Projected BCS Rankings

Collin Klein — Jim Cowsert – US Presswire

The new BCS standings that come out on Sunday night will reflect some major happenings in college football.

Without question, the biggest event of Saturday’s action was the loss by the Alabama Crimson Tide at home to the previously No. 15 Texas A&M Aggies. The question that everyone is dying to know, is how far will Alabama fall?

We all know who will move up to No. 1 and No. 2, but when you look at No. 3 it starts to get real interesting. I’m aware that the Notre Dame Fighting Irish went to Norman and knocked off the Oklahoma Sooners, a feat that doesn’t come easy. But I have an extremely hard time saying that Notre Dame is a better team than Alabama.

Of course the argument can be made that Notre Dame has earned a No. 3 spot without losing, which I understand. But their strength of schedule is falling as Alabama’s is rising. Notre Dame struggled to defeat a completely unimpressive Pittsburgh Panthers team, and didn’t exactly do a lot to put away a two-win Boston College Eagles team.

Again, for my money, Alabama is simply the better team. If Alabama were to fall or even look questionable in an SEC championship game, they can always lose that No. 3 position. And regardless, even if Notre Dame was No. 3, they still need an Oregon Ducks or Kansas State Wildcats loss to get to the game they want to be in anyway.

In other notable moves, the Louisville Cardinals fall from No. 9 to No. 20, Texas A&M Aggies move up to No. 8 from No. 15 and despite the fact they won, the Florida Gators flip-flop with the LSU Tigers who had a much more impressive win against the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

Also flip-flopping are the Clemson Tigers with Oklahoma, based on Oklahoma’s defense giving up 34 points to a Baylor Bears team that has just one conference win.

Without any more delay, the projected BCS rankings:

1. Kansas State Wildcats
2. Oregon Ducks
3. Alabama Crimson Tide
4. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
5. Georgia Bulldogs
6. LSU Tigers
7. Florida Gators
8. Texas A&M Aggies
9. South Carolina Gamecocks
10. Stanford Cardinal
11. Florida State Seminoles
12. Clemson Tigers
13. Oklahoma Sooners
14. Nebraska Cornhuskers
15. Texas Longhorns
16. Oregon State Beavers
17. UCLA Bruins
18. USC Trojans
19. Louisiana Tech Bulldogs
20.Louisville Cardinals
21. Texas Tech Red Raiders
22.Rutgers Scarlet Knights
23.Northern Illinois Huskies
24.Kent State Golden Flashes
25.Mississippi State Bulldogs