BCS powers stand pat
NEW YORK – All the national title contenders took care of business and the BCS standings were unchanged at the top Sunday, with Alabama and Texas Tech holding the first two spots and Florida, Texas and Oklahoma poised to move up.
The Crimson Tide ran away from Mississippi State in the second half of a 32-7 victory Saturday that kept Alabama on top of both the USA Today coaches’ poll and the Harris poll. The Tide has a .9787 BCS average.
Texas Tech (.9698) remained second in the polls and first according to the computer ratings during a week off. The Red Raiders head into their fourth straight game against a ranked opponent, this time at Oklahoma, in control of their national title and Big 12 championship hopes.
The Sooners also had the week off, while Florida and Texas both had blowout victories Saturday.
Florida and Alabama will play for the Southeastern Conference title on Dec. 6, and if they can avoid losing before they get there, the game will probably amount to a national semifinal with the winner advancing to play for the national championship.
Southern California, also a big winner Saturday, is still stuck behind the top five and in need of at least a couple of upsets to reach the national championship game.
USC also needs help to win the Pac-10 championship and earn a trip to the Rose Bowl. Oregon State, which beat the Trojans in September, can earn a Rose Bowl bid with victories at Arizona and against Oregon.
The Trojans, however, would be a prime candidate to receive an at-large bid to the BCS if they finish the season with victories against Notre Dame and UCLA.
Penn State and Utah can both lock up spots in the Bowl Championship Series on Saturday with victories.
The Nittany Lions can win the Big Ten title and a spot in the Rose Bowl by beating Michigan State in Happy Valley.
Utah would lock up an automatic BCS bid if it can complete its perfect season with a victory against BYU. The Utes, from the Mountain West Conference, are seventh in the BCS standings and need to finish in the top 12 to earn their second BCS appearance since 2004.
Boise State is ninth in the standings and unbeaten. The Broncos can be eligible for an at-large BCS berth if they win out and are Western Athletic Conference champions, but they’ll need Utah to lose to earn an automatic bid to one of the five marquee bowl games.
Hurricanes return
Miami stormed into the Associated Press Top 25 on Sunday for the first time in more than two years. Having won five straight games, the Hurricanes entered poll at No. 23.
It was an otherwise remarkably stable week for the rankings. The first 16 teams held their places from last week.
No. 1 Alabama received 42 first-place votes and 1,601 points. No. 2 Texas Tech received 21 first-place votes and 1,574 points. Florida, coming off a 56-6 victory against South Carolina, took two first-place votes away from Alabama and received 1,476 points.
Texas was No. 4, followed by Oklahoma, Southern California and Penn State.
The Hurricanes last took the field as a ranked team was Sept. 16, 2006 against Louisville. No. 17 Miami lost 31-7 and fell out of the AP Top 25 the next day, ending a streak of 107 straight appearances in the rankings.