This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2010, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
New York • Stanford was the big winner in the latest BCS standings.
The Cardinal, along with Wisconsin, all but locked up bids to the Bowl Championship Series, and Oklahoma earned a spot in the Big 12 title game by outpointing Oklahoma State and Texas A&M on Sunday.
Auburn and Oregon also switched places at the top of the standings, with the Tigers slipping by the Ducks into first place but that hardly matters.
Both are still on track to play for the national championship on Jan. 10 in Glendale, Ariz. Auburn needs to beat South Carolina in the Southeastern Conference championship game on Saturday to lock up its spot and Oregon needs a victory at Oregon State in the Civil War rivalry.
The only difference between one and two in the BCS is No. 1 gets to wear its home jerseys.
Utah remained at No. 20 in the BCS standings after beating rival BYU 17-16 on Saturday.
TCU is third and in position to grab an automatic bid possibly to the Rose Bowl now that Boise State is no threat to swipe it from the Horned Frogs. The Broncos lost to Nevada 34-31 in overtime on Friday night.
TCU is also on-deck for a spot in the national championship game if one of the top two teams trip up.
But Stanford made the most important jump of all this week, taking the fourth spot after completing its season 11-1 with a 38-0 victory against Oregon State. BCS rules ensure the top four teams in the final standings a bid to the five big-money games.
Stanford was in danger of getting left out altogether because its fans generally don't flock to long distance bowl sites. As long as the Cardinal don't fall when the final standings are released next week and there's no good reason why they would one of the bowls will be forced to take them.
The BCS standings also broke the Big Ten's three-way tie at the top in favor of Wisconsin, which is fifth in the standings, a spot ahead of Ohio State.
Unless some strange voting takes place in the Harris and coaches' polls after Championship Saturday, the Badgers are headed to the Rose Bowl.
The Buckeyes are a good bet to land an at-large bid, but the Big Ten's other tri-champion, Michigan State, will have to settle for a second-tier game. The Spartans were eighth in the BCS standings.
Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M finished tied at 6-2 in the Big 12 South, but the BCS tiebreaker went the Sooners' way. Oklahoma was ninth in the standings, Oklahoma State was 14th and Texas A&M was 18th. The Sooners beat Oklahoma State 47-41 on Saturday night to make the jump up the standings.
The Sooners will play Nebraska in the conference championship game and the winner lands a Fiesta Bowl bid.
Virginia Tech and Florida State will play in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship, with the winner getting an Orange Bowl bid.
Connecticut is in command of the Big East race. The Huskies will clinch the league and a BCS bid by winning at South Florida on Saturday. If UConn losses, West Virginia could win the league and the BCS bid by beating Rutgers.
Arkansas was seventh in the standings and the Razorbacks seem to be in good shape to receive their first BCS bid after beating LSU 31-23 on Saturday.
If Auburn goes to the national title game, Arkansas is a good candidate to be selected by the Sugar Bowl. BCS Standings List
Nov. 28, 2010
Harris USA Today Computer BCS
Rk Pts Pct Rk Pts Pct Rk Pct Avg Pv
1. Auburn 2 2769 .9716 2 1419 .9620 1 1.000 .9779 2
2. Oregon 1 2804 .9839 1 1459 .9892 2 .960 .9777 1
3. TCU 3 2621 .9196 3 1343 .9105 3 .920 .9167 3
4. Stanford 5 2417 .8481 5 1233 .8359 4 .840 .8413 6
5. Wisconsin 4 2441 .8565 4 1282 .8692 7 .730 .8185 7
6. Ohio St. 6 2301 .8074 6 1213 .8224 9 .660 .7632 8
7. Arkansas 8 1997 .7007 8 1012 .6861 5 .770 .7189 12
8. Michigan St. 7 2080 .7298 7 1083 .7342 11 .630 .6980 10
9. Oklahoma 9 1809 .6347 9 943 .6939 6 .760 .6780 13
10. LSU 11 1569 .5505 12 796 .5397 7 .730 .6067 5
11. Boise St. 10 1802 .6323 10 869 .5892 14 .520 .5805 4
12. Missouri 14 1291 .4530 14 666 .4515 10 .640 .5148 14
13. Nebraska 13 1446 .5074 13 773 .5241 15 .490 .5071 15
14. Oklahoma St. 16 1171 .4109 15 661 .4481 t12 .530 .4630 9
15. Virginia Tech 12 1503 .5274 11 843 .5715 20 .220 .4396 16
16. Alabama 18 1113 .3905 19 501 .3397 t12 .530 .4201 11
17. Nevada 15 1231 .4319 17 621 .4210 17 .360 .4043 19
18. Texas A&M 19 1032 .3621 18 503 .3410 16 .470 .3910 17
19. South Carolina 17 1142 .4007 16 626 .4244 18 .320 .3817 18
20. Utah 21 567 .1989 21 291 .1973 19 .280 .2254 20
21. Florida St. 20 650 .2281 20 353 .2393 22 .170 .2125 22
22. Mississippi St. 22 393 .1379 22 223 .1512 21 .200 .1630 25
23. Arizona 25 120 .0421 26 47 .0319 23 .140 .0713 21
24. West Virginia 23 251 .0881 24 110 .0746 t24 .000 .0542 NR
25. N. Illinois 24 161 .0565 23 130 .0881 t24 .000 .0482 NR
AH RB CM KM JS PW
1. Auburn 1 1 1 1 1 1
2. Oregon 2 3 2 2 2 2
3. TCU 3 2 3 3 6 3
4. Stanford 8 7 5 4 4 4
5. Wisconsin 4 4 12 9 11 7
6. Ohio St. 5 6 8 14 15 10
7. Arkansas 9 8 9 5 3 5
8. Michigan St. 7 11 6 15 14 9
9. Oklahoma 6 12 4 7 7 8
10. LSU 11 9 10 6 5 6
11. Boise St. 13 5 11 16 16 12
12. Missouri 10 17 7 11 8 11
13. Nebraska 14 14 15 13 10 14
14. Oklahoma St. 12 13 13 10 13 15
15. Virginia Tech 20 18 20 24 22 20
16. Alabama 16 10 17 12 9 13
17. Nevada 18 16 16 17 18 17
18. Texas A&M 15 20 14 8 12 16
19. South Carolina 17 19 18 18 17 19
20. Utah 21 15 19 19 20 18
21. Florida St. 19 22 21 22 23 22
22. Mississippi St. 22 21 25 20 19 21
23. Arizona 23 23 0 21 21 23
24. West Virginia 0 0 23 0 0 0
25. N. Illinois 0 25 0 0 0 0
Explanation Key
The BCS Average is calculated by averaging the percent totals of the Harris Interactive, USA Today Coaches and Computer polls. Team percentages are derived by dividing a team's actual voting points by a maximum 2850 possible points in the Harris Interactive Poll and 1475 possible points in the USA Today Coaches Poll.
Six computer rankings are used to determine the overall computer component. The highest and lowest ranking for each team is dropped, and the remaining four are added and divided to produce a Computer Rankings Percentage. The six computer ranking providers are Anderson & Hester, Richard Billingsley, Colley Matrix, Kenneth Massey, Jeff Sagarin, and Peter Wolfe. Each computer ranking accounts for schedule strength in its formula.