As predicted, the Oregon Ducks passed the Auburn Tigers in the official BCS standings. The TCU Horned Frogs also passed the Boise St. Broncos, but both remain close. More surprisingly, the Utah Utes pass the Alabama Crimson Tide. Either Utah or TCU will lose next week and Alabama has a chance to make a move with LSU on the docket.
BCS Rankings: Analysis On The Notable Teams
What is truly surprising, though, is how much the gap between sixth and seventh has evaporated. There was some shuffling among the next group of teams, but with a measurement error of roughly 0.0200 the BCS average indicates they are practically tied, so ordinal differences do not mean very much.
The Nebraska Cornhuskers, Oklahoma Sooners, Wisconsin Badgers, LSU Tigers, Ohio State Buckeyes, Missouri Tigers and Michigan State Spartans remain on the extreme fringe of the championship race. They are all likely to pass Utah if they win out. None of this alters the projected national championship race as presented this morning, but the much larger impact of next week's games might.
Another line worth watching the rest of the season is which teams are in the race for a BCS at-large berth. The Iowa Hawkeyes, Oklahoma State Cowboys, Arkansas Razorbacks, South Carolina Gamecocks and Mississippi State Bulldogs have climbed into this picture, while the Florida State Seminoles fell out with a loss to North Carolina State.
The Wolfpack are the only team appearing this week that was not ranked last week, replacing the Miami Hurricanes, after their loss to Virginia.
See More:
