BCS standings: Kansas State is No. 1; Oregon, Notre Dame follow

Top-ranked Alabama’s loss Saturday left three undefeated schools vying for two spots in this year’s Bowl Championship Series national title race.

Kansas State, riding its computer advantage, is the new No. 1 in the latest BCS standings released Sunday with an average of .9674.

Oregon, despite supplanting Alabama as No. 1 in all the major polls, is second at .9479, followed by Notre Dame at .9396.

Alabama, the top team in the first four BCS standings, dropped to No. 4 with Georgia at No. 5.

The top two teams in the final BCS standings on Dec. 2 will play for the BCS national title.

Kansas State is No. 1 for the first time in school history and ends the SEC’s 14-week streak in the BCS standings’ top spot.

The Wildcats would have advanced to the BCS title game in 1998 if not for a heartbreaking loss to Texas A&M; in the Big 12 Conference title game.

Kansas State was No. 3 on the final weekend when No. 2 UCLA lost at Miami.

Fourteen years later, Kansas State again controls its own fate, needing wins against Baylor and Texas to almost assuredly clinch a trip to the BCS title game on Jan. 7 in South Florida.

Oregon also appears safe provided the Ducks win out, while Notre Dame, the third undefeated team in contention, likely needs Oregon or Kansas State to lose.

Oregon has a tough stretch of closing games, starting this week in Eugene against Stanford. The Ducks close the regular season on Nov. 24 at Oregon State and then face a possible Pac-12 Conference title game against the winner of this week’s USC-UCLA game. Stanford, Oregon State, USC and UCLA all are ranked in the BCS top 25. Stanford is No. 13; Oregon State, UCLA and USC are stacked up at Nos. 16, 17 and 18.

Kansas State plays at Baylor this week and then closes at home against Texas on Dec. 1.

Notre Dame hosts Wake Forest this week before a Nov. 24 game at USC.

Notre Dame, at 10-0, is almost assured of at least a BCS bowl game provided it doesn’t suffer a bad loss to unranked Wake Forest.

The Irish, if they don’t make the title game, could end up in either the Rose Bowl or Fiesta Bowl.

The Rose Bowl would get first replacement pick if anchor Oregon is No. 1 in the BCS standings and lost to the title game. The Fiesta Bowl would get the first choice if anchor Kansas State is No. 1.

The Rose Bowl could replace Oregon with another Pac-12 team only if that team is ranked in the top 14 of the final BCS standings. If Oregon wins its last three games, however, every other Pac-12 team would have at least three defeats.

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