It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Not this time around at least.This year was supposed to be different than last. It was going to be more predictable, more stable. Teams that should win would win.

Well, apparently someone forgot to tell Oregon State.

That’s all right though. Ole Miss didn’t get the message either. A few other teams forgot to pick up the morning paper as well.

Before this past Saturday’s slate of big games had even begun, the college football season took an unexpected turn two days prior when the Beavers upset then-No. 1 USC on Thursday.

The derailed train made no attempt to return to the tracks over the weekend, as No. 3 Georgia and No. 4 Florida were both defeated at home.

Overall, nine ranked teams lost, paving the way for teams like Texas Tech — which jumped to No. 7 despite having a bye this week — and Connecticut — which cracked the Top 25 for the first time this season.

Before the season started, the consensus seemed to be there were three or four teams on a tier of their own, and that at least two would cruise through the regular season without a loss.

Unlike last year — when a two-loss LSU squad won the national championship against one-loss Ohio State — the prevailing thought was that just one loss would prevent a team from playing for the title this year.

After this weekend, however, 2008 is starting to look more and more like 2007.

USC — which was clearly in the driver’s seat in terms of a spot in the BCS National Championship — is now in more trouble than most other one-loss teams because of how awful the Pac-10 conference is this year.

Both No. 2 Alabama and No. 3 LSU are still undefeated, but the schools play each other later in the year, guaranteeing a loss for one of them. Alabama also plays Auburn in the season finale and LSU has to face both Florida and Georgia within the next three weeks.

I don’t think this is the year a team will emerge from the SEC unscathed.

There are currently four Big 12 teams in the top seven, but OU, Texas and Texas Tech all play each other, and Missouri will have to face one of them in the Big 12 championship game.

Bottom line: The disruption at the top of the polls this weekend clearly showed this season will be just as unpredictable as 2007.

It’s likely no team will go undefeated. And as exciting as last year was, maybe that’s not such a bad thing.

— Eric Dama is a journalism sophomore.