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Sooners over UM in BCS

The series' first poll of the season places defending champ second, with Notre Dame rounding out top 3.

By BRUCE LOWITT, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published October 22, 2002

Well, that didn't take long.

The Bowl Championship Series poll, whose final ranking seems to routinely create controversy, got a head start Monday with this season's first release. Defending national champion Miami, No. 1 in the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today coaches' polls all season, was No. 2 Monday in the BCS behind Oklahoma.

Perhaps more surprising is who is No. 3: Notre Dame, one of eight unbeaten Division I-A teams. The Fighting Irish, with a schedule rated toughest in the nation, were sixth in the polls released Sunday.

The next three on the BCS list are unbeaten Virginia Tech, Georgia and Ohio State. For the moment, Georgia is on the bubble. No team lower than fifth in the first BCS list has made it to the championship game.

North Carolina State and Bowling Green, also unbeaten but 10th or lower in the AP and coaches polls, didn't make the top 10, which was filled out by Washington State, Michigan, Louisiana State and Texas.

Save for the possibility of bruised egos of Miami's more fierce fans, it doesn't much matter that the 'Canes were bumped off the top perch by a covey of computers. The top two play for the national championship in the Jan. 3 Fiesta Bowl.

"I did not think we'd come in at No. 1," Miami coach Larry Coker said. The 'Canes started at No. 4 last season, "but I really felt strongly that (they would move to the top) if we could take care of our business and win."

They did. Thirty-five days later Miami was No. 1 after losses by Oklahoma, Nebraska and UCLA, and those were only the start of a series of upsets that tangled the rankings until Miami beat No. 2 Nebraska 37-14 in the Rose Bowl.

"It may come down to the last week," Coker said, looking to Miami's Dec. 7 finale against visiting Virginia Tech.

"Think of all the crazy games, crazy things that happened late last year -- Texas, Florida, Tennessee, Nebraska, Colorado and us with a close call (a 26-24 win Dec. 1) at Virginia Tech. It'll probably work itself out. I think (the BCS poll) is designed to put the best two teams together at the end of the year. There's a lot of football left for a lot of teams."

The BCS formula uses four equally weighted measures: the AP and ESPN/USA Today polls, computer rankings, win-loss record, strength of schedule and a bonus-point system based on a sliding scale from 1.0 point for beating a first-place team to .1 for a win over the 10th-place team. Margin of victory no longer is considered. As in golf, the lower the number, the better the position.

The Sooners, who routed Iowa State 49-3 Saturday, received 3.92 points -- 2 for poll average, 1.5 for computer-rank average, .52 for strength of schedule, 0 for losses and a .1 bonus deduction for beating Texas. Miami had 6.41 points -- 1 (poll average), 4.33 (computer average), 1.08 (strength of schedule) and 0 (losses and bonus points).

Notre Dame had 7.07 points -- 6 (poll average), 1.33 (computer average), .04 (strength of schedule), and .3 (bonus deduction for beating Michigan).

Miami's strength of schedule, listed No. 27, helped Oklahoma (13th) jump to No. 1 in the first BCS rankings. That's where the Sooners started a year ago.

"There's still a long way to go," said BCS coordinator Michael Tranghese, also commissioner of the Big East. "The strength-of-schedule component will come into play, and so will the bonus points. The biggest surprise is there are still so many undefeated teams at this stage, halfway through the season."

Notre Dame coach Tyrone Willingham said the team's "focus right now is on Florida State game (Saturday). However, it's certainly better to be ranked than not ranked."

The Irish were No. 3 because four of the seven computers used by the BCS ranked them fourth. Only the top six rankings are used in the BCS calculations.

Champions of the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10 and SEC qualify for one of four BCS games. Two other spots are for at-large teams. If Notre Dame, an independent, wins nine, it will qualify for a BCS game.

-- Information from Times wires used in this report.

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