Congratulations to Oregon State.

The upset does open the door for UGA (and everyone else), but there’s a lot of football to be played yet. If anything, the game should serve as a sobering reminder that there’s an urgency to every game when an undefeated season is the ticket to the title. You can beat Ohio State one week and lose to Oregon State the next, and no team is safe. A lot was made over Georgia’s scant 14-7 win at South Carolina, but you take conference road wins however you can get them.

For Southern Cal, the letdown occurs again against a lesser conference opponent. Losses to a bad Stanford team last season and an ordinary UCLA squad in 2006 kept them out of the last two national championship games. Will another bad loss cost them the title shot nearly everyone assumed was theirs after the convincing win over Ohio State, or will they be able to run the table, remain in the picture, and work their way back in through the repechage?

The SoCal loss will surely ignite the “who’s #1” debate, and it will naturally be a hot topic when Gameday comes to Athens this weekend. For now, it doesn’t matter. This won’t be the last or next-to-last curveball that the young season throws us. Two weeks ago, the Southern Cal – Ohio State game was touted as a national championship-caliber game. Now where are we? Georgia just needs to make sure they take care of business and avoid nights like this one.