Pac-10 Is Surprise Ratings Star

September was to the Pacific 10 Conference what packaged spinach was to your refrigerator -- something you couldn’t wait to get rid of.

The Pac-10 produced a major officials’ controversy, several reputation-damaging performances against Southeastern Conference opponents and Stanford.

So it came as no surprise this week when USA Today computer czar Jeff Sagarin released his weekly conference ratings and had the Pac-10 ranked ...

... Last?

Nope.

First.

Sagarin rates the Big Ten second followed by the SEC, which is considered by many the nation’s top conference this year.

The SEC has five teams ranked in the top 15 in this week’s Associated Press poll; the Pac-10 has three in the top 16.

The rankings were not accidentally logged upside down, Sagarin confirmed in an e-mail.

And it’s not just Sagarin. The Pac-10 also ranks first in Anderson & Hester’s system and the Massey Ratings -- that’s half of the computers used in the Bowl Championship Series formula. One index rates the Big East No. 1, one doesn’t list conference rankings, and another isn’t revealing until the first BCS standings are released on Oct. 15.

“Certainly there is strength in numbers, perhaps even truth and justice,” Pac-10 Commissioner Tom Hansen said jokingly. “I feel confident this ranking reflects the admiration of the manner in which Cal held down Tennessee.”

Tennessee beat Cal, 35-18, so the commissioner has a sense of humor.

What pushed the Pac-10 over the top?

Maybe Arizona’s losing by 42 points at Louisiana State?

Oregon State’s coming up 28 points short against Boise State?

Cal’s “statement” win against Portland State?

Stanford’s sinking like an anchor against Navy?

Washington State’s getting drubbed at Auburn, and then almost beating USC?

What might a 35-point loss by Stanford at Notre Dame this week do for Pac-10 credibility, secure it conference-of-the-year honors?

“I think most people’s perceptions are based on the top one-two teams in each conference, and they don’t consider the rest,” Sagarin explained.

Sagarin’s point is that you have to look at conference strength top to bottom. The Pac-10 has fewer lousy teams than the SEC, which is being dragged down by ankle weights Vanderbilt, Mississippi, Mississippi State and Kentucky.

The Pac-10 did score some nonconference points in September:

USC routed Arkansas and soundly defeated Nebraska.

Washington is vastly improved.

The Pac-10 played a more challenging nonconference schedule than most conferences.

And although the Pac-10 had to formally apologize for Oregon’s 34-33 win over Oklahoma, it was a quality win in Sagarin’s computer.

“I have the game recorded as Oregon 34, Oklahoma 33,” he wrote.

SEC schedule strength lurks as a potentially explosive issue for the BCS. Two years ago, the SEC was outraged when undefeated Auburn finished third in the BCS behind USC and Oklahoma.

SEC Commissioner Mike Slive has all but vowed this could not happen again in a civilized society. But right now Auburn is ranked No. 3 in both BCS human polls, behind Ohio State and USC. Sagarin has Auburn ranked eighth.

“In my opinion, the Southeastern Conference is the No. 1 college football conference in the nation,” SEC Associate Commissioner Charles Bloom said. “This season we have the highest nonconference winning percentage in the nation and the most teams ranked in national polls. Computer rankings include a lot of data that changes from week to week. At the end of the season, I feel the SEC should be ranked as the nation’s top conference.”

The SEC is in a difficult position because it recently inherited administration of the BCS -- rotated every two years among all BCS conferences except the Pac-10 and Big Ten.

Slive not only is SEC commissioner this year and next, he’s the BCS coordinator, which puts him in the prickly position of fighting for the SEC as he defends a system that could potentially keep one of his schools out of the title game ... again.

Bloom, it should be noted, when he worked under former SEC commissioner Roy Kramer, in 1998 helped identify and select the rankings system utilized in the BCS formula.

Sagarin is aware most SEC fans can read.

“Not too much heat yet from anyone,” Sagarin wrote, “but I’m sure that’s simply the proverbial lull before the storm.”

Blitz Package

* Oregon at California is not just the best game in the Pac-10 this week, it’s almost a family reunion. Cal Coach Jeff Tedford, who coached at Oregon from 1998 through 2001, has loaded his program with former Ducks coaches and administrators. Included are assistant coaches Bob Gregory, Dan Ferrigno and Bob Foster; strength coach John Krasinski, video coordinator Matt Fox, equipment manager Ed Garland, assistant equipment manager Brett Flores and recruiting assistant Kevin Parker.

Last summer, Cal also recruited fundraiser Jim Bartko, who in 17 years at Oregon helped raise more than $150 million for the program.

* Let the lobbying begin. Western Athletic Conference Commissioner Karl Benson said this week that he is confident a 12-0 Boise State team would earn automatic qualification -- and a $14-million paycheck -- into a BCS bowl game. “It’s easily attainable,” Benson said.

We’ll see. This year, a team from a non-BCS conference needs to finish in the top 12 in the final BCS standings, whereas before it had to finish in the top six. In 2004, the year Utah earned an automatic bid by finishing sixth, 11-0 Boise State finished No. 9.

“The system’s in place; it was tweaked this year,” Benson said. “I have confidence the system will reward a 12-0 team.”

The potential problem: Boise State moved up only one spot, from No. 22 to No. 21, in the USA Today coaches’ poll after a 36-3 win over Utah. The combined record of Boise State’s seven remaining opponents is 12-19.

* Texas versus Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl on Saturday lacks the luster it has had in recent years -- when national titles figured into the equation -- but it’s still important in this sense: The loser of the game featuring one-loss schools probably will be eliminated from BCS-bowl consideration.

This would be even more interesting if a second loss was handed to Oklahoma, which rightly believes it should have won the disputed game at Oregon on Sept. 16. Texas won last year after losing five straight in the series.

Not much bulletin board material to report. The closest thing we could find is Texas defensive end Brian Robison’s saying that Oklahoma is “probably one of the biggest rivalries that we have.”

Probably?

* A team to watch the next two weeks is Michigan State. The Spartans are coming off consecutive fiascoes, blowing a double-digit lead to Notre Dame and then losing last week to lowly Illinois. But the Spartans can still have plenty to say about the Big Ten race. They play at Michigan this week and then play host to Ohio State.

Said beleaguered Michigan State Coach John L. Smith: “We’re good enough to win every game on our schedule; we’re good enough to lose every game on our schedule.”

For Michigan, Smith is playing a familiar card: “They come here to play Michigan,” he said of his players. “Let’s be honest, those guys down the road didn’t care about them. Didn’t recruit them. So let’s go play them. Show ‘em that we’re good.”

* Checking on Chuck. First-year San Diego State Coach Chuck Long is off to an 0-4 start and has lost quarterback Kevin O’Connell (thumb) and backup Darren Mougey (shoulder) to injuries. This leaves Long no choice but to start Kevin Craft this week against Brigham Young. Craft is the son of former Aztecs coach Tom Craft, who was fired last season and replaced by Long.

* Believe it or not. The top quarterback in the Pac-10 this year, according to NCAA statistics, is the same Nate Longshore who looked helpless in Cal’s season opener at Tennessee. Longshore, rated seventh nationally in pass efficiency, is the only Pac-10 quarterback rated in the top 30. USC’s John David Booty is No. 33.

* For what it’s worth: Georgia leads the nation in scoring defense, giving up only 6.8 points per game. The schools Georgia has mostly kept out of the end zone have been Western Kentucky, South Carolina, Alabama Birmingham, Colorado and Mississippi. Georgia has given up only three touchdowns in five games. Temple has given up 28.

chris.dufresne@latimes.com