Texas Leapfrogs USC in BCS Rankings
Posted by Jimmy Atkinson
A week and a half ago, everyone was worried that Texas might actually slip to #3 in the BCS rankings. Well this week, the Longhorns are the #1 team in the land according to the Bowl Championship Series ranking formula. (Hey, this isn't exactly the US News & World Report Rankings, so let's not get too jumpy here.) They can thank a few human pollsters who switched their #1 votes from USC to Texas over the weekend (although in my opinion beating Texas Tech 52-17 at home isn't too much more impressive than beating Washington 51-24 on the road). Also to be thanked are the computer rankings; five of the six computer rankings put Texas at #1 and the other at #2, while USC received only one top ranking, three #2 rankings, one #4 ranking, and one #5 ranking. Below are the computer rankings for the top ten teams:
| Rank | Team | A&H | RB | CM | KM | JS | PW |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Texas | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 2 | USC | 2 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2 |
| 3 | Virginia Tech | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 4 | Georgia | 5 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| 5 | Alabama | 4 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| 6 | UCLA | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 9 |
| 7 | Miami | 11 | 10 | 15 | 12 | 12 | 12 |
| 8 | LSU | 9 | 6 | 10 | 9 | 13 | 13 |
| 9 | Penn State | 7 | 11 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| 10 | Florida State | 16 | 15 | 16 | 19 | 14 | 15 |
A&H - Anderson & Hester; RB - Richard Billingsley; CM - Colley Matrix; KM - Kenneth Massey; JS - Jeff Sagarin; PW - Peter Wolfe
But who really cares? Texas fans, celebrate now if you want, but realize that it's not even November yet! There's still a ton of college football left to be played. The big problem for the Longhorns is that they've played their toughest opponents already, while USC's and Virginia Tech's are still coming up. That could spell trouble in Austin if all three teams were to win out; Texas might be on the outside looking in.
Anyway, still plenty of ball to be played. The likelihood of the season ending with more than two undefeated teams, in my opinion, is very slim. Let me emphasize that point: there will not be more than two undefeated teams after December 3. I do think that Texas will get to that perfect mark. (A&M may be the only team that can challenge them, and I say this only because it will be a heated rivalry game.) I think the other five unbeatens have very tough roads still and most of them will not make it out unscathed. Just who among them will get there? I'm not going to go out on that limb just yet. Maybe next week.