It was a wild Saturday.

Some prayers were answered. Some were batted down.

But when all was said and done, very little happened over the weekend to change the layout of the national championship race. All of the country's top-eight teams survived to fight another day, and most will face tougher tests in the coming weeks.

Now just two weeks shy of the first official release of the BCS Standings, here are a few things we know.

Stock up: UCLA
The Bruins went through a challenging September schedule unscathed and, in the process, passed their first conference road test with flying colors. But it's not going to get any easier in the Pac-10 this season. That is bad news for UCLA's chances of going undefeated, but it is very good news for their opportunity to play for the national title if they get the job done.

The Pac-10 enters October with five remaining undefeated teams, and UCLA will play all of the other four down the stretch. Not only does this mean an increase to the team's already strong schedule rating over the coming weeks, but it also sets up a reasonably good chance to receive a few bonus points for quality wins. If the conference finishes with three Top-10 teams as it did a year ago, the Bruins are in a prime spot to be playing on their home field in January…if they can remain unbeaten.

Stock down: Northwestern
If there's one team that will never give up hope in a desperate situation, it is certainly the Northwestern Wildcats. But unfortunately for the darlings of the Midwest, there might not be enough on-field miracles available to help this team reach the top of the BCS Standings.

Despite being undefeated and the top-ranked team in the Big Ten (No. 14 in AP) -- a claim which normally commands respect -- the Wildcats will have a difficult time getting extremely high in either the polls or the computers. The reason is an unbelievably weak schedule that serves as a virtual roadblock to BCS success.

Northwestern's non-conference opponents thus far have been UNLV and Duke, which are a combined 0-8 this season. The other non-conference game was supposed to be versus Navy (currently 0-3) on September 15, so there is slight consolation that it was canceled and replaced with one against Bowling Green.

But the scheduling problems continue within the Big Ten. Based on a predetermined rotation, each team in the league faces all but two of the others during conference play. This season, Northwestern misses Michigan and Wisconsin -- arguably the other two best teams in the conference. Sure, this helps the Wildcats' chances of going 11-0, but it also gives them little opportunity for a statement victory that catches the attention of the voters. The computers will be even less impressed if Northwestern finishes the season without a victory over a team with at least nine wins.

Under the radar
It was not a good weekend for Fresno State, winning its own game by only 10 points while Oregon State suffered an embarrassing home loss. In addition, Utah State dropped to 0-4, and UTEP won a conference game (UTEP is the only WAC team not on Fresno's schedule, so any conference win by the Miners affects only the loss column of Fresno's opponents). The good news for the Bulldogs, however, is that very few voters saw anything other than the final score of their game, which turned out to be their first sluggish performance of the season. For those who are curious, Pat Hill did not attempt to inflate the score with a late TD but instead ran the ball between the tackles in the final two minutes, giving it back to Louisiana Tech on downs. It was a class move, but the Bulldogs are going to need to put up more convincing results if they want to keep the respect of voters and the four computers that consider victory margin.

The ACC now joins the Big Ten on the list of major conferences that will likely not figure in this year's national title hunt. At the end of September, there is only one unbeaten team in the conference -- the Maryland Terrapins. Unless Florida State can beat Miami in two weeks, the ACC will probably be waiting four more years for a chance at its first Rose Bowl participant.

Of the 19 different schools that have played in the Bowl Championship Series during its three seasons, Notre Dame is the first that we can say with certainty will not be returning this year. Just as the leaves are starting to change colors and the weather is beginning to turn cool in South Bend, there is suddenly more excitement about Irish women's basketball than there is about football. What a sad day!

If the season ended today...
I mentioned last week that the winner of the Kansas State-Oklahoma game would make a big jump in these rankings, and it did. The Sooners are once again the top team in BCS Land.

This week's unofficial BCS Standings

1. Oklahoma
2. Nebraska
3. Miami
4. Tennessee
5. UCLA
6. Florida
7. Texas
8. Oregon
9. South Carolina
10. Fresno State

Miami fell out of the Top 2 because its schedule strength plummeted from losses by Penn State and Rutgers. It sounds ridiculous, but when the sample of games and opponents is so small, things like this happen a lot. Don't worry, Miami fans. It's just the nature of computers this early in the season. This is not a sign that IT is going to happen again.

BCS Game of the Week: Oklahoma vs. Texas
The annual Red River Shootout at the State Fair in Dallas will be as hyped as ever this season -- the defending champ vs. the heir apparent. The Longhorns seek redemption for last season's humiliating defeat, but each team will have a different starting quarterback than it had in 2000. A year ago, this game put Josh Heupel on the Heisman radar screen, and it could certainly do the same for Chris Simms this time around.

From a BCS standpoint, it will be interesting to see where the winner of this game sits in the polls next week. As good as Miami and Florida have looked, it is tough to see either of them getting jumped, but special consideration should be given to Oklahoma if the Sooners are still looking as impressive as they did last season.

Brad Edwards is a college football researcher for ESPN.com. His Inside the BCS appears weekly.