Ohio State and V. Tech Upset: How It Could Have Been Worse for the Nation's Best

Well that certainly lived up to the hype.

Just one day before the first BCS standings of the year are released, a day filled with interesting matchups and conference battles delivered drama and excitement around the country. At the end of the day, two top eight teams had fallen. But how close were we to having five fall on Saturday?

Let’s count the ways:

A game-saving tackle by Colt McCoy, a missed field goal, and a flubbed final five yards that fell incomplete, ended the game, and then didn’t, and then did.

Colt McCoy, Heisman candidate extraordinaire, was struggling. He was having one of his worst days as a Longhorn, and he was dragged down with a cold. He had also just witnessed the possible ending of friend Sam Bradford’s college career. And then he threw an interception.

As the only Longhorn DB Brian Jackson had to beat to score, McCoy looked helpless, but a great effort from the senior having a tough day stopped him from scoring, and likely saved the Longhorn’s chances of a national title, and the game ended 16-13 in Texas’s favor.

Alabama took Florida to the brink of defeat, playing right alongside Tim Tebow, his Gator offense and even their defense, driving the field multiple times. But missed field goals doomed the Razorbacks, and a late field goal from the Gators assured victory, 23-20.

And USC, seemingly cruising through Notre Dame again, instead found the Irish driving with a chance to score a tying touchdown, taking advantage of Trojan penalties all the way to the USC five-yard line.

An incomplete pass from Jimmy Clausen seemed to end the Irish’s upset bid, but review put a second back on the clock, only for Clausen to throw an errant pass once again, sealing Trojan victory.

Ohio State and Virginia Tech weren’t so lucky, however, and will likely shake up what had been projected BCS standings until this point, but are now the real deal.

The Hokies were a projected No. 3, which certainly wont be the way it looks after they were unable to defeat ACC rival Georgia Tech, instead look for them to possibly fall all the way out of the top 12, with Georgia Tech making an appearance inside the first BCS top 12.

Boise State—who also survived an upset bid earlier this week—Texas and USC should all benefit from the Hokies sudden lack of energy from a team many considered the best one loss team in the nation.

Recently confirmed class of the Big East Cincinnati, Iowa and TCU should all benefit from the Buckeye’s shocking loss to Purdue.

The first official BCS standings are released tomorrow, but until then, here’s a quick stab at what the top 8 might look like without any polling info.

Projected BCS Standings

Rank	Team
1	Florida
2	Alabama
3	Texas
4	Boise State
5	USC
6	LSU
7	Cincinnati
8	Iowa