October 25, 2009

Mike Huguenin
Rivals.com College Football Editor

Florida, Alabama and Texas remained the top three teams in the second BCS standings, but there was a big shakeup in the next five spots.

The biggest: Unbeaten Boise State dropped from fourth to seventh, and the Broncos' long-shot hopes of playing for a national title seem to be all but gone. Boise is no longer the highest-ranked of the non-Big Six schools; that is now TCU.

The new No. 4 is Iowa, followed by USC, TCU, Boise and Cincinnati. Each of the top eight is unbeaten except for USC.

Iowa moved up from sixth, thanks to its computer ranking moving from third to first. USC, which is fourth in both media polls, moved up from seventh. TCU had been eighth, and Cincinnati dropped three spots.

Florida is No. 1 in both media polls, but the Gators' average computer ranking fell from first to second. The Gators had been No. 1 in four computers last week, but they're second in four and third in the other two this week.

Though the computers like Iowa best, the Hawkeyes are eighth in both media polls used by the BCS. Iowa is No. 1 in five of the six computers; the other, the Billingsley system, again had Alabama No. 1; the Hawkeyes are fourth in Billingsley.

USC's computer ranking went from 11th to ninth, enabling the Trojans to move up in the BCS.

TCU, which blew out BYU on Saturday and jumped from eighth in the computers to fourth, now is the highest-ranked team from a non-Big Six league. A non-Big Six team is guaranteed a BCS spot in two ways. One is if it finishes in the top 12; the other is if it is ranked in the top 16 and its ranking is higher than that of a conference champion that has an automatic berth. This week, the Horned Frogs are higher than any team from the ACC and Big East.

Under BCS rules, only one non-Big Six team is guaranteed a spot if it meets the criteria. Any others would be at-large candidates.

The three components of the BCS standings are the coaches' poll; the Harris poll, voted on by media members and by former players, coaches and administrators; and six computers. Each of the components counts one-third. The best and worst computer rankings are thrown out, and the sum total of the remaining four is divided by 100 (the maximum possible points) to come up with the BCS' computer rankings percentage.

While strength of schedule isn't a BCS component, all six computers have a strength-of-schedule factor in their rankings.

The final BCS standings will be released Dec. 6. Teams first and second in the final standings meet in the BCS National Championship Game on Jan. 7 in Pasadena, Calif.

Some other items of interest from the first set of standings:

Florida's lead over Alabama dropped from .0360 points to .0276 points. Texas is .0523 behind Alabama and Iowa is another .0678 behind Texas.

Texas is the only Big 12 team in the top 13, and the Longhorns again have the widest computer variance of any team in the BCS top 10. The Longhorns are third in Billingsley but 14th in the Sagarin ratings. The next-highest variance is seven, for Boise State; the Broncos are fourth in Sagarin but 11th in the Colley Matrix.

Texas' computer numbers improved from sixth to fifth. The Longhorns play Oklahoma State, which is 14th in the BCS, this week, so the Longhorns' computer numbers almost certainly would improve again with a victory.

The only teams in the top five in all six computers again were Alabama, Florida and Iowa. The Gators and Crimson Tide were in the top three in all six.

Oregon is No. 10 in the BCS. The Ducks are tied with Cincinnati for No. 6 in the computers -- two spots higher than Boise State, which beat the Ducks -- but outside the top 10 in both media polls.

Cincinnati dropped two spots in the computers after playing Louisville; the Bearcats also dropped one spot in the coaches' poll, which led to their three-spot drop in the BCS.

Georgia Tech is the highest-ranked ACC team, at No. 11.

Ole Miss, which is 25th, is the only team in the BCS top 25 to have an average computer ranking outside the top 25. Conversely, No. 24 California is the only team in the BCS top 25 that's not ranked in either media poll; the Golden Bears are ranked in the top 25 by four computers.

The computers also like Arizona, which is 20th in the BCS. The Wildcats' average computer ranking is 14th, but they're 24th and 25th in the media polls.

The SEC has five teams in the top 25, followed by the Pac-10 with four, the ACC, Big East and Big Ten with three each, the Big 12 and Mountain West with two each and Conference USA, independents and the WAC with one each.

No. 23 Notre Dame, Cal and Ole Miss moved into the top 25. BYU (which had been 16th), Wisconsin (21st) and Kansas (25th) dropped out; Wisconsin was idle, and BYU and Kansas were routed.

BCS Standings

Mike Huguenin is the college sports editor for Rivals.com. He can be reached at mhuguenin@rivals.com.