Utes move to 8th in BCS Standings

NEW YORK (AP) -- No scoreboard watching necessary for Texas Tech.

Less than 24 hours after the Red Raiders gave the national championship race a makeover by defeating then-No. 1 Texas, they received more good news when the BCS standings were released Sunday.

Texas Tech was in second place, behind Alabama and just ahead of third-place Penn State.

If the undefeated Red Raiders of the Big 12 and undefeated Crimson Tide of the Southeastern Conference win out, they will likely meet in the BCS national championship game in Miami on Jan. 8.

The unbeaten Nittany Lions still need help in the form of an Alabama or Texas Tech loss to reach the title game.

The computer rankings made the difference for the Red Raiders.

Texas Tech was a close No. 3 behind the Nittany Lions in the USA Today coaches' poll and the Harris Poll. Alabama was a solid No. 1 in each poll.

However, the Red Raiders were tied with Alabama for first in the computer ratings, while Penn State was rated fourth in the compilation of six computer ratings the Bowl Championship Series uses.

Alabama had a BCS average of .9747. Texas Tech was at .9372 and Penn State .9286.

With Texas Tech facing ninth-place Oklahoma State and sixth-place Oklahoma in its next two games, plus a possible Big 12 title game down the road, the Red Raiders should be in position to expand their lead over Penn State if they can keep winning.

Though one of the teams ahead of the Nittany Lions has changed (Texas Tech instead of Texas), their problem remains the same: a so-so schedule.

Penn State from the Big Ten plays at Iowa (5-4) next week, then finishes the season at home against Indiana (3-6) and Michigan State, 18th in the BCS standings. The only team the Nittany Lions have beaten that is currently ranked is Ohio State.

The Nittany Lions also better watch their backs. Fourth-place Texas (.8531), fifth-place Florida (.8268) and sixth-place Oklahoma (.8220), all have one loss but will ultimately face tougher schedules than Penn State.

Southern California (.7551) is seventh, followed by Utah (.6972).

The Utes are in position to earn a bid to the Bowl Championship Series from the Mountain West Conference for the second time since 2004 if they can get through the toughest part of their conference slate. One team from the five conferences without an automatic spot can earn a bid to a BCS game by finishing the season in the top 12 of the standings.

Utah hosts TCU, which is 12th in the BCS standings, on Thursday night. The Utes also play rival BYU to finish the regular season.

Boise State is sandwiched between Utah and TCU in 10th place. The Broncos from the Western Athletic Conference need to root for Utah and hope their unbeaten record keeps them ahead of the Horned Frogs, whose only loss is to Oklahoma.

If two or more teams from non-automatic qualifying conferences finish in the top 12 of the BCS, only the highest rated gets an automatic bid.

BCS Standings

BCS Standings List Nov. 2

                   Harris          USA Today    Computer     BCS   
                Rk  Pts   Pct   Rk  Pts   Pct   Rk   Pct    Avg  Pv

1. Alabama 1 2798 0.9818 1 1498 0.9823 t1 0.960 0.9747 2
2. Texas Tech 3 2644 0.9277 3 1409 0.9239 t1 0.960 0.9372 7
3. Penn St. 2 2689 0.9435 2 1437 0.9423 4 0.900 0.9286 3
4. Texas 6 2322 0.8147 7 1227 0.8046 3 0.940 0.8531 1
5. Florida 4 2391 0.8389 5 1268 0.8315 5 0.810 0.8268 8
6. Oklahoma 5 2366 0.8302 4 1290 0.8459 9 0.790 0.8220 4
7. Southern Cal 7 2273 0.7975 6 1232 0.8079 10 0.660 0.7551 5
8. Utah 9 1864 0.6540 9 1018 0.6675 7 0.770 0.6972 10
9. Oklahoma St. 8 2021 0.7091 8 1066 0.6990 11 0.590 0.6660 9
   1. Boise St. 10 1797 0.6305 10 958 0.6282 8 0.700 0.6529 11
   2. Ohio St. 11 1576 0.5530 12 843 0.5528 12 0.560 0.5553 12
   3. TCU 12 1560 0.5474 11 862 0.5652 13 0.520 0.5442 13
   4. Georgia 14 1380 0.4842 14 693 0.4544 9 0.670 0.5362 6
   5. Missouri 13 1416 0.4968 13 794 0.5207 14 0.460 0.4925 14
   6. BYU 16 1179 0.4137 16 591 0.3875 t17 0.320 0.3737 20
   7. LSU 15 1241 0.4354 15 683 0.4479 19 0.230 0.3711 19
   8. Ball St. 17 1053 0.3695 18 503 0.3298 t15 0.370 0.3564 16
   9. Michigan St. 18 857 0.3007 17 516 0.3384 t15 0.370 0.3364 21
   10. North Carolina 19 670 0.2351 19 359 0.2354 t17 0.320 0.2635 22
   11. Georgia Tech 20 561 0.1968 20 289 0.1895 21 0.180 0.1888 NR
   12. California 21 432 0.1516 22 192 0.1259 t26 0.060 0.1125 NR
   13. Florida St. 24 237 0.0832 24 150 0.0984 25 0.080 0.0872 15
   14. Maryland 23 249 0.0874 21 243 0.1593 NR 0.000 0.0822 NR
   15. Northwestern 26 212 0.0744 25 120 0.0787 t23 0.090 0.0810 NR

   16. West Virginia 22 369 0.1295 23 172 0.1128 NR 0.000 0.0808 NR

              AH    RB    CM    KM    JS    PW

10. Alabama 25 22 24 23 24 25
11. Texas Tech 24 25 21 25 25 22
12. Penn St. 23 24 22 22 22 23
13. Texas 22 23 25 24 23 24
14. Florida 20 20 23 21 19 20
15. Oklahoma 19 19 20 20 20 21
16. Southern Cal 15 21 17 17 15 17
17. Utah 21 15 19 19 21 18
18. Oklahoma St. 17 14 14 15 16 14
    1. Boise St. 18 16 18 16 18 19
    2. Ohio St. 11 17 13 14 14 15
    3. TCU 14 11 15 13 12 13
    4. Georgia 16 18 16 18 17 16
    5. Missouri 13 12 11 12 11 11
    6. BYU 10 10 9 4 3 9
    7. LSU 0 13 0 9 10 4
    8. Ball St. 9 1 10 6 13 12
    9. Michigan St. 12 7 12 8 6 10
    10. North Carolina 8 3 8 11 8 8
    11. Georgia Tech 2 6 5 7 5 0
    12. California 1 4 4 1 0 0
    13. Florida St. 0 2 0 5 7 1
    14. Maryland 0 0 0 0 0 0
    15. Northwestern 5 0 3 0 1 6

    16. West Virginia 0 5 0 0 0 0

Explanation Key Team percentages are derived by dividing a team's actual voting points by a maximum 2850 possible points in the Harris Interactive Poll and 1525 possible points in the USA Today Coaches Poll. Six computer rankings calculated in inverse points order (25 for No. 1, 24 for No. 2, etc.) are used to determine the overall computer component. The highest and lowest ranking for each team is dropped, and the remaining four are added and divided by 100 (the maximum possible points) to produce a Computer Rankings Percentage. The six computer ranking providers are Anderson & Hester, Richard Billingsley, Colley Matrix, Kenneth Massey, Jeff Sagarin, and Peter Wolfe. Each computer ranking accounts for schedule strength in its formula. The BCS Average is calculated by averaging the percent totals of the Harris Interactive, USA Today Coaches and Computer polls.

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