Sooners, USC Tied in Computer Average

MORRISTOWN, N.J. - It appears as though Miami will not be playing for the national championship at its home stadium on January 4.

Following a stunning 31-28 loss at North Carolina, the Hurricanes dropped from third to 10th in the latest Bowl Championship Series standings released Monday.

The top two teams in the final standings released December 5 will meet in the Orange Bowl - Miami's home stadium.

But for the Hurricanes to secure one of the final two spots, they would have to win out and at least eight teams above them would probably have to lose, an unlikely proposition.

Latest BCS Standings | AP Poll | Coaches' Poll

Southern California (8-0), which is ranked first in both human polls, maintained the top spot and Oklahoma (8-0) the second spot in the BCS poll.

The Trojans' advantage over the Sooners slipped from .518 points last week to .247 this week after Oklahoma moved into a tie for first in the average of the four computer rankings, which account for one-third of the BCS formula.

USC has a BCS average of .9895 - slightly up from last week's .9843 - while Oklahoma jumped from .9325 to .9648.

Auburn (9-0) is up one spot to third at .9238 - .411 behind Oklahoma - while California (6-1) jumped four positions to fourth at .8050.

Wisconsin (8-0), which was idle last week, moved up two spots to fifth at .7579 while Utah (8-0) remained sixth at .7429.

If the Utes finish in the top six, they would become the first team from outside the six BCS conferences to earn a bid in one of the major bowls since the rankings began.

Texas (.7370) is seventh, while Tennessee (.7124), Georgia (.7019) and Miami (.6530) round out the top 10.

Florida State slipped from fifth to 13th after a 20-17 loss at Maryland.

At the end of last season, USC was ranked first in both the media and coaches' polls but sat third in the BCS standings behind Louisiana State and Oklahoma, who went on the play in the Sugar Bowl.

LSU beat the Sooners while USC beat Michigan in the Rose Bowl, leading to a split national championship and an overhaul of the BCS formula.

This year, the formula consists of three evenly weighed elements: a team's percentage of points in both the media poll and coaches' polls and an average of four computer ratings. The formula no longer has a strength-of-schedule component - though the computers do account for it - nor are teams penalized a point for each loss or rewarded for a quality win.

The teams' poll percentages consist of their number of voting points divided by the maximum amount available in each poll, 1,625 in the media poll and 1,525 in the coaches' poll. These numbers better reflect how writers and coaches view relative differences between the teams than a straight average of the two polls.

Six computer rankings are used this season: Anderson & Hester, Jeff Sagarin, Richard Billingsley, Colley Matrix, Kenneth Massey and Peter Wolfe. The best and worst rating for each team is ignored, with the remaining four totals added together and divided by 100 to produce a ratings percentage.

BCS members include the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10 and Southeastern Conferences as well as Notre Dame. The format calls for the championship game to be rotated among the Orange, Rose, Sugar and Fiesta Bowls.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Related News

Related Videos

Sponsors