It’s quite the wild ride in the SEC

So you think the Bowl Championship Series standings don’t mean much until after the regular season is over?

Not if you are in the Southeastern Conference, where this morning coaches, players and fans surely are scouring the conference rule book for the tiebreaker procedures.

And what they’ll find is that BCS standings at the end of the regular season will be used to break ties in the event that the first six tiebreakers fail to do so.

It might very well come to that this year with the logjam atop the SEC East Division standings. South Carolina, Florida and Georgia are all 3-2 in conference games while Kentucky and Tennessee are half a game back at 2-2 and Vanderbilt is a game back at 2-3.

In the West, Alabama and Louisiana State are tied for first.

“I just think this league is a mess right now,” Kentucky Coach Rich Brooks said. “It’s competitive, and week to week you better be ready to play or someone is going to jump up and spoil it.”

The winner of each division plays in the SEC championship game, but the way it looks now there may be no outright winner.

“It’s wide open,” Florida Coach Urban Meyer said. “It was wide open last week. Who beat who? Just take care of your business.”

Underground classic

There was a time when Miami scoring two touchdowns in the final 1 minute 15 seconds to defeat Florida State, 37-29, would have been dubbed an instant classic.

When it happened Saturday, it’s quite possible that nobody outside the Sunshine State noticed.

The game wasn’t televised nationally, a sign of just how far both programs have fallen. Miami (5-3) and Florida State (4-3) had an annual impact on the national championship picture for much of the last two decades, but Saturday marked the first time since 1977 that they met with neither team ranked.

So what used to be one of the biggest games of the season was reduced to what might have been a battle to see which team goes to the Humanitarian Bowl and which goes to the Emerald.

List-less

Oklahoma Coach Bob Stoops gave each of his players a sheet of paper last week during practice. On it, he listed each top 25 team that had been upset this season.

The purpose was to ensure the No. 4 Sooners would stay focused against lowly Iowa State (1-7).

Oklahoma needed a second-half rally in its 17-7 victory to avoid going on the list for the second time this season.

Oklahoma trailed, 7-0, at halftime against a team that lost, 56-3, to Texas last week and was outscored, 133-37, in Big 12 Conference games before Saturday.

“I think they overlooked us,” Iowa State linebacker Jesse Smith said. “It showed today. They didn’t think we were tough physically and mentally and we showed them.”

Well received

Kenneth Moore of Wake Forest equaled the school single-game receptions record for the second time this season when he hauled in 15 catches during a 44-24 victory over Navy.

Moore, a 6-foot, 205-pound slotback, also had 15 catches in the season opener against Boston College. Two weeks ago against Duke, he had 11 receptions. For the season, he has 56 catches for 615 yards and four touchdowns.

“He’s special,” quarterback Riley Skinner said. “You give him the ball, you kind of hold your breath and see what he does.”

Low tide

Five Alabama players, including starting linemen Antoine Caldwell and Marlon Davis and tailback Glen Coffee, were suspended for Saturday’s 41-17 victory over Tennessee for a violation of school policy involving the receipt of textbooks.

The university discovered the infractions on Thursday but did not elaborate on what happened. Also suspended were reserve defensive backs Marquis Johnson and Chris Rogers.

Coffee is Alabama’s second-leading rusher with 413 yards and has 14 catches for 122 yards. In his absence, Terry Grant had a season-high 26 carries and gained 104 yards.

The shuffled offensive line had B.J. Stabler move from tackle to right guard, Evan Cardwell start at center and Mike Johnson start at right tackle.

“We had three guys step up big time,” said quarterback John Parker Wilson, who said he didn’t learn about the suspensions until just before the game.

“It shows a lot about our team.”

Little Ten?

When North Dakota State defeated Minnesota, 27-21, it was a sign that the Bison made the right move going from Division II to the Football Championship Subdivision -- formerly Division I-AA.

Either that, or a sign that the Big Ten might want to think about dropping a division, considering it was the second FCS team to defeat a conference team this year (you haven’t forgotten Appalachian State, have you?).

“I think this is probably the worst of our losses, just morale-wise,” Gophers quarterback Adam Weber said. “When you’re a Division I program and you’re in the Big Ten, you have to win these types of games.”

It was North Dakota State’s second victory of the season over a Bowl subdivision school.

The Bison, who played in Division II through 2003, defeated Central Michigan on Sept. 22.

“Any time you win over a Big Ten team, it’s a statement,” Coach Craig Bohl said. “Certainly a lot of people felt like we had the short end of the stick as far as our resources.”

Hibernating Bearcats

Two weeks ago, Cincinnati was one of the most surprising teams in the nation, undefeated and thinking about championships.

After a 24-17 loss to Pittsburgh, the No. 23 Bearcats are tied for last place in the Big East.

“Our football team did not play up to its capabilities today,” said Coach Brian Kelly, whose team was as high as No. 15 in the Associated Press poll. “That was a sloppy game by a poorly coached team.

“It stops and starts with me and I deserve all the criticism.”

Son Devil

Quarterback Jack Elway, son of NFL Hall of Famer John Elway, has committed to playing for Arizona State, the Rocky Mountain News reported Saturday.

The younger Elway has passed for 1,677 yards and 21 touchdowns this season at Cherry Creek High in suburban Denver.

Arizona State Coach Dennis Erickson was offensive coordinator at San Jose State on the staff of Jack Elway Sr., John’s father, from 1979 to 1981.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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peter.yoon@latimes.com