BCS really goes high Tech

Graham Harrell found Michael Crabtree on a 28-yard touchdown pass with one second left -- "I dreamed it!" Crabtree screamed afterward.

No. 6 Texas Tech upset No. 1 Texas, 39-33, and "that'll be the day" in Lubbock became Saturday. All of a sudden:

-- Alabama could become No. 1, at least for a week . . . or will Texas Tech rise above all?

-- Penn State Coach Joe Paterno got a little more hop in his hip.

-- Oklahoma, USC, Florida and Oklahoma State all got their one-loss national title hopes raised.

And one-loss Texas is still in it too!

Mark it down, Nov. 1, the day when the 2008 season got cranked up.

A Texas win would have probably settled one of two Bowl Championship Series spots if you believed the Longhorns, after beating four top-11 teams in as many weeks, would have not lost again against a schedule in which they would have been favorites in every game.

But now, as for those national title cards, Texas doesn't hold 'em.

Alabama and Penn State could play for the national title for the first time since the schools met in an epic 1979 Sugar Bowl, the famous "Goal Line Stand" victory won by Bear Bryant's Crimson Tide.

The chances of Penn State punching a ticket seem better than Alabama's.

Saturday was a happy, Happy Valley day.

Texas' loss lessened the likelihood Penn State could finish 12-0 and get left out of the title game.

Texas Tech at 13-0 could still box the Nittany Lions out, but the Red Raiders' remaining schedule -- Oklahoma State, Oklahoma and the Big 12 Conference title game -- suggests that it will be difficult.

Penn State's path to undefeated -- at Iowa, Indiana, Michigan State -- is a relative breeze.

Alabama has more work left than it would like, starting Saturday at Louisiana State. The Crimson Tide also has to play rival Auburn, which has won six games in a row in the series, and probably Florida in the Southeastern Conference title game.

A loss each now from Alabama and Texas Tech gets everyone else involved.

Texas, even with Saturday's defeat, might not drop out of the top five of today's BCS standings.

The other contenders, knowing this is no time to make nice, all brought out their heavy-duty helmets.

BCS No. 2 Alabama beat Arkansas State, 35-0, No.4 Oklahoma took Nebraska to the corn shed, 62-28, No. 5 USC pitched a 56-0 shutout against Washington, No. 8 Florida crushed No. 6 Georgia, 49-10, and No. 9 Oklahoma State defeated Iowa State, 59-10.