USC isn't out of it, and BYU's very much in it

Three answers to three questions emanating from the first question-filled weekend of the season:

All the answers, incredibly, are "yes."

Can Brigham Young, a member of the Mountain West Conference, win the national championship this year?

Is USC, which suffered a humiliating Thursday night defeat in Corvallis to 25 1/2 -point underdog Oregon State, back in the Bowl Championship Series title race?

Is the Big 12 Conference better right now than the Southeastern?

Yes, yes and yes.

No?

Let's take these in order:

1: BYU. The general assumption for years has been that a school from outside the six power conferences had no chance of ever ascending to No. 1 or No. 2 in the BCS standings, which would guarantee that school a spot in the national title game.

Schools from the five conferences whose champions do not receive automatic bids to BCS games have been fighting for years, sometimes with lawyers at their sides, for better access into a system that has been called a monopoly.

But take a look at Sunday's college football polls. BYU, which was Bye-YU this weekend, benefited from key losses involving several top teams to jump four spots, to No. 7 in the USA Today coaches' poll.

The Cougars are No. 8 in the Associated Press media poll, which is no longer a part of the BCS standings, and No. 9 in the first Harris Interactive Poll. Harris has replaced the AP survey in the BCS formula.

BYU, which won the national title in 1984 with a victory over a mediocre Michigan team in the Holiday Bowl, appears to have a legitimate chance to get to this year's BCS title game, to be played Jan. 8 in South Florida.

BYU has a couple of tough games left, at Texas Christian on Oct. 16 and at No. 15 Utah on Nov. 22.

On the credibility front, the Mountain West is 5-0 against the Pac-10 this year with a chance to make it 6-0 Thursday when Utah plays host to Oregon State.

This could get real interesting. Four teams ahead of BYU in the polls play each other. Oklahoma and Texas go at it in Dallas on Oct. 11 while Alabama and Louisiana State meet Nov. 8 in Baton Rouge.

If everybody else loses and BYU keeps winning, why can't the Cougars end up No. 1 or No. 2?

The question then might turn to BYU's strength in the BCS computers.

What if BYU ended up No. 1 in both polls but No. 3 in the BCS?

Hey, it happened in 2003 to USC.

Stay tuned.