Harris Interactive Poll

The Harris Poll has delayed itself to increase anticipation for the BCS Bowl announcements later today, so here is the final Coaches’ Poll of the regular season. The Harris Poll will be posted as soon as it comes out.

USA Today Coaches’ Poll

USA Today Coaches’ Poll

Harris Interactive Poll

USA Today Coaches’ Poll

Harris Interactive Poll

USA Today Coaches’ Poll

Harris Interactive Poll

The final college football Saturday in October just so happens to fall on Halloween this year, and in that spirit, here’s your weekend college football preview, as guided by the Halloween classic, “Thriller” by Michael Jackson.

“It’s close to midnight and something evil’s lurking in the dark”

No reason not to start from the beginning.

After this weekend, just five weeks will remain before the final BCS standings are released. And for teams that need losses for them to even have a shot of competing for a national title, the clock creeps ever closer towards midnight, sealing them out of the BCS National Title Game.

That evil lurking is the possibility that some of those teams, like TCU, Boise State, Cincinnati and Iowa are in danger of finishing unbeaten, and still missing out on the national title game. They will all have to start putting on a show for the nation, and soon, if any of them hope to be playing on January 7^th.

“Now is the time for you and I to cuddle close together, yeah. All through the night I’ll save you from the terror on the screen”

Alabama and Florida are like a happy couple atop the BCS standings right now; seemingly nothing can be done to break them up. They can cuddle as close together as they’d like, without threatening what will likely be their final date, December 5^th at the Georgia Dome for the SEC Championship.

It might be tough for either team to save the other from that “terror on the screen,” the remaining SEC schedule for both teams, but all signs point to a messy breakup just before Christmas-time.

“Creatures crawl in search of blood, to terrorize y’alls neighborhood”

Creatures, in this case in-conference opponents with bad records, with axes to grind and noise to make, could make this Halloween weekend a scary time for in the neighborhoods of the BCS’s top teams.

Indiana (4-4, 1-3 Big 10) comes into Iowa City to face off against the No. 4 Iowa Hawkeyes, in search of blood, and a victory. The Hawkeyes are already injured (although probably not yet bleeding), as they lost top running back Adam Robinson last week for the season.

Both No. 6 TCU and No. 7 Boise State also welcome opponents with uninspiring records into their neighborhoods, afraid of what a shocking loss might mean.

“And grizzly ghouls from every tomb are closing in to seal your doom”

Teams resting on the idea that they’ve secured something in this topsy-turvy college football season beware. Here are two chances for the top of the BCS to topple, against tough, ghoulish-like opponents closing in to seal a terrible fate.

No. 5 USC heads up to Eugene, Oregon to take on the equally scary No. 10 Oregon Ducks, who could not only knock the Trojans out of the “one or two mistakes and we’re in!” seat, and claim it for their own.

No. 3 Texas – set up to take advantage of that messy breakup between Alabama and Florida – could see some scare tactics from No. 14 Oklahoma State, and fall victim to their toughest remaining opponent before their schedule gets a little less intimidating.

“Thriller, thriller night.”

All told, this may just be one of the most thrilling college football nights of the season, the fact that it happens to be on Halloween makes it that much better, for no mere mortal can resist the evil of the thriller. (Insert creepy Vincent Price laughter)

Enjoy.

Note: The Week 3 (November 1st) BCS standings will be released during FOX’s “The OT” post-NFL wrap up show at around 7:30 PM EST. You can see a full schedule for the releases at the BCS Guru.

The first BCS standings are nearly a week old. Teams now know the climb that faces them over the next seven weeks if they are to make it to the national title game.

That climb starts tomorrow.

Almost every single team ranked in the top 25 will face a tough in-conference match up this weekend, highlighted by four of the top five BCS teams facing tough road games in hostile environments.

No. 1 Florida will travel to Mississippi State, to face a Bulldog team that will be no pushover. And from the looks of the past few Gator SEC games, a few mistakes may send Florida tumbling down the BCS rankings if they aren’t careful.

No. 4 Boise State risks its undefeated record at Hawaii, never an easy place to claim victory, against the Rainbow Warriors in a tough WAC matchup.

No. 5 Cincinnati travels to Louisville to take on a Cardinal team looking for any sort of redemption, trying to reclaim the Big East glory that has become all Cincinnati’s in the past two years.

But the real test of the weekend will be the No. 3 Texas Longhorns, already with doubts cast about them already due to poor showings against Oklahoma and Colorado in two of their opening Big 12 conference games.

No. 2 Alabama, playing at home, doesn’t come up all roses, facing a Tennessee team looking for a way to make some national noise in coach Lane Kiffin’s first year.

But the game of the weekend would find itself in the most unlikely of places, Provo, Utah. BYU and TCU will face off in a battle of two of the three BCS busting hopes of the nation (the other being Boise’s bid). For TCU, a victory could spell increased support from both the computers and the human element. For BYU, a return to the top ten could be in order after falling following a loss to Florida State.

This week following the initial release of the BCS standings always presents intriguing storylines. How will teams that felt they have been slighted by the computers in the first iteration of the BCS iteration react?

Something to look for in the coming weeks is the effect of conference scheduling on the computer rankings. For those conferences with multiple teams in the top 15 (Pac 10, SEC, Big 12) the conference portion of those highly ranked teams may provide a boost in the computers.

For those conferences with lower turnout in the BCS rankings (Big 10, Big East, ACC, BCS buster conferences), the coming weeks may kick out the stool from under their high rankings, as many will take a shot from the computers, and see their averages decline.

But that’s all discussion for the future, for now, lets enjoy a weekend in which 24 of the top 25 AP teams are in action, and see just what the BCS standings look like on Sunday.

Maybe we’ll see something completely different.