Learned from week three:

(1) The Mountain West Conference may be for real.

Wow. BYU 59 UCLA 0. Take a second to let that sink in. BYU dominated the upset-minded Bruins for the MWC's most impressive win of the weekend. But take into consideration the conference went 4-0 against the Pac-10 on the weekend (UNLV 23 (15) Arizona St. 20; New Mexico 36 Arizona 28; TCU 31 Stanford 14; BYU 59 UCLA 0). The collegiate football world should consider this our warning, whoever runs the table in the MWC may be overly-deserving of a BCS bid.

 (2) SEC proves its worth.

In the opening weeks of the season, the SEC proved itself against inferior opponents (except of course for UT's 'Great Labor Day Embarrassment'). Saturday, though, the SEC continued to add to its prestige in the two marquee conference matchups. The four teams involved combined to score 26 points, seriously, 26 combined points (UGA 14 USC 7; Auburn 3 Miss. St. 2). Both of the higher ranked favorites won both games but proved going on the road in the SEC is no walk in the park - no matter who you play.

 (3) Ohio State was dismantled by USC, not from the BCS.

The game dubbed the 'Collision in the Coliseum' turned mostly into big, fast and mean Trojans making collisions in the end zone as they celebrated their 35 unanswered points - but who didn't see that coming? Just keep in mind that this is only mid-September, and the media loves 'The' Ohio State University. If the Buckeyes run the table in the Big Ten, and the BCS title game includes at least one, one-loss team, expect to hear the age old title talk about the Buckeyes and the BCS.

 (4) South Florida gives Big East hope.

What started as a game between two teams playing on Friday night to get a national spotlight turned into a classic that would have gotten ratings on any night of the week. No matter what the circumstances have been, South Florida has found ways to get wins when they desperately need them in 2007 and now in 2008. They looked, and still seem, to be the best team in a mediocre Big East on Friday night. With their toughest test out of the way, the Bulls need to win out - including going into Morgantown and beating West Virginia in the season finale - to help the Big East retain any credibility.

(5) Michigan is down - way down.

The once proud rivalry between Michigan and Notre Dame has been dwindled down to finding out which team is worse - if one could be worse than the other. Notre Dame proved to be the next to worst team in the nation when they beat Michigan 35-17 in a soggy South Bend on Saturday. Michigan only proved they have reached rock bottom. The Wolverines are without a quarterback and are ten points away from being 0-3. Give Rich Rodriguez time, though. We won't be feeling sorry for Michigan for long.

Expected from week three and beyond:

(1) Elite three have seperated from the pack

 It doesn't take college football rocket science to figure out USC, Oklahoma and Florida are good - really good. USC rolled Ohio State (Oh, the surprise), Oklahoma scored 50+ points for what seems like the 900^th week in a row and Florida rested its legs and licked its chops during a bye week in preparation for their trip to Knoxville on Saturday. (No, I'm still not buying into the Georgia hype.) These are the elite teams that should take care of business within their respective conferences for a shot at the national title. Let's just hope they're not all undefeated at the end of the season creating another 2004 BCS disaster.

 (2) Missouri questions still not answered.

Missouri has combined to score 173 points in its first three games. Now, quickly rattle off the three teams Mizzou has played thus far. Having trouble? I thought so. Give the Tigers credit for beating then No. 20 Illinois 52-42 in the opening week of the season. But what have they done since? They have beaten Southeast Missouri State and Nevada (both schools do, in fact, have football programs), and will play Buffalo (who is thought to have a football program) on Saturday. Mizzou raises eyebrows with their high powered offense, but wait until conference play comes (especially an October 18^th trip to Texas) before you really take the Tigers into BCS account.

 (3) BYU + ECU = BCS.

Last week BYU beat Washington on the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty heard around the world. This week they hammered a once proud UCLA program (take that Rick Neuheisel). Last week East Carolina hammered a once proud West Virginia program (thanks a lot Rich Rodriguez). This week they barely survived their conference opener against Tulane. The point of all this, they won.  BYU will have to survive the surprisingly tough (and aforementioned) Mountain West Conference. ECU will also need help winning Conference-USA if they continue to perform like they did on Saturday. The bottom line: win. If they do, these teams deserve all the BCS consideration that comes with it.