College Football | Texas tops one-loss teams

NEW YORK — Alabama and Texas Tech, with their perfect records, remained the top teams in the Bowl Championship Series standings Sunday. Texas, Florida and Oklahoma, each with one loss, are lurking and ready to take advantage if a front-runner falls.

Penn State's 24-23 loss at Iowa on Saturday left the Crimson Tide and Raiders as the lone unbeaten teams from BCS conferences, making it rather easy to sort out the all-important first two places in the BCS standings this week.

First-place Alabama (.9814 BCS average) was No. 1 in both the USA Today coaches and Harris Interactive polls. Second-place Texas Tech (.9715) was a solid second in both polls and first in the computer rankings. The computers rank Alabama second.

Texas (.8798) was third, followed closely by Florida (.8640) and Oklahoma (.8444).

Sixth-place USC (.7896) needs quite a bit of help to reach the BCS National Championship Game on Jan. 8 in Miami. Undefeated Utah (.7692) is seventh. Penn State (.6839) dropped from third to eighth.

Alabama and Texas Tech, each 10-0, are on course to meet in the BCS title showdown if they stay unbeaten.

The Crimson Tide clinched the Southeastern Conference West title by winning 27-21 in overtime at Louisiana State.

Alabama will play SEC East winner Florida for the conference title on Dec. 6 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. That SEC showdown could amount to a national semifinal, with the winner earning a berth in the BCS title game.

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 both Florida and Oklahoma, a team Texas beat.

The computers prefer Texas and Utah over both Florida and Oklahoma.

On Nov. 22, Oklahoma hosts Texas Tech in the latest Big 12 Conference game with national-title implications.

If the Sooners win, there will be a three-way tie for first place in the Big 12 South (unless Texas loses to Kansas this weekend). If the Sooners, Longhorns and Raiders finish deadlocked, 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. Unbeaten Boise State from the Western Athletic Conference is in ninth place. To get an automatic BCS bid, the Broncos must stay undefeated and pass Utah in the BCS standings.

AP top 25

The Top 25 teams in The Associated Press college football poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Nov. 8, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote, and previous ranking:

Record		Pts	Pvs
1. Alabama (44)	10-0	1,604	1
2. Texas Tech (21)	10-0	1,574	2
3. Florida	8-1	1,467	4
4. Texas	9-1	1,437	5
5. Oklahoma	9-1	1,375	6
6. USC	8-1	1,311	7
7. Penn St.	9-1	1,161	3
8. Utah	10-0	1,157	10
9. Boise St.	9-0	1,110	9
10. Ohio St.	8-2	1,009	12
11. Oklahoma St.	8-2	963	8
12. Missouri	8-2	913	13
13. Georgia	8-2	880	14
14. Ball St.	9-0	677	16
15. TCU	9-2	623	11
16. BYU	9-1	602	17
17. North Carolina	7-2	597	19
18. Michigan St.	9-2	584	18
19. LSU	6-3	552	15
20. Florida St.	7-2	380	24
21. Pittsburgh	7-2	318	25
22. Cincinnati	7-2	269	—
23. Oregon St.	6-3	124	—
24. South Carolina	7-3	117	—
25. Tulsa	8-1	84	—

Others receiving votes: California 73, Virginia Tech 44, Air Force 40, Georgia Tech 29, Arizona 7, Oregon 6, W. Michigan 6, Cent. Michigan 5, Iowa 5, Miami 5, West Virginia 5, Boston College 3, Maryland 3, Northwestern 3, Kansas 1, South Florida 1, Wake Forest 1.

USA Today top 25

The Top 25 teams in the USA Today college football coaches poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Nov. 8, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote, and previous ranking:

Record		Pts	Pvs
1. Alabama (44)	10-0	1,508	1
2. Texas Tech (17)	10-0	1,469	3
3. Florida	8-1	1,348	5
4. Oklahoma	9-1	1,314	4
5. Texas	9-1	1,300	7
6. USC	8-1	1,268	6
7. Utah	10-0	1,104	9
8. Penn State	9-1	1,074	2
9. Boise State	9-0	1,028	10
10. Ohio State	8-2	936	12
11. Missouri	8-2	883	13
12. Georgia	8-2	842	14
13. Oklahoma State	8-2	808	8
14. Brigham Young	9-1	679	16
15. Michigan State	9-2	660	17
16. Ball State	9-0	590	18
17. North Carolina	7-2	543	19
18. TCU	9-2	475	11
19. Florida State	7-2	426	24
20. LSU	6-3	409	15
21. Pittsburgh	7-2	311	NR
22. Cincinnati	7-2	183	NR
23. South Carolina	7-3	155	NR
24. Tulsa	8-1	144	NR
25. Oregon State	6-3	71	NR

Others receiving votes: California 50; Oregon 49; Georgia Tech 38; Virginia Tech 34; Air Force 25; Northwestern 13; Wake Forest 13; Arizona 11; Kansas 11; Maryland 9; Connecticut 8; Minnesota 8; Boston College 7; Iowa 6; Miami (Fla.) 5; West Virginia 5; Western Michigan 5.

Harris top 25

The Top 25 teams in the Harris Interactive College Football Poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Nov. 8, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and previous ranking:

Record		Pts	Pvs
1. Alabama (75)	10-0	2,808	1
2. Texas Tech (38)	10-0	2,768	3
3. Florida (1)	8-1	2,531	4
4. Texas	9-1	2,471	6
5. Oklahoma	9-1	2,427	5
6. USC	8-1	2,329	7
7. Penn State	9-1	2,073	2
8. Utah	10-0	2,034	9
9. Boise State	9-0	1,940	10
10. Ohio State	8-2	1,765	11
11. Missouri	8-2	1,585	13
12. Georgia	8-2	1,581	14
13. Oklahoma State	8-2	1,488	8
14. BYU	9-1	1,335	16
15. Ball State	9-0	1,231	17
16. Michigan State	9-2	1,122	18
17. North Carolina	7-2	995	19
18. TCU	9-2	975	12
19. LSU	6-3	806	15
20. Florida State	7-2	708	24
21. Pittsburgh	7-2	558	NR
22. Tulsa	8-1	342	25
23. Cincinnati	7-2	331	NR
24. South Carolina	7-3	147	NR
25. California	6-3	120	21

Other teams receiving votes: Oregon State 85; Virginia Tech 84; Georgia Tech 76; Air Force 70; Oregon 69; Boston College 44; West Virginia 25; Miami (FLA) 24; Northwestern 15; Western Michigan 15; Wake Forest 14; Arizona 12; Minnesota 10; Central Michigan 9; Kansas 9; Maryland 6; Iowa 5; South Florida 5; Navy 1; Rice 1; Virginia 1.