This year’ s hell has begun. Unless you enjoy the Bowl Championship Series and its wrath eachweek, then times will most likely be difficult for you.
The first BCS rankings were released last night, and to a bit of a shockOklahoma was ranked No. 1 in the country. Given the events of the past few weeks, the Soonersshould not hold the spot longer than one week. But, let’ s check out how each team is doing soright now...
The new BCS ranking for No. 1 Oklahoma is special, but the threerecords that Sooners players broke on Saturday were pretty darn special too, one inparticular--running back DeMarco Murray now owns the record for most careertouchdowns in school history.
For those who care about the AP poll, No. 2 Oregon was selected as the top team inthe country for the first time in school history.
San Jose State has played five ranked teams so far this year. The only ranked team to go toSan Jose was No. 3 Boise State, which beat SJSU 48-0, the second largest margin of defeat for theSpartans on the year behind Utah’ s 56-3 victory. (Consider this: Boise State defeated SJSU by 48points. No. 13 Wisconsin did the same, but at home and by just 13 points.)
No. 4 Auburn’ s quarterback Cam Newton: " The Heisman Trophy? You can throw that out thewindow.” (Newton is full of interesting quotes.)
No. 5 TCU’ s strength of schedule took a huge hit over the weekend with SMU, Oregon State and Air Force all losing.
The award for Most-Unconvincing-Wins-Over-Lower-Tier-Teams-Yet-Still-Ranked goes toNo. 6 LSU. This weekend will either see Auburn killing the Tigers, or the Mad Hatterperforming his latest magic trick.
Barring another Mark Dantonio crumble, No. 7 Michigan State could end up at 10-2 for the year.
No. 8 Alabama quietly--and unimpressively--defeated Ole Miss late Saturday night 23-10 inTuscaloosa.
There is one thing on the minds of No. 9 Utah--turnovers.If No. 10 Ohio State hopes to reach the national title--or the Big Ten crown, for thatmatter--it willneed a ton of help.
A team that is very quietly sitting outside the Top 10 is No. 11 Missouri, which beatTexas A& M on Saturday to improve its record to 6-0on the year, with two of thosewins coming against Big 12 opponents. Thanks to the Tigers’ record--and next opponent,Oklahoma--ESPN’s College GameDay will head to Columbia.
Who has No. 12 Stanford at No. 4 in their rankings, with the fifth most difficult schedule?
You certainly have heard this expression, but No. 13 Wisconsin controls its own destiny in terms of reachingand/or winning the Big Ten title game, and perhaps the BCS title game.
Check out some of the things No. 14 Oklahoma State wide receiver Justin Blackmonhas done already this year, including leading the nation in scoring.
There is one fact throughout the Big Ten--the key to the Big Ten Championship runs through No. 15 Iowa and Kinnick Stadium.
After a crushing loss to an unranked Texas squad, No. 16 Nebraska will have to forget the game completelyif it hopes to reach a BCS bowl game.
You can call No. 17 Florida State’ s victory over Boston College a team " showingits resolve,” but the Seminoles did not look good. Quarterback Christian Ponder played pathetically.
It might be that Washington State is improving as a team, that No. 18 Arizona’ s quarterbackNick Foles is too important of a player or thatthe Wildcats may just not be that good, but Saturday’ s game was a relatively close one.
No. 19 Texas staved off No. 16 Nebraska in Lincoln to end the Cornhuskers’hope of winning a national championship.
No. 20 West Virginia jumpedsix spots in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll after a 20-6 win over South Florida last Thursday.All six games left on the Mountaineers’ slate are Big East games.
No. 21 South Carolina really blew it on Saturday, muffing a 28-10 halftime lead against Kentucky.
For the first time since 2007, No. 22 Kansas State is ranked within the BCS Top 25. The Wildcats’season-opening victory over UCLA was arguably the catalyst that pushed Kansas State into therankings.
It almost seems criminal; No. 23 Arkansas’ two losses have been close[r than the box scorereads], and the Razorbacks are feeling it in the polls. Arkansas lost its starting quarterbackin Ryan Mallett, which would seem like a season-ending crushing blow, but backupTyler Wilson played extremely well after Mallett’ s early departure on Saturdayagainst No. 4 Auburn.
Mississippi State currently sits at No. 24 in the first BCS ranking, marking this thefirst time the Bulldogs are ranked since September of 2001 thanks to a victoryover Florida on Saturday.
Well, well, well. Virginia Tech appears within the first BCS ranking of the year. Let’ s not forgetthat " [a]ll [Frank] Beamer does is win ACC Championships.” TheHokies have now wo n five consecutive games and are 3-0 in ACC play.
