Sitting in a downtown bar two Saturdays ago as midnight approached and Tennessee had just lost at Arkansas a few hours after Vanderbilt stunned then No. 1 Alabama, a woman I did not know exclaimed, "The world's turned upside down."

It could be argued that a lot more than a couple of football upsets have signaled a world that's no longer upright. And none the better for it, I might add, unless you're a Vanderbilt football fan these days. Anchor Down, indeed!

But as we're almost midway through the college football season - many teams have actually already played the sixth games of their 12-game schedules, including current unbeatens Texas, Oregon, Penn State, Miami, Iowa State, BYU, Indiana, Pitt and Army - it's not too early to project who's currently positioned to make the new 12-team College Football Playoff and who still has much work to do.

And because of that, is it too much to hope that this week's slate of games mirror the last two weekend's results? Could we possibly have another Oregon 32, Ohio State 31 ending when Georgia visits No.

When you look at Georgia-Texas in Austin, you see what could be an instant classic from the second it kicks off around 7:30 EDT on ABC on Saturday night. The No. 1 Longhorns aren't just beating people, they're 5-1 against the spread. The Bulldogs, conversely, are but 1-5 and have generated as many questions as answers after being ranked No. 1 at the start of the year. Then again, isn't this the type of game Dawgs boss Kirby Smart tends to love? He can talk about how his team is getting no respect, and how the experts expect them to lose, and how this is why the players came to Georgia, to play in games like this.

As for Bama-UT, it's once again on the Third Saturday in October and it's once more guaranteed to fill the air over Neyland with cigar smoke generated by the longtime tradition of the winners lighting stogies to celebrate.

Unlike recent years, it is Tennessee that has the superior defense and Bama the more explosive offense. Talk about a world turned upside down.

And LSU, having won five straight, can ill afford to lose at dangerous Arkansas (4-2) and remain alive for a playoff berth with home games against Alabama and Oklahoma and another tricky road trip to Texas A&M still a week away.

In the SEC, every week is a chance to move up in the playoff picture, but also to move out.

So who do we like to reach the playoffs from the Southeastern Conference and beyond. For? For starters, the newest SEC super power - Texas. Ohio State may have looked like the biggest challenge to Georgia and Alabama for a national title at the start of the season, but the Longhorns may most resemble a championship today, and can cement that perception with a win on Saturday against Georgia.

And this is where the path to the playoffs gets tricky for the Dawgs and the Crimson Tide. Shou;d the two UTs - Tennessee and Texas - win over Bama and UGA this weekend, the Crimson Tide and Bulldogs might be out of second chances. One more loss - Bama at LSU and Georgia at Ole Miss - and both teams will certainly test the generosity of the selection committee.

Just for fun, at this point let's pencil in Oregon, Ohio State, Texas and Miami for first-round byes. Joining them will be Georgia and Alabama from the SEC, Penn State from the Big Ten, Clemson from the ACC, the winner of Army-Notre Dame on November 23, Boise State, Iowa State, and, (drum roll, please) Tennessee if the Vols beat Bama, play Georgia well in Athens and finish 10-2.

Should four SEC teams get in? If all four have no more than two losses, absolutely. It's a battle royale every week. Not even Vanderbilt provides an unofficial bye week anymore. The environments, all of the environments, are among the best in college football, which means that every road game has become a trap game unless you're at Kentucky, which has lost 10 of its last 12 SEC home games.

But every other home site is difficult, if not next to impossible to earn a victory. So if those above 12 get in, who wins it all. At this somewhat midpoint of the season, I'll say Texas faces Ohio State for the title, with the Longhorns winning their first natty since 2005. But in a season when Vanderbilt can knock off No. 1 for the first time ever, why not Iowa State, Boise State or Army? In a world where everything seems upside down, the Black Knights of West Point winning it all for the first time since producing back-to-back national titles 79 years ago would have the whole sport standing on its head.