Alabama and Texas Tech, and their perfect records, were on top of the Bowl Championship Series standings yesterday. Texas, Florida and Oklahoma, all with one loss, are lurking and ready to take advantage if the front-runners fall.
Penn State's loss to Iowa on Saturday left the Crimson Tide and Red Raiders as the only unbeaten teams in the BCS conferences, making it easy to sort out the all-important first two places in the BCS standings this week.
First-place Alabama (.981 average) was No. 1 in the Harris and USA Today coaches' polls. Second-place Texas Tech (.972) was a solid second in both polls and first in the computer rankings. The computers have Alabama No. 2.
Texas (.879) was third, followed closely by Florida (.864) and Oklahoma (.844).
Sixth-place Southern California (.789) needs a lot of help to reach the BCS national championship game Jan. 8 in Miami. Penn State (.683) dropped all the way from third to eighth behind unbeaten Utah (.769).
Alabama and Texas Tech are still on course to meet in the BCS national title game if they stay unbeaten, though the Crimson Tide knows that its road will go through Atlanta.
The Tide clinched the Southeastern Conference's West Division and a spot in the league title game against Florida in the Georgia Dome on Dec. 6. The game could turn into a de facto national semifinal, with the winner earning a spot in the championship game.
The computer rankings are helping Texas stay at the top of the one-loss pack. The Longhorns are fourth in the Harris poll, close behind Florida, and fifth in the coaches' poll, not far behind Florida and Oklahoma, which Texas beat last month.
But the computer ratings prefer Texas and Utah over Florida and Oklahoma.
In two weeks, Oklahoma hosts Texas Tech in the latest Big 12 game with huge national title implications.
If the Sooners win, they'll create a three-way tie for first in the Big 12 South. If the Sooners, Longhorns and Red Raiders finish tied, the tiebreaker to determine who plays in the Big 12 championship game in Kansas City, Mo., on Dec. 6 is best BCS average.
Utah is positioned for its second BCS bid in five seasons if it can stay unbeaten. The Utes from the Mountain West Conference need to finish in the top 12 of the BCS standings to earn an automatic bid to one of the five major bowls.
