Penn State gains ground

NEW YORK – Penn State surged in the Bowl Championship Series standings after its big win at Ohio State, closing the gap on first-place Texas and second-place Alabama on Sunday.

Still, the Nittany Lions are in danger of being unbeaten and left out of the BCS national championship game.

Texas’ .9981 BCS average is the third highest since the current formula, which counts the USA Today coaches’ poll and Harris poll for two-thirds of the grade and a compilation of six computers for the other third, was put in place in 2004.

The Crimson Tide (.9499) were a solid second in the polls, and second in all but one of the computer ratings.

Penn State’s 13-6 victory over Ohio State helped in the computer rankings and pushed its average to .9257. The problem for the Nittany Lions is the perceived weakness of the Big Ten in comparison to the Southeastern Conference and the Big 12.

It’s unlikely remaining opponents such as Iowa (5-3), Indiana (3-5) and Michigan State (7-2) will help lift Penn State into one of the top two spots if the Crimson Tide win the SEC and Longhorns win the Big 12.

Texas Tech climbs

Texas Tech has its highest ranking in the AP Top 25 in 32 years, and a chance to make another momentous leap coming up.

The Red Raiders moved up to No. 6 in the poll as they get ready to host No. 1 Texas.

Texas is a unanimous No. 1 for the second week in a row, receiving all 65 first-place votes, and the rest of the top five remained the same: No. 2 Alabama, followed by Penn State, Oklahoma and Florida.

The Red Raiders moved up two spots by overwhelming Kansas, 63-14 on Saturday. Texas Tech hasn’t been ranked this high since Nov. 15, 1976, when coach Steve Sloan had the Red Raiders 8-0 heading into a big home game against No. 9 Houston.

Tulsa 49, Central Florida 19

David Johnson threw for 264 yards and a touchdown, ran for two more scores and No. 19 Tulsa (8-0, 5-0 CUSA) overpowered UCF (2-5, 1-2) 49-19 Sunday night in the Golden Hurricane’s first game in the Top 25 in 17 years.