeks away from the debut of the 2007 BCS.

News for voters and computers to keep in mind: If any of the Faulty Five do recover to make a run, consider that West Virginia, Oklahoma (both on the road) and Florida all lost Saturday by eight or fewer. West Virginia was the only one of the five that lost to a ranked team.

Rutgers and Texas lost by double digits at home to unranked teams.

"We are not used to losing around here, and especially not like that," said Mack Brown, whose team's 41-21 loss to Kansas State was its worst at home in 10 years.

• Are good tickets still available?

Both of Saturday's monumental showdowns have been diminished. LSU-Florida becomes a do-or-die game for the Gators to stay in SEC and national championship contention. Florida essentially has to beat LSU twice to accomplish those things.

The Oklahoma-Texas game looks like one of the worst in years. Both teams come in having lost to unranked teams. The winner of this game usually produces the Big 12 champion and, in 2000 and 2005, the national champion.

The Sooners and 'Horns go into Saturday's Red River Shootout winless in the league (0-1) and at the bottom of the division for the first time in 10 years. It's the second consecutive year they go into the game each with a loss.

Neither Brown nor Bob Stoops has started 0-2 in the Big 12.

• There was collateral damage from the upsets. Some Heisman runs ended, some were severely injured.

Hawaii's Colt Brennan set a school record with five INTs against Idaho. (AP)

Steve Slaton was held to 54 yards and fumbled again (twice) in a big game for West Virginia. Teammate Patrick White was knocked out with a thigh bruise against South Florida.

Hawaii's Colt Brennan matched Idaho's Nathan Enderle in the Warriors' 48-20 victory Saturday. That's not a good thing. Each quarterback threw five interceptions. The difference is that Brennan set a school record for picks while trying to guide his team to a BCS bowl. There were only eight interceptions combined in the other five games involving WAC teams.

Oregon's Dennis Dixon was the only Pac-10 starter who hadn't thrown an interception. Then he threw two in the loss to Cal.

The whispers about Tim Tebow being used too much as a runner surfaced again against Auburn. The Gators wouldn't have come back in the second half without him, but you wonder when he is going to wear down.

"That's a fine line," coach Urban Meyer said. "That's the question."

• When Bobby Bowden takes off for that big golf cart in the sky, he can say he beat 'Bama.

Lost in the upsets was Saint Bobby's heart-warming defeat of Alabama. FSU's coach still has undying love for the Tide, meaning Saturday's 21-14 win was special and probably once in a lifetime for the 77-year-old coach.

"It just felt kind of like a big-time win ... " Bowden said. "My feeling is one elation. I haven't had this feeling in a long time ...

"It was really a pleasure playing against them. Ya'll don't realize when I was a kid what my love for that darn university was."

If offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher can keep squeezing blood out of a tomato (we're talking a sometimes sleep-inducing offense) like he did on Saturday, the 'Noles could (slowly) be on their way back.

• There was a big comeback for Pac-10 officials.

At least the perception of Pac-10 officials. In concert with the replay officials, the crew correctly ruled that Oregon receiver Cameron Calvin fumbled out of the end zone after being hit by Cal's Marcus Ezeff with 22 seconds left in Cal's win.

Now, had that been some outsider like Oklahoma ...

• Illinois is going to a bowl.

At least. Book it. This is a big deal because Ron Zook is doing great things in Champaign. The Illini were tough enough (and mentally tough enough) to knock off Penn State 27-20 and add to a weekend the upsets.

If The Zooker didn't coach this team, the Illini wouldn't be worth mentioning today. But he and his team used to be national punchlines. Now the Illini are 4-1 for the first time since 2001 and 2-0 in the Big Ten for the first time in 16 years. The program had lost 17 in a row to top 25 teams.

Zook has some cred, and the Illini have some swagger.

"Why not us?" said tackling linebacker machine J Leman.