BCS Standings Favor Bruins

The college game’s version of Monday night football debuted with a rousing release of the first bowl championship series standings, which revealed that if the Jan. 3 Rose Bowl were held today the top two teams

We told you this was going to be a process.

As expected, Oklahoma, Nebraska, UCLA and Miami were the top four teams in the first standings, setting up an immediate No.1-vs.-No.2 BCS showdown Saturday when Oklahoma plays at Nebraska. Oklahoma, the defending national champion and winner of 20 consecutive games, leads the first BCS standings with 3.06 points, followed by Nebraska at 6.40, UCLA with 8.34 and Miami at 12.01.

The rest of the top 10 has Virginia Tech, Texas, Michigan, Maryland, Tennessee and Washington State. Don’t commit these teams to memory because they are going to change.

Provided UCLA wins at Stanford next weekend--Oregon could tell you that’s no cinch--the Bruins would probably move into the coveted No.2 spot, displacing the Oklahoma-Nebraska loser. Remember, the schools with the two lowest point totals in the final BCS standings Dec. 9 will play for the national title in the Rose Bowl.

The BCS standings combined four elements--poll average, computer rankings, strength of schedule and losses. Miami, which missed a national title spot by .32 last year, once again finds itself on the BCS short end.

The Hurricanes are ranked No.1 in the AP and USA Today/ESPN polls, yet find themselves a distant fourth in the first computations. As we said, though, it’s very, very early. Most who have seen Miami play would support its No.1 poll rankings, yet the Hurricanes are lagging behind the top three in computer average and schedule strength.

Miami ranks 13th in one BCS computer and 11th in another. The Hurricanes play in the weakest major conference, the Big East, and are getting penalized because nonconference opponents Penn State and Florida State, traditional powers, are having down seasons.

“I don’t need a computer,” Miami Coach Larry Coker told the AP on Monday. “Teams are going to fall. The month of November is as critical as December. We saw three undefeated teams fall last week. The only thing we can control is to make sure we’re not one of them.”

Miami can take some solace knowing Nebraska and Oklahoma are playing this weekend and might have to play again in the Big 12 title game. UCLA is solid in the No.3 BCS slot, but faces a five-game gantlet through the Pac-10, the nation’s strongest conference this year.

You don’t think so? Five of the 15 schools in the first BCS standings are from the Pac-10, with Washington at No. 12, Oregon at No. 13 and Stanford at No. 14. Also, the strength of Miami’s schedule is back-ended.

The Hurricanes’ BCS status will improve greatly provided the Hurricanes win late-season games against Washington and Virginia Tech. One of the stories to watch is Washington State, which is 7-0 and No.10 in the first BCS ratings in what has been a remarkable rise from obscurity. The Cougars began the season unranked, were picked to finish last in the Pac-10 and didn’t even crack the AP top 25 until they won at Stanford on Oct. 13.

Washington State still lags behind in the traditional polls, ranking 14th this week in the AP and 15 in the coaches’, but the Cougars debut with the fourth best computer rating among 15 ranked schools. Washington State’s 14.5 poll average will also be reduced dramatically if it keeps winning against the likes of Oregon, UCLA, Arizona State and Washington.

The BCS was formed in 1998 as a more equitable way to determine a 1-2 matchup in the absence of a playoff. In the past, championship games were made based on rankings in the Associated Press and coaches’ polls, but those voting bodies were often divided.

Or, as in the case of 1994 and 1996, a title game could not be made because one of the top teams was contracted to play in the Rose Bowl.