Kansas State No. 2 in BCS standings
Kansas State moved up to the No. 2 spot behind Alabama in the latest BCS standings released Sunday, but the battle for the No. 3 spot is getting interesting as well.
The Crimson Tide holds a solid lead in the BCS standings, thanks to its overwhelming dominance in the two polls used in the BCS formula - the USA Today coaches poll and the Harris poll.
And K-State has a firm hold on the No. 2 slot, because it is ranked No. 3 in both polls and is tied with Notre Dame for the No. 1 spot in the third component of the BCS formula - the computers.
Notre Dame holds the No. 3 BCS slot this week, but its margin over No. 4 Oregon is razor-thin. The Ducks are No. 2 in both polls, but just No. 4 according to the computers. That could change in the upcoming weeks, however, if the top four teams continue to win. Notre Dame, which is No. 4 in the polls, has only one game left against a team in this week's BCS top 25 - USC. Meanwhile, Oregon has three or four games left against such teams. After facing No. 17 USC this week, the Ducks have games left against No. 11 Oregon State and No. 14 Stanford. Should it get to the Pac-12 title game, Oregon is likely to face USC again.
Wins over those teams would likely catapult the Ducks over Notre Dame, and perhaps over K-State, which has games remaining against No. 23 Texas and No. 24 Oklahoma State and no conference title game.
The possibility of a second straight all-Southeastern Conference matchup is small, but with five SEC teams among the top eight in this week's BCS standings, that possibility still exists.
Florida, which was No. 2 in the BCS last week, slipped to No. 7 after its loss to Georgia.
The other schools of interest are Boise State of the Mountain West Conference and Louisiana Tech of the Western Athletic Conference. They are ranked only No. 19 and 25 at the moment, but if one finishes in the top 12, it will earn an automatic berth in one of the BCS games. One of the two could also get that berth if it finishes in the top 16 and is ranked higher than a champion from one of the six conferences that gets an automatic BCS berth.
