There are a little over two months until Christmas and slightly over a month until Thanksgiving (unless you're Canadian, than you already ate your turkey); wasn't it just summer?

The NFL season is at the halfway mark and if you wanted proof positive that the fall has truly arrived, the first BCS rankings of the year were released.

Here's how things stand:

The Texas Longhorns-they pole vaulted into No. 1 by virtue of the Red River Rivalry Shootout win over Oklahoma two weeks ago-continued to ride the momentum on Saturday night, in front of the entire country, when listed as 4-point favorites, they hammered the No. 11 Missouri Tigers by a score of 56-31.

Don't let the score fool you, Mizzou managed to lay most of its 31-points late, in garbage time, long after Texas had secured the win. The Longhorns absolutely dominated.

The combined score of 87 went well over the set Total of 64 and the lopsided win not only ensured the Longhorns of the No. 1 spots in both the Associated Press and USA Today polls; it became the top team in the first BCS rankings of 2008.

Knock Nick Saban all you want about the way he left the Miami Dolphins for the Crimson Tide back in early 2007 but the fact is he's better suited for the college game.

Although the Tide failed to cover as 12.5-point favorites, it managed to cash in on the money line with 24-20 home win over Mississippi, which upped Alabama's record to 7-0 and 4-0 in the SEC-Saban and ‘Bama are the AP, USA Today and BCS' No. 2 team.

Remember when everyone was referring to Penn State coach Joe Paterno as "washed up" a few year's ago?

Well all the people who said the game has passed JoePa by are probably eating their words now.

The Nittany Lions laid the smack down on the Michigan Wolverines this past weekend covering a huge 24.5-point spread en route to a 46-17 win that increased their record to 4-0 within the Big Ten and 8-0 overall.

The supposedly washed up JoePa and his Penn State Nittany Lions are ranked No. 3 across the board (AP, USA Today and BCS).

Want another sign that summer is really over? The World Series is about to begin.

While the Philadelphia Phillies punched their tickets to the Fall Classic with a 4-1 NL championship series win against the L.A. Dodgers, the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays went the distance taking the AL championship series to seven games, with the Rays blowing a 3-1 series lead.

The Rays got it together in Game 7 however, with Matt Garza pitching seven innings and surrendering 1 run and inexperienced David Price got more than just seasoning, earning the save in a 3-1 victory; Tampa Bay covered as a +110 home underdog.

The World Series begins on Wednesday back in Tampa Bay with the Rays going with Scott Kazmir and the Phillies going with Cole Hamels; SPORTSBETTING.COM has the Phillies listed at -108 and the Rays at -102.

Have the wheels come off the Dallas Cowboys' wagon? Tony Romo is injured, Adam "Pacman" Jones is suspended and the boys in Big "D" seem to be affected by all the bad karma.

Dallas not only failed to cover the 7-point spread, they lost the game outright to the lowly St. Louis Rams by a score of 34-14 yesterday.

It was the fourth loss in a row, against the spread, that the Cowboys have incurred and they are 1-3 straight up over that span.

Will owner Jerry Jones start making wholesale changes?

Speaking of upsets, although a small one, Aaron Rodgers and the Pack beat Peyton Manning Sunday afternoon, more than adequately covering the 1-point spread in a 34-14 victory over the Colts.

And to finish the week off, they're BAAAAAACK...well sort of. The Patriots trounced the Denver Broncos on Monday night as 3-point home favorites. Randy Moss had a big night, as did the entire Pat team. No, it doesn't mean New England is going to step to the front of the AFC pack again, but it has to serve notice to the rest of the conference that this team isn't packing it in this year.

World Series baseball, the meaty part of the NFL schedule and college football teams making a bid for BCS bowl games - what a great time of the year for sports fans and bettors.

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