Notre Dame’s impressive win on the road against Oklahoma Saturday meant the Irish should be considered BCS championship contenders with just a month or so left in this 2012 college football regular season. Confirmation of that was unveiled Sunday night in the latest BCS standings when the Irish, previously ranked No. 5 in the BCS, jumped up two spots to take the No. 3 ranking.
Alabama and Kansas State continued to hold down the top two spots and Oregon stayed put at No. 4 after tearing out and eating Colorado’s soul. But, so far, the computers love (yes, they’re capable of feelings now) K-State and Notre Dame and give them both the highest computer average available. Conversely, Alabama has a No. 3 computer average and Oregon has a No. 5 computer average.
LSU, preparing for a home game against the top-ranked Tide this upcoming Saturday, are No. 5. Georgia moved up four spots after defeating Florida in a turnover-filled 17-9 win. Speaking of the Gators, they fall from No. 2 in the BCS to just behind the Bulldogs at No. 7.
The SEC’s presence in the BCS top 10 continues with South Carolina at No. 8. Florida State comes in at No. 9, and whadya know, Big East representative Louisville rounds out the BCS top 10 after an overtime win against Cincinnati Friday night.
Oregon State and Oklahoma, both losers on Saturday, fall to No. 11 and No. 12. Clemson, Stanford and Mississippi State make up spots 13 through 15. USC drops to No. 17 after its stunning loss to Arizona (now No. 22) and Boise State sits at No. 19. As we explained over the weekend, the Broncos will need to either 1) finish in the BCS top 12, or 2) finish in the BCS top 16 and ahead of a BCS conference champion to qualify for a BCS bowl. Nebraska, the highest-ranked team from the Big Ten since Ohio State is not eligible for postseason play, sits at No. 20. All other BCS conferences have teams ranked ahead of Boise State at this time.
Oklahoma State (No. 24) and Louisiana Tech (No. 25) enter the top 25 this week.
(Many thanks to the National Football Foundation for the chart)
