ShareThisAside from the inspiring storylines, magnificent finishes and incredible spirit of fans, what makes college football so beautiful is the never-ceasing astonishment of the games.
It's why they're so intriguing, so compelling.
Every week, pundits' perceptions and predictions are destroyed on the gridiron: In Week 1, No. 20 BYU upset then No. 3 Oklahoma, 14-13; in Week 2, unranked Houston knocked off No. 5 Oklahoma State, 45-35; and in Week 3, unranked Florida State crushed No. 7 BYU's BCS hopes, 54-28.
Like tailgating, upsets are a rite of fall football, a reminder that Top 10 turnover is now in full swing.
And there's always that one game that also reminds us, on any given Saturday, anything is possible. Even when the odds are heavily stacked in one team's favor, and nobody thinks the underdog has a prayer of winning. Nobody, except the underdog.
They believe they can shock the college football world. Fortunately, for the sake of the game, sometimes they do. Everybody loves the underdog, in sports and in life.
When a poor man hits the lottery, everyone rejoices. When the rich get richer, there's no love lost. And heaven knows, Southern Cal has hit the jackpot enough times over the past several years.
OK, so maybe Washington isn't exactly the poor man's version of a college football program. But it definitely fell on hard times well before the recession hit.
Over the past five seasons, the Huskies won a total of 12 games and lost 47.
They hit rock bottom going 0-12 in 2008. Outscored by a total of 463-159, they were arguably the worst team in all of Division I's top tier.
To think, just one year later, the Huskies would have any chance of beating a team that had lost only six Pac-10 games since 2003, was akin to dreaming the impossible dream. Wasn't it?
That's what makes Washington's 16-13 upset of No. 3 Southern Cal last Saturday so remarkable.
The mighty Trojans, after all, had won a record seven straight conference championships, four outright and three shared. They also won finished No. 1 in the Associated Press. poll in 2003 and won the BCS national title in 2004.
But there's one other thing USC has done over the past few years that may have helped to give the Huskies reason to believe. The Trojans lost four conference games, three on the road, and were double-digit favorites in each.
In 2007, Southern Cal was favored to beat Stanford by 41 at home. Amazingly, the Cardinal shocked No. 2 USC, 24-23. Last season, the top-ranked Trojans went to Corvallis, Oregon favored to beat Oregon State by 25. They lost, 27-21. Coincidentally, just like this season, that loss also followed a USC victory over Ohio State.
Despite its air of invincibility the past few years, Southern Cal has proven that, like any other team on any given day, it's beatable.
So the table was set for Washington's new coach Steve Sarkasian and defensive coordinator Nick Holt, both former pupils of USC's Pete Carroll, to fire up their troops, to make them believe victory was possible.
The Huskies lost a hard-fought home opener to No. 11 LSU, 31-23, but learned they could compete with an SEC powerhouse, and they built on a tough loss.
Beating USC was probably Washington's sweetest victory since clinching a share of the 1991 national championship with a 34-14 Rose Bowl victory over Michigan. It vaulted the Huskies to No. 24 in the A.P. poll, their first appearance since Sept. 28, 2003.
Where does Washington go from here? Stanford this Saturday and Notre Dame next, road games that will help answer whether it's a legit Pac-10 title contender.
Teams with a bigger prize in mind present some equally challenging questions Saturday:
Can No. 9 Miami (2-0) continue to discredit the preseason polls, which didn't even have the Hurricanes in their Top 25?
A third consecutive victory Saturday over a ranked ACC opponent, No. 11 Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg would go a long way toward convincing The Unbalanced Line that the 'Canes do, indeed, have their swagger back.
Does unranked Arkansas (1-1) have any chance of upsetting unbeaten No. 3 Alabama in Tuscaloosa?
Can No. 5 Penn State, backed by its awe-inspiring Whiteout crowd of 100,000 plus, avenge its costly one-point loss to Iowa last season in Iowa City? Keep in mind, Iowa is 6-1 against Penn State since 2000.
Could unranked Oregon, a touchdown underdog at home, beat No. 6 California?
And, does Kentucky have any prayer of upsetting top-ranked Florida in Lexington?
The answer to all the above is, of course, yes. Because, on any given Saturday, anything can happen.
It's why they play the games. It's why we watch them.
(Email John Tucker at jtucker(at)unionleader.com)
(E-mail John Tucker at jtucker(at)unionleader.com)
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