All year long we had to listen to media experts insist that no Big Ten team could play with a physical Stanford team that won the allegedly far superior PAC 12. Well, Stanford and its vaunted running game ran into a green wall of reality last night as Michigan State out-muscled them over and over again in the trenches.

Say what you want about the Big Ten and its recent troubles, but the better Big Ten teams know how to play physical football, unlike most Pac 12 teams. Watching Stanford run through defenses like Oregon tells you nothing about how they will fare against Michigan State’s top-ranked defense.

Of course, it didn’t help that alleged “genius” David Shaw showed zero immagination with his play calls. Running Tyler Gaffney up the middle on fourth and three against this defense was just silly, as everyone knew what was comming and the Spartans slammed him for a three yard loss.

Meanwhile, Sparty and Mark Dantonio did the best immitation of Tresselball we’ve seen in years. They were tough on defense and resiliant on offense. This team also didn’t give up after a brutal pick-six before the half and responded with a quick touchdown to stay in the game.

It was a great win for Michigan State and the Big Ten, so perhaps we can be spared some of the smack talk about the PAC 12 for at least a year.

We’re finally getting some upsets to shake up college football. #5 Stanford traveled to Utah and was stunned by the Utes who made an impressive goal line stand at the end of the game for a final score of 27-21. Check out the parody video above that makes fun of Stanford fans.

#25 Missouri improved to 6-0 with an upset of #7 Georgia on the road. Georgia had a ton of injuries but losses like this have been all too common for the Bulldogs in recent years.

In another huge shocker, much-maligned Texas took care of #12 Oklahoma 36-20 in this classic rivalry game. With the win Mack Brown can breath a little easier, while Bob Stoops is yet another year removed from that last National Championship that happened oh so long ago.

Meanwhile, #18 Michigan managed to lose to Penn State in an overtime thriller, though this one is hardly a surprise. The undefeated Wolverines have been barely escaping with wins against mediocre teams all season. It finally caught up to them.

For a while it looked like Boston College might upset #3 Clemson, but everything fell apart for them in the fourth quarter.

The top 25 will change quite a bit tomorrow, and we’re looking at a potential battle between 4 sets of teams to play in the National Championship game: Alabama (or possibly a one-loss SEC winner other than Alabama), Oregon (or maybe UCLA if they win out), the ACC winner (Clemson, Florida State or Miami) and Ohio State (no other Big Ten team has a chance).

Of course, if everyone starts losing, even teams like an undefeated Louisville or Baylor could have a shot, but chances are the game will be played between two of the teams mentioned above.

Notre Dame is definitely back, and they pulled out a thriller in overtime against Stanford. Still, the call at the end of the game seemed like a gift for Notre Dame.

Notre Dame forced overtime on a late field goal, and then scored a touchdown on it’s first possession in overtime. The Stanford pushed the ball at the four yard line for first and goal, and the Irish put up an impressive goal line stand. Stanford ran the ball on fourth down from the one yard line, and the runner seemed to be stuff by the Notre Dame defense, but he kept fighting, and on the replay it appeared that he reached over the goal line with the ball.

The refs on the field had called him down short of the goal line, and the replay officials didn’t have the stones to overturn the call.

I’ve never been a Lane Kiffin fan, and I’m hardly alone. Kiffin comes across as an arrogant punk, and frankly he’s done little as a head coach to inspire much confidence. He’s been a good recruiter at USC, but I wasn’t surprised to see USC lay another egg against Stanford last night.

Yeah, it’s over.

The idea of a perfect Trojans season. The idea of an easy Matt Barkley Heisman. The lovely notion that a college football team can come off two years of probation and dominate the football world as if it never left.

Oh, it’s ugly.

Just three games into what was supposed to be a dream season, the Trojans were slapped awake and senseless Saturday by Stanford in a 21-14 loss that felt like a 12th-round knockout.

Lying flat today is Barkley, tossed around in a backfield that became a dangerous place without injured center Khaled Holmes, leveled by poor communication with receivers that resulted in consecutive interceptions, the golden boy all bronzed.

Lying next to him is Coach Lane Kiffin, who began the week by causing a silly distraction with the media and ended it overseeing a team that followed his lead by playing undisciplined and, well, distracted.

Also, for all those fans expecting Matt Barkley to be a savior for an NFL franchise, this game has to throw some cold water on that notion as well.

No. 3 Oklahoma couldn’t overcome an early deficit as they lost to Texas Tech 41-38. The much-hyped Sooners’ defense gave up 572 total yards to the Red Raiders along with the 41 points, pretty much destroying any notion that they belonged in the National Championship game. Meanwhile Landry Jones completed 30 of 55 passes in the shootout for 412 yards and 5 touchdowns against one interception.

This result will shake up the BCS rankings, as No. 4 Wisconsin also lost a heart-breaker to Michigan State. Few people have been talking about No. 8 Stanford, but with Andrew Luck at the helm, they might pose the most interesting challenge to the eventual SEC winner if that’s how things play out. Last night Luck barely had to break a sweat in Stanford’s 65-21 thrashing of No. 25 Washington, as the running game for Stanford exploded for 446 yards and 5 touchdowns.

Of course the entire BCS discussion is ridiculous. Oklahoma is still a very good team, and if we had a sensible 8-team playoff for example, the Sooners would have a chance to redeem themselves and learn from this loss. Unfortunately, that notion doesn’t exist often in college football unless everyone ends up losing a game.