Texas remains atop BCS list of 1-loss teams

NEW YORK — The initial news from the Bowl Championship Series standings looked good for the Texas Longhorns. But the long-range forecast seemingly favors Big 12 rival Oklahoma.

Texas stayed ahead of the Sooners on Sunday — but not by much — and moved into the coveted second spot in the BCS standings, thanks to a better computer rating.

Alabama (11-0) continues to lead the standings but most of the BCS suspense involves one-loss teams.

Oklahoma (10-1) surged from fifth to third in the standings based on Saturday's 65-21 home victory over Texas Tech (10-1), which dropped from second to seventh place.

"This was a good week for Oklahoma," said Jerry Palm, an independent BCS analyst and blogger, in a telephone interview. "It wasn't really to be expected that they'd catch Texas this week."

Texas (10-1) is close behind Oklahoma in the USA Today coaches and Harris Interactive polls and has the second-best computer rating, behind Alabama. The Longhorns' BCS average is .9209 out of a possible 1.000. Oklahoma is at .9125. But the Sooners have a road game against Oklahoma State (9-2) Saturday that — if they win — should boost their computer score and likely sway a few more voters their way.

Texas plays Texas A&M (4-7) Thursday, a game that will weigh down the Longhorns' strength of schedule — a vital part of the computer ratings — and probably won't give voters much reason to move them up.

"I don't think this week was good news for Texas," Palm said of Sunday's standings. "Oklahoma can only get better in all three parts of the formula and Texas can't. I would expect if Oklahoma wins next week, they'd finish ahead of Texas."

That is significant because the Big 12 South division title will be decided by the BCS standings if Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma finish in a three-way tie.

"We're happy to see that we're still in the BCS conversation," Texas coach Mack Brown said.

Florida (10-1) is fourth in the BCS, but is likely to play in the Jan. 8 BCS National Championship Game in Miami if it wins at Florida State on Saturday and beats Alabama in the Southeastern Conference title game.

Notes

• Kansas State called a news conference for today amid reports 69-year-old Bill Snyder, who retired as Wildcats coach three years ago with a 136-68-1 record, has told school officials he will coach the team. Kansas State announced Nov. 5 that Ron Prince, 39, won't return next season.

• Wyoming fired coach Joe Glenn, 59, who was 30-41 in six seasons and 4-8 this season. He had two seasons left on his contract and will be paid $316,000 by the school.

• San Diego State fired coach Chuck Long, 45, who was 9-27 in three seasons and 2-10 this year. Former Iowa quarterback Long, who was under contract for two more years at San Diego State, is owed about $1.4 million.

• Penn State coach Joe Paterno, 81, had hip-replacement surgery that was termed successful by doctors, a day after the Nittany Lions clinched the Big Ten championship.