BCS already feeling the impact of first few weeks

Even though the first official BCS rankings do not arrive until Oct. 19, there are plenty of games played before that date that have an impact on the chase for BCS berths and the championship game.

With so much football left, you can't write off Ohio State yet. (Getty Images)

Those of you who are sick of seeing Ohio State in the title game no doubt jumped for joy when the Buckeyes got hammered by Southern California last week. You might not want to jump too high yet, though. With so much football left to be played, Ohio State could still get back into contention.

If you are an SEC fan, you were probably thumping your chest when you saw this week's polls with five teams in the top 10. The odds of one league putting five teams in the top 14 (the minimum ranking for BCS eligibility) at the end of the year are pretty small though. Those teams are eventually going to beat each other up to the point that at least one, and maybe two of them fade because eight of the possible 10 games between each other are on the regular-season schedule.

In fact, we start to learn about the SEC this week. LSU goes to Auburn in a key early conference game that could go a long way to determining the West Division participant in the SEC title game. Also, Florida travels to Knoxville to take on Tennessee. The Vols are not one of those highly ranked teams because of a loss in the season opener at UCLA, but a strong run in league play could put them back in the hunt.

Georgia was the preseason No. 1 in the polls, but the Bulldogs have slipped a bit each week in part because of strong performances by other teams, like USC and Oklahoma, and in part because of lackluster games against lackluster opponents. That will change this week as they head to the far west for the first time since 1960 and face Arizona State. This game lost some of its shine when the Sun Devils lost at home last week to UNLV, but it is still an important game for both teams.

The Pac-10 could really use the boost from an ASU win. The league really needs a face saver after going 3-7 last week, including 0-4 against teams from the Mountain West.

Looking way down the road, if USC makes the BCS title game, the Rose Bowl would hope to choose another Pac-10 team to replace the Trojans. In order for that to happen, one of the other teams has to have nine wins and finish in the top 14. Right now, the best candidate for that is Oregon, which survived in double OT at Purdue last weekend. The Ducks return home to face a dangerous foe in Boise State, and they will be playing their third-string quarterback because of the injury to Justin Roper last week.

After this week, conference play begins in earnest, and we'll have big impact games nearly every week.