Notre Dame latest to pass Oregon in BCS standings

By Associated Press Published: Oct 28, 2012 at 7:21 PM PDT Last Updated: Oct 28, 2012 at 8:02 PM PDT

Now Notre Dame is ahead of Oregon in the BCS standings.

The Fighting Irish became the latest team to move past Oregon on Sunday, taking third place behind Alabama and Kansas State. The Ducks remained fourth.

Florida fell out of the top five with a 17-9 loss to Georgia, helping to set the field in the race for the BCS title game with a month to go in the regular season.

Alabama is locked in at No. 1, and if the Crimson Tide can keep winning it will play for its third championship in four years. The Wildcats (.9400), Fighting Irish (.9147) and Ducks (.9136) need to remain unbeaten, and keep an eye on each other.

The computers ratings are still holding the Ducks back because their strength of schedule lags behind the other contenders.

The Ducks are second in the Harris poll and USA Today coaches' poll, but ranked fifth by the computer ratings.

Kansas State is third in each poll and Notre Dame is fourth. But according to the computers, the Wildcats and Fighting Irish are tied for first.

Oregon's upcoming schedule could help solve the Ducks' problem. Oregon plays three opponents in the BCS top 25 (Southern California, Stanford and Oregon State) in its last four games, starting with the Trojans in Los Angeles on Saturday. The Pac-12 title game, if the Ducks get there, should give Oregon another quality opponent.

Notre Dame, with four games left, faces only one more team with a winning record (USC). Kansas State has three winning teams in its four remaining opponents, though only No. 25 Texas is in the BCS top 25.

Alabama is an overwhelming No. 1 in the Harris poll and USA Today coaches' polls, and comes in third behind Notre Dame and Kansas State in the computer ratings. The Tide's BCS average is .9759.

Alabama has what looks to be its toughest test of the season coming up this week, when it visits fifth-place LSU on Saturday in an SEC West showdown.

Kansas State plays Oklahoma State at home Saturday and Notre Dame faces Pittsburgh.

Down the list, it looks as if Boise State could make another run at the BCS, with help from the Big Ten.

The Broncos are 21st in the current standings. If they can get into the top 16 and be ahead of a champion from one of the automatic qualifying conferences, the Broncos would earn an automatic bid to the marquee bowls,

The highest ranked Big Ten team is Nebraska at 22nd.

  Harris USA Today Computer BCS
  Rk Pts Pct Rk Pts Pct Rk Pct Avg Pv
1. Alabama 1 2868 .9976 1 1475 1.0000 3 .9300 .9759 1
2. Kansas St. 3 2656 .9238 3 1366 .9261 1 .9700 .9400 3
3. Notre Dame 4 2553 .8880 4 1307 .8861 1 .9700 .9147 5
4. Oregon 2 2725 .9478 2 1391 .9431 5 .8500 .9136 4
5. LSU 5 2382 .8285 5 1225 .8305 6 .7900 .8163 6
6. Georgia 6 2205 .7670 6 1149 .7790 7 .7800 .7753 10
7. Florida 8 2061 .7169 8 1024 .6942 4 .8700 .7604 2
8. South Carolina 11 1588 .5523 11 838 .5681 9 .6700 .5968 13
9. Florida St. 7 2193 .7628 7 1121 .7600 21 .2000 .5743 12
10. Louisville 10 1714 .5962 10 888 .6020 13 .5000 .5661 16
11. Oregon St. 13 1449 .5040 13 684 .4637 8 .7000 .5559 7
12. Oklahoma 12 1473 .5123 12 758 .5139 10 .6100 .5454 8
13. Clemson 9 1917 .6668 9 976 .6617 21 .2000 .5095 18
14. Stanford 14 1307 .4546 15 626 .4244 11 .5800 .4863 17
15. Mississippi St. 15 1231 .4282 18 569 .3858 16 .3600 .3913 11
16. Texas A&M 18 996 .3464 16 592 .4014 18 .3300 .3593 20
17. Southern Cal 16 1200 .4174 17 583 .3953 19 .2400 .3509 9
18. Texas Tech 19 604 .2101 20 284 .1925 12 .5700 .3242 14
19. Boise St. 17 1142 .3972 14 634 .4298 23 .1100 .3123 21
20. Nebraska 21 542 .1885 21 283 .1919 15 .3900 .2568 NR
21. West Virginia 20 554 .1927 19 326 .2210 17 .3400 .2512 19
22. Arizona 29 81 .0282 33 14 .0095 14 .4700 .1692 NR
23. Texas 22 392 .1363 22 200 .1356 20 .2200 .1640 23
24. Oklahoma St. 25 245 .0852 24 166 .1125 25 .0700 .0893 NR
25. Louisiana Tech 24 304 .1057 23 191 .1295 31 .0000 .0784 NR