Let's get ahead of ourselves

Because it's never too early to look too far down the road.

Setting aside the SEC for a moment, here's who might be in the mix for the BCS championship game:

* Southern Cal -- Setting up nicely for a home-field title shot.

* Texas -- Won't be putting their faith in tiebreakers any time soon. And the road just got a lot easier with Oklahoma's troubles.

* Ohio State, Notre Dame -- Both have make-or-break games with Southern Cal.

* BYU, Boise State -- One, maybe both, could go undefeated and find there's still no room in the top two.

* Miami -- Not off one game, but off the first four -- FSU, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Oklahoma. Sweep those and they're looking at top 5.