College football rankings: Oregon passes Notre Dame; Bama, KSU still 1-2

Alabama’s escape against LSU kept the BlogPoll’s No. 1 team from losing its spot atop the blogosphere’s rankings of the best teams in college football; in fact, it may have solidified the Tide’s hold on that spot. But the big news this week is that Oregon slips past Kansas State for the No. 2 rung on the ladder.

Oregon beat USC, 62-51, with a dazzling offensive display, while Kansas State notched its fourth win over a ranked team in 2012 by knocking off Oklahoma State, and BlogPoll voters flipped the spots held by the Ducks and Wildcats from last week’s poll, with K-State earning six fewer first-place votes despite seven more ballots being submitted.

Let’s forget the Oregon vs. Kansas State narrative for a moment because there will be plenty of time to dissect that to pieces in the coming weeks. Nothing has really changed since our projections yesterday pretty much covered all the bases.

Besides the coveted two spots for the BCS championship game, there are four other BCS bowls with lucrative payouts. Money is the lifeblood of college sports. And with the five BCS games, dollar amounts equaling GDPs of small nations (OK, like Nauru and Tuvalu, not Belgium) will be doled out to various institutions of higher learning.

Kansas State’s No. 2 spot in the BCS standings could be safe for another week, with Jeff Sagarin’s BCS-hampered* rankings slotting Oregon at No. 7, well behind both K-State and Notre Dame. Alabama should strengthen its hold on the overall No. 1 spot, leaping from a poor showing in the computers all year to the new Elo Chess No. 1 after beating LSU.

* Elo Chess isn’t allowed to use scoring margin as a factor, but counts as an official part of the BCS anyway. Check his non-Elo Chess rankings for something way less crazy.

1. Alabama. The Tigers outgained the Tide on the night. LSU QB Zach Mettenberger played the best game he will ever play as a college football player. A.J. McCarron was, for 58 minutes or so, a shambling mess with little resemblance to the efficient, error-free machine he had been in the previous eight games. The Alabama defense was, for long stretches, pushed around the field like--ewww--a college defense. This is the kind of game you expect to lose, but Les Miles isn’t about your “expectations,” kid. 21-17, Alabama. (Is Les Miles currently slashing his own tires? Yes, yes he is, because SURPRISES.)

2. Oregon. Both teams punted once each on the night in a 62-51 Oregon victory over USC. The rest: 1,357 yards of offense, 70 first downs between the two teams, and Monte Kiffin admitting afterwards that Oregon’s 730 yards of total offense was something he hadn’t ever heard of in a football game. Monte Kiffin has been coaching football since 1966. His sample size to compare this game with renders this opinion definitive. Kenjon Barner’s 321 yards and five touchdowns are just astonishing supporting evidence to add to the general case for Oregon being utterly terrifying.

Here are the Week 11 BCS rankings.

OK, who wants a piece of Alabama in the BCS title game? With their Houdini-like escape against an LSU team that outplayed them for nearly 59 minutes, the Crimson Tide emerged from their toughest game of the year more solidified than ever as the top-ranked team. Had Alabama lost, the SEC would’ve been facing the prospect of not having a team in the BCS title game for the first time in seven years.