Texas Gets First Byte in the BCS

Set aside two consecutive national titles, a 29-game winning streak and last weekend’s wipe-out win at Washington.

USC is O-U-T as No. 1 in the bowl championship series standings -- although it might be only temporary.

Two days after Texas Coach Mack Brown declared that his team deserved to be ranked second, the Longhorns overtook USC for the top spot in the BCS by .0007, the slimmest margin separating Nos. 1 and 2 in history.

Texas placed first this week with a BCS average of .9763, followed by USC at .9756 and Virginia Tech at .9164.

“I don’t understand how that happened, but it sounds like, again, the computers haven’t been real friendly to the Trojans,” said USC Coach Pete Carroll, who has long professed little understanding of BCS workings. “But I’m not going to be really upset about the computers.”

And even then it’s not a cinch.

In 2003, USC was No. 1 in the Associated Press and coaches’ polls at season’s end but finished third in the BCS, which led to splitting headaches and split championships.

“I didn’t care about the BCS rankings three years ago, and I don’t care now,” Carroll said.

Rounding out this week’s BCS top 10 is Georgia at No. 4, followed by Alabama, UCLA, Miami, Louisiana State, Penn State and Florida State.

UCLA (7-0) moved up three spots, from No. 9 to No. 6, passing both one-loss schools that had been ahead of it, Miami and LSU, and also Texas Tech, which dropped out of the top 10 after its first defeat.

Brown said after Saturday’s win over Texas Tech that he thought all along everyone was playing for second behind USC, but he welcomed Monday’s news.

“It’s a compliment, because it’s a place we haven’t been in a long time and it sets our standard even higher,” Brown said from Austin, Texas. “We also understand that the percentage points and the rankings can change weekly.”

The important thing to remember is that No. 2 is just as good as No. 1 in the BCS, because only the schools with the two best standings scores on Dec. 4 will earn a place in the Jan. 4 Rose Bowl, this season’s national title game.

The more telling factor this week is the substantial gap between No. 2 USC and No. 3 Virginia Tech.

It also figures that USC, based on schedule strength, will probably regain the No. 1 position if the Trojans and Texas keep winning by impressive margins.

Texas has no opponents currently ranked in the AP top 25 left on its schedule; USC has No. 24 California, No. 22 Fresno State and No. 8 UCLA.

For this week, though, the BCS was more impressed with Texas’ 52-17 win over No. 10 Texas Tech than USC’s 51-24 romp against one-win Washington.

Texas slightly narrowed the point margin in the two human polls that are part of the BCS equation -- although USC remains No. 1 in Harris Interactive and the USA Today coaches’ -- and made up significant ground in the six BCS computers.

USC was No. 1 in four of the six computers last week, but this week Texas is No. 1 in five of the six, which enabled the Longhorns to seize the top computer position over USC by .060.

What was the price for playing Washington? Despite a 27-point win in Seattle, USC fell three spots, from second to fifth, in the Colley Matrix.

It should be noted that computer operators can no longer use margin of victory in their rankings’ formula, further complicating an already complicated process.

“I don’t think it’s a perfect science,” USC’s Carroll said, “and I don’t know how they can come up with it, and I don’t have any way to tell them how to do it better so I’m not going to complain.”

The most relevant BCS news, perhaps, involved two schools, UCLA and Notre Dame, which are vying for major bowls despite being unranked when the season started.

Although Coach Karl Dorrell said Monday that the BCS was “not any point of interest for us right now,” the Bruins’ three-spot jump to No. 6 in this week’s BCS rankings definitely improved their national title prospects. UCLA needs help to get to No. 2, but it’s not beyond comprehension.

No. 3 Virginia Tech still has to play Boston College, Miami and probably Florida State in the Atlantic Coast Conference title game.

No. 4 Georgia, without injured quarterback D.J. Shockley, faces a tough test this week against Florida.

No. 5 Alabama is unbeaten but struggling on offense and still has to play LSU, Auburn and possibly Georgia in the Southeastern Conference title game.

UCLA could turn the whole BCS world upside down if it upends USC at the Coliseum on Dec. 3.

The BCS prospects are murkier for Notre Dame, which moved up only one spot, from No. 16 to 15, despite a lopsided home win against Brigham Young.

Given its drawing power, Notre Dame at 9-2 would probably receive one of two BCS at-large invitations, but to qualify the Irish must finish with a top-12 ranking in the final BCS standings.

Times staff writers Gary Klein and Lonnie White contributed to this report.

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BCS standings

Texas is No. 1 in the bowl championship series standings:

*--* Rk Team Record Avg 1. Texas 7-0 9763 2. USC 7-0 9756 3. Virginia Tech 7-0 9164 4. Georgia 7-0 8679 5. Alabama 7-0 8513 6. UCLA 7-0 7384 7. Miami 5-1 7114 8. Louisiana State 5-1 7065 9. Penn State 7-1 6450 10. Florida State 6-1 5735

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