BCS Rankings Week 14 Will Confirm No. 1 Notre Dame vs. SEC Champion

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish defeated the USC Trojans and clinched the No. 1 ranking for the BCS standings. They will play for the national championship in Miami on January 7.

The BCS picture also became clearer with a day of favorites holding off rivals and other good teams who hoped to leap into a day of chaos. The BCS Top 10 all preserved their resumes, with the exception of Florida St. falling at home to higher-ranked Florida.

The big game next week will be the SEC championship game pitting No. 2 Alabama and No. 3 Georgia. The winner will play Notre Dame to complete the national championship matchup.

The following calculations project estimated numbers from the USA Today coaches poll and the Harris poll. It also estimates the six BCS computers. The actual BCS standings will be released 8:30 p.m. ET Sunday on ESPN.

BCS Ranking/Team       Coaches Poll         Harris Poll          Computers

1.  Notre Dame    .9977            .9966                  .9965                   1.000

2.  Alabama         .9346             .9424                  .9513                   .9100

3.  Georgia          .8772             .9159                  .8957                   .8200

4.  Florida            .8572             .8203                  .7913                   .9600

5.  Oregon           .8389             .8475                  .8692                   .8000

6.  Kansas St.      .7769             .7220                  .7687                   .8400

7.  LSU                  .7611             .7851                  .7482                   .7500

8. Stanford          .7390             .6976                 .6894                   .8300

9.  Texas A&M     .6877             .7132                 .7200                   .6300

10. S. Carolina    .6510             .6725                 .6605                   .6200

11. Oklahoma      .6422            .6359                 .6508                   .6400

12. Nebraska       .5489            .5437                 .5530                   .5500

13. Texas              .4519            .3803                 .4553                   .5200

14. Florida St.      .4152            .5932                 .5923                   .0600  

15. Clemson        .3992             .4502                 .4873                   .2600

 

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Notre Dame is the big winner with another impressive road win out West and the luxury of sitting out next week. Their title appearance is assured.

The SEC made another strong statement with its top teams all winning out. Alabama, Georgia and Florida are all in line to receive BCS bids, though the loser of next week’s conference championship will defer to Florida for the second BCS bid. Texas A&M, LSU and South Carolina all held serve to represent the strongest conference in America.

Stanford continued its late-season march with an impressive win at UCLA, clinching the Pac-12 North. The Cardinal will host the Pac-12 championship game Friday night on FOX TV, also against UCLA, the Pac-12 South champions. Additionally, the Stanford-UCLA winner will play in the Rose Bowl.

This eliminates the No. 5 BCS-ranked Oregon Ducks, who rebounded from their lone loss by demolishing the Oregon St. Beavers. The Ducks cannot win the conference, but will likely get a chance to take on either Kansas St. or Oklahoma from the Big 12 for the Fiesta Bowl.

All BCS teams ranked No. 15-21 from last week were defeated. It leaves a clear separation from the more elite teams in college football.