College Football: Oregon Ducks Defend Their No. 1 BCS Ranking, Beat Huskies

So close your eyes and imagine your school has reached the top of the BCS standings. You're at home, playing in a game you should win big.

Not only is this a big game in terms of rankings, you are playing one of your biggest rivals.

With all that being said, imagine you don't score on your first five drives, you have more turnovers than your opponent, you eclipse 100 yards of penalties and even worse, you are more than halfway through the second quarter and yet to score a touchdown.

Okay, you can now open your eyes. With all that being said, you are hoping that your team is still in the game and able to just escape with a win.

Well, we don't have to imagine this scenario because it happened Saturday in the Oregon-Washington game but with one big difference. Instead of hoping to still be in the game, Oregon overcame all of this and won 53-16.

Oregon rolled in to this Saturday with the best offense in the nation but found themselves in neutral for most of the first half. If you're Washington, you look up halfway through the second quarter and you realize it is tied at 3-3; 35 minutes later you realize you just lost by 37.

For the first time in school history, Oregon found themselves at the top spot in the BCS and looked tentative early on. After a slow start, Oregon was able to rack up 50 points in the last 35 minutes of the game and looked like the Oregon offense we all expected to see early.

With the win, it gave Oregon their first 9-0 start in school history and should defend their top spot. Auburn, who currently occupies the No. 2 spot in the BCS, won today, 62-24, but did so over Chattanooga.

Not only did the game potentially preserve their ranking, it also allowed LaMichael James to keep pace with Cam Newton in the Heisman race. James put up 131 yards and added three scores in the game.

More impressive than the offensive explosion was the Oregon defense, which held Washington to 2-of-15 on third down and only yielded a touchdown off of a turnover that gave the Huskies a short field.

With nine games behind them, the Ducks still have to navigate themselves through a tough three-game stretch. They will head on the road to Cal, play Arizona at home and then finish the year on the road playing Oregon State in the Civil War.

With both Oregon and Auburn winning, the BCS rankings should look the same at the top Sunday night when they officially come out. Both teams won big and if you want to split hairs, Oregon's win was more impressive based on who they played.

So as November gets going, things should get more interesting by the day. Auburn will enter the meat of their SEC schedule, and Oregon will find themselves on the road twice and at home against a tough Arizona team.

Both teams know that winning out will put them in the national championship, but until those final rankings come out, both fan bases will be holding their collective breaths.