Oregon is still unbeaten and still ranked No. 2 in all the major polls, but the Ducks slipped another spot in the BCS standings released on Sunday.
The Ducks were third when the BCS standings were released for the first time last week, and this week they are fourth, behind No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Florida and No. 3 Kansas State.
Kansas State passed the Ducks this week based on the Wildcats’ computer ranking, which no doubt got a boost by beating West Virginia on the road.
The BCS formula is based one-third on the USA Today coaches poll, one-third on the Harris poll of former coaches, players and administrators and current media members, and one-third on an average of the six computer rankings used by the BCS. (The Associated Press media poll is not one of the factors in the BCS formula.)
Florida is ranked No. 1 by the BCS computers and Kansas State is No. 2 according to the computers, which why they jumped past Oregon, which is ranked only No. 6 by the BCS computers.
Alabama is ranked No. 4 by the BCS computers, but it is No. 1 in both human polls by such an overwhelming margin that it retained the No. 1 spot in the BCS standings rather easily.
Notre Dame is No. 5 in the BCS standings, and there a rather large gap between Notre Dame and LSU, which is the highest rated one-loss team at No. 6.
Oregon State comes in at No. 7 in the BCS standings this week, followed by No. 8 Oklahoma (which hosts Notre Dame on Saturday), No. 9 USC and No. 10 Georgia.
Only two teams from outside the six major conferences are among that the BCS’ top 25. That’s Boise State at No. 21 and Ohio at No. 24.