Backed by a dominant defense and John Parker Wilson?s passing, No. 8 Alabama raced to a stunning 31-point lead by halftime against Georgia and held on to beat the No. 3 Bulldogs 41-30 Saturday night, establishing coach Nick Saban?s team as a national championship contender, as reported by the Associated Press.

Jevan Snead threw two touchdown passes, ran for another score and led the Rebels to a 31-30 upset of No. 4 Gators on Saturday, as reported by the Associated Press. It gave coach Houston Nutt a signature win in his fourth game at Ole Miss and put Florida in a hole with several tough SEC games remaining.

Oregon State took a 21-0 lead at halftime and they withstood three second half touchdown passes from Mark Sanchez to defeat USC by a final score of 27-21. Freshman Jacquizz Rodgers had 37 carries for 186 yards and two touchdowns for the Beavers. The vaunted USC defense blew tackle after tackle, allowing Oregon State to keep drives alive. Joe McKnight, who came into the game averaging 9.2 yards per carry, was held to just 11 yards on seven carries.

Chris ?Beanie? Wells is likely to return for No. 14 Ohio State against Minnesota on Saturday, according to an Associated Press report. ?It adds to our arsenal,? Coach Jim Tressel said Tuesday, shortly after announcing that Wells was probable for Saturday?s game.

The SEC has taken over the top 10 in The Associated Press college football poll as no league has ever done before. On Sunday, the SEC became the first conference to place five team's among the first 10 in the AP Top 25, as reported by the Associated Press. USC is now a no-doubt-about-it No. 1 and Oklahoma moved into the No. 2 spot for the first time this season, slipping ahead of Georgia.

Mark Sanchez threw four touchdown passes; Joe McKnight rushed for 105 yards on 12 carries; and top-ranked USC crushed No. 5 Ohio State 35-3 Saturday night in a match-up of two of college football?s most successful programs, according to an Associated Press report.

Notre Dame Coach Charlie Weis spent the second half of Saturday?s game against Michigan on crutches after he suffered an injured knee in a collision on the sideline, as reported by Yahoo.com. Weis suffered a torn ACL and MCL when an unidentified player wiped him out in the first half.

Ohio State running back Chris ?Beanie? Wells will not play for the Buckeyes against USC on Saturday night because of his injured right foot, according to an Associated Press report. Ohio State Coach Jim Tressel made the announcement late Friday afternoon after the team went through a 40-minute walkthrough at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

Ohio State at USC: The Buckeyes slummed to the level of my beloved alma mater, Ohio U., in an embarrassing affair at the Horseshoe last week. The Bobcat defense dominated the field for three quarters, and they have just one player who might ever sniff an NFL practice squad (DL Jameson Hartke). USC gets this game at home coming off a bye week, and they have 4 defensive starters who might get drafted in the first fifteen picks next April. The Buckeyes haven?t beaten the Trojans in California since 1974, including the heartbreaking 1980 Rose Bowl loss by Art Schlichter & Co. to Charles White and Paul McDonald, two of the biggest Cleveland pro flops of all time. I expect a better effort from Ohio State, but Team Sweater Vest will need the SoCals to play a sloppy, error-filled game to have any shot. Sorry Dad, not gonna happen. USC 27, Ohio State 13. Kansas at South Florida: This game was scheduled back when USF was trying to get anyone to come to St. Pete and Kansas was desperately looking for a potential road win. My how times have changed, as both are ranked and the winner will likely crack the top 10 in the rankings. The Bulls should bounce back from a near-collapse against emerging rival UCF and take out the visiting Jayhawks, who are still living off 2007 glory and look overrated thus far. USF 30, Kansas 24. UCLA at BYU: The Cougars survived on a letter-of-the-law penalty against Washington, while UCLA is chomping at the bit to get back on the field after an impressive opening win against Tennessee. It often takes flukish breaks and favorable calls to achieve greatness, and BYU is in great position to run the table if they can win this one. Because it?s in Provo and because they won the Las Vegas Bowl last year against this UCLA team thanks to yet another blocked FG, I?ll take the confident Cougars to beat the Bruins 29-27. Wisconsin at Fresno State: The Big Ten gets a lot of crap from a lot of critics about soft non-conference schedules. This week sees the top Big 10 team playing at #1 USC and the second-best (thus far) Big Ten team playing at a ranked Fresno State team with very legit BCS Bowl aspirations if they can win. LSU, Florida, and Texas play who? Keep that in mind when Wisconsin goes to a minor bowl with two close losses (Ohio State and this game) while a 3-loss LSU team feels violated by not getting a BCS bowl berth. Fresno State 20-17.

Jim Tressel, head coach of Ohio State, says it's doubtful that starting tailback Chris "Beanie" Wells will play Saturday night against top-ranked USC. Tressel said Tuesday that Wells would play in Saturday's game at USC after missing last week's game with an injury to his right big toe. He said how much Wells would play would depend on his progress in practice.