Big 12, Big Ten, SEC teams benefit from USC loss

Big 12, Big Ten, SEC teams benefit from USC loss

For the first month of the college football season, the burning question wasn’t which two teams would play for the BCS national championship.

Instead, the question on everyone’s mind was: Which team would play USC?
The Trojans looked so dominant in early-season victories over Virginia and then-No. 5 Ohio State that it seemed to be a foregone conclusion they’d run through their Pac-10 schedule with little resistance and finish the season with an unblemished record.
But then a funny thing happened on the way to Miami. Oregon State stunned the Trojans for the second time in three seasons, handing the country’s top-ranked team a shocking 27-21 defeat on Thursday night.

espn.com
9/26/08