Rungs to the top stay slippery

Exhaustive examination of Saturday’s exhilarating game action led to this reputation-risking observation:

Vanderbilt’s Commodores are probably not going to win the national title.

OK, it’s been stated. Go ahead, shoot it down

Everything else, by the way, is a crapshoot.

Nashville’s notion of 13-0 and a fairy tale movie deal came to a stark end in Starkville, Miss.

“Five and one is not a bad record as far as I know,” Commodores defensive back Reshard Langford said after Saturday’s 17-14 loss to Mississippi State.

Not good enough, though, so run along now, Commodores, you’ve been dismissed for recess.

Vanderbilt’s out, so who’s in?

That one’s a little more complicated . . . and you needed five televisions to keep track.

On one channel, in the morning, No. 5 Texas defeated No. 1 Oklahoma, 45-35, in the annual Red River Rivalry game in Dallas played on the Texas State Fairgrounds.

You talk about a carnival ride.

By day’s end, because of games on other channels, Oklahoma would go from top ranked in the country to fourth place in the Big 12 Conference South.

“It’s not over by far,” Oklahoma receiver Manny Johnson said.

Manny is so right.

Saturday was that kind of weird, and until further notice, the Big 12 is better than the Southeastern.

The last weekend before the first release of the first Bowl Championship Series standings saw No. 1 lose for the third time.

USC went “timber” first, remember, against Oregon State, and then Georgia, the preseason No. 1, hedged against Alabama.

Saturday, it was the Sooner Swoon.

No. 3 Missouri got drilled at home by suddenly 6-0 Oklahoma State, heavily funded by oilman T. Boone Pickens.

“That was as big a win as we’ve ever had,” Coach Mike Gundy said.

Did we mention No. 4 lost too?

That would be Louisiana State, the defending national champion, which visited No. 11 Florida, champion of 2006, and came away as Swamp things.

So which team rises to No. 1 in today’s Associated Press media poll?

Will it be Texas, with its trigger-man Colt McCoy, which entered the season quietly at No. 11 and has now worked its way into prime championship position?

Texas Coach Mack Brown was so ecstatic and overcome by hyperbole he called a really good regular-season game “one of the greatest football games I’ve ever seen,” forgetting perhaps he was on the sideline for what many consider the greatest game ever: Texas’ 41-38 win over USC at the Rose Bowl.

Who is No. 1?

Is it Alabama, which took Saturday off after almost taking last week off, when it escaped with a three-point home win against Kentucky, which lost Saturday to South Carolina?

Does the Crimson Tide deserve to slide into the top spot?

Who is No. 1?

Is it No. 6 Penn State, coached by that old man with thick glasses, which went to Madison and ransacked Wisconsin?

This sure looks like the best Joe Paterno team since the Kerry Collins-led squad that capped an undefeated season -- but not a national championship season -- in 1994.

Meanwhile, down below, one local team may have gotten away with poll-rankings manslaughter.

USC’s 28-0 win over Arizona State at the Coliseum should be enough to lift the No. 8 Trojans at least over No. 7 Texas Tech, which needed overtime to oust Nebraska in Lubbock, Texas.

The Trojans might even move up another spot if Missouri gets moved to the outskirts of the top 10.

It is not likely Oklahoma will drop below USC, and it seems very likely No. 11 Florida will jump over the Trojans.

Whatever upward move USC makes will be a welcomed swindle.

The Trojans can only hope voters didn’t actually see their game, which was marred by five USC turnovers and 10 USC penalties -- a total of 15 very bad things.

USC, after consulting with legal counsel, should have redacted with black marker the third quarter play by play of Saturday’s final statistical book to keep the details out of the public record.

That was the quarter where USC turned the ball over on four consecutive possessions.

The pain of a suddenly long-ago Thursday night loss to Oregon State, though, is subsiding with each week.

How can a team that looked so mediocre Saturday get so lucky?

And it may just mark the beginning of the upheaval.

People who clamor for a playoff in college football actually get one nearly every week of the regular season.

Saturday, No. 1 played No. 5, and No. 11 played No. 4 and next week we do it all again.

So what if Texas is No. 1?

What will it mean if the Longhorns can’t beat Missouri next week, or Oklahoma State the week after, or Texas Tech the week after that?

Longhorns, in other words, should probably celebrate for about as long as Missouri Tigers should wallow.

“I’m going to enjoy this until I wake up in the morning,” Texas linebacker Roddrick Muckelroy said after the victory over Oklahoma.

That sounds about right.

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chris.dufresne@latimes.com