No. 2? Buckeyes Have It

(From BCS Guru)

USC's upset loss to Stanford on Saturday produced a new No. 2 in the Week 6 unofficial BCS standings. Ohio State nudged out California for the coveted second spot, behind LSU, the near-unanimous choice as No. 1.

Trailing the Golden Bears by very slim margins in both the Coaches Poll and Harris Poll, the Buckeyes seized the second spot with their superior computer ratings. Ohio State's lead is comfortable though not commanding, but a wide gap opens between No. 3 Cal and No. 4 South Florida.

Boston College checks in at No. 5, followed by South Carolina, Missouri, West Virginia, Virginia Tech and Oregon in the Top 10.

Two powerhouses' national championship hopes are in serious jeopardy after recent losses. USC, despite falling only to No. 7 in both polls following the Stanford loss, has dropped to No. 13 because of computer meltdowns. Oklahoma, No. 5 in both polls after rebounding against Texas, is at No. 12. Both teams will need a lot of help from teams currently ahead of them, particularly with the ACC and Big East each placing two teams in the Top 10.

The 2007 season's first official BCS standings will be unveiled next Sunday, Oct. 14. And barring any upset losses, the top of the standings should stay fairly intact. One trend to keep an eye on is the Richard Billingsley ratings, which act more like a one-man poll than a true computer-generated ratings system. For this week, 19 of his Top 25 results likely would've been discarded had all six computer ratings been available.