November 22, 2009

Mike Huguenin
Rivals.com College Football Editor

For the second week in a row, the top seven teams in the BCS remained the same, but No. 5 Cincinnati -- which had a bye week -- crept closer to No. 4 TCU.

Florida remains No. 1, followed by Alabama, Texas, TCU, Cincinnati, Boise State and Georgia Tech. Oregon moved up three spots, to No. 8, with Pittsburgh and Ohio State remaining ninth and 10th, respectively. LSU, which was eighth last week, dropped to 15th after its loss to Ole Miss.

TCU was .0149 points ahead of Cincinnati last week, but is .0108 ahead of the Bearcats this week. TCU beat a five-win Wyoming team on Saturday, but still saw its lead shrink over Cincinnati.

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 fourth-place team in the BCS is important because Alabama and Florida play each other in the SEC championship game, meaning the fourth-place team has a chance to jump to second should Texas lose either its regular-season finale to Texas A&M or to Nebraska in the Big 12 championship game.

One factor against TCU: Its final regular-season game is against one-win New Mexico. Cincinnati's final two games are against three-win Illinois and Pitt, which is ninth in the BCS this week. Cincy's advantage in the computer rankings conceivably will grow.

TCU remains 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 with an automatic berth. This week, the Horned Frogs are higher than any team from the ACC, Big East, Big Ten and Pac-10.

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. At-large candidates must have at least nine victories and finish in the top 14 in the final BCS standings.

Iowa, Oklahoma State, Penn State and Virginia Tech are ranked 11th through 14th, respectively, this week. While Ohio State has locked up the Big Ten's Rose Bowl spot, a second team from the Big Ten is very much in play for an at-large berth, as is Oklahoma State if it can win at Oklahoma in its regular-season finale next Saturday.

If Boise State wins out, the Broncos should finish no lower than sixth in the BCS. The BCS never has had two non-Big Six teams in BCS bowls in the same season. One of the biggest story lines this season will be whether an unbeaten Boise State is chosen ahead of a two-loss team from the Big Ten or Big 12.

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 dropped from No. 1 to No. 2, behind Alabama, in the computers even though the Crimson Tide played an FCS program Saturday. The Tide is No. 1 in five computers, and Florida is No. 1 in the other. Florida is No. 2 in one computer and No. 3 in the other four. Cincinnati is No. 2 in three computers, and Texas and Alabama are No. 2 in one each.

For the second week in a row, Penn State is getting a huge boost from the human polls, ranking 11th in both. They are 18th in the computers.

Of the teams in the BCS top 10, Ohio State has the widest computer ranges. The Buckeyes' highest computer ranking is ninth, in the Billingsley system. But the Sagarin computer has them 18th. The next-highest range is for No. 9 Pitt, at six (ninth in one computer and 15th in another).

Florida has been No. 1 in each set of BCS standings. The last team to be No. 1 each week was Ohio State in 2006. The Buckeyes lost the national title game that season, to Florida.

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

No. 24 North Carolina and No. 25 Ole Miss moved into the top 25. Wisconsin (which had been 16th) and Stanford (17th) dropped out after losses.

BCS Standings

MORE: Where the numbers come from | Voters: Coaches - Harris

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