Many times its hard to tell why the BCS is the way it is when as a nation we are more accustomed to being exposed to the media and coaches polls at all times.

What are these mysterious computers? And what were their results? It’s never very clear unless you dig deep for them.

So this season, BCS Know How will post the top ten computer teams, with an explanation of why the computers either favored or hurt a team.

In the first BCS standings, we saw a team that was No. 3 and No. 4 in the human polls take over the top spot in the BCS. Why was this?

Well Oklahoma had a .980 computer score, surprisingly good for this early in the season.

No. 1 in both polls, Oregon had a pretty dismal performance in the computers, which translated into them losing their perch atop the college football world.

Boise State also suffered from poor computer rankings, which allowed Oklahoma to ascend to the top.

LSU, Michigan State and Auburn also got tons of love from the computers, coming in with computer averages all at or above .890, which is the general barrier for the best teams in the country.

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BCS Computer Rankings – BCS Week One (October 17th)

After spending a the first two BCS weeks looking up at two SEC teams, Texas took full advantage of a Alabama off week to impress the voters, and claimed the number two spot in the third BCS rankings of the year.

Still, this does not do anything to affect the much predicted funnel effect of a possible SEC Championship matchup between the two SEC teams, the Florida Gators and the Crimson Tide. If both teams are to make it that far, it is more than likely that the winner of the December 5^th matchup will automatically be entered into the BCS National Championship Game.

For now, Texas rests easy, knowing that completing an undefeated record of their own will be much easier, as they do not have a strong remaining schedule, but are right where they need to be if they want a berth in the championship game.

Iowa retains its fourth overall spot, but loses some of the good fortune it had seen from the computers, instead the math went the way of the Gators, but the Hawkeyes remain second in the computer rankings.

No. 5 Cincinnati follows the Hawkeyes, replacing USC, who falls all the way to No. 12 this week. The Bearcats are also the beneficiaries of some computer help, ranked fifth in the computers, while the coaches no longer see the Bearcats as viable, ranking them seventh.

TCU and Boise State, the two BCS busters jockeying for position come in at No. 6 and No. 7, respectively. TCU fends off Boise State for another week, taking one more step towards a BCS bowl bid, although Boise did tighten the gap slightly, mostly from computer help, after Oregon’s victory over USC improved the Broncos’ strength of schedule by a large percentage.

The Ducks follow the BCS busters at No. 8, up two spots from last week on the strength of both a human and computer bump after handily defeating USC on Saturday.

LSU and Georgia Tech, once defeated BCS conference members still have a slight chance of shooting up the rankings, especially next week when LSU goes against Alabama, but both need a ton of help.

Penn State and USC round out the top twelve, and are both out of national title contention.

Something to look for in the BCS rankings now will be how the remaining schedules of both Boise State and TCU effect their positioning. Boise is currently .0145 points behind the Horned Frogs, a margin that can easily be made up in the computer rankings in the coming weeks.

Also, the muddled middle – between No. 4 Iowa and No. 9 LSU – is separated by less than .2 points, which means anything can happen in the coming weeks.

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.

For the fourth straight year, it seems likely that a team that is not a member of the six BCS conferences will make an appearance in one of the BCS bowls.

This has been assumed since Boise State beat Oregon to open the college football season. But suddenly, it looks like it might just be Texas Christian University – better known as TCU – instead of the media darling Broncos.

In the season’s second BCS rankings, TCU, following a convincing victory over their first ranked opponent of the season, jumped two spots to No. 6, while Boise State dropped three, a victim of their weak schedule, from No. 4 to No. 7 to place the two teams back-to-back in this week’s standings.

The BCS sets up quite nicely for one non-BCS conference team to make an appearance in one of the five bowls, but doesn’t really facilitate two BCS busters during any single bowl season. TCU and Boise State may have something to say about that.

Many will likely call for both to be included, but a bevy of other teams who find themselves amongst the nations best in this week’s BCS standings will play important roles in figuring out just what the matchups will be when announced in six weeks.

Florida, Alabama and Texas are all just where we saw them last week, except Florida continues to lose ground to the two teams chasing them, as unconvincing performances against the lower portion of their SEC schedule inserts doubt into their dominance.

Iowa (No. 4) gets a boost from the computers after they played a good Michigan State team on Saturday and were victorious in the final seconds of the game. Ranked first in five out of the six computer rankings, the Hawkeyes are the first team this season to claim a perfect computer score with a 1.000.

USC also sees a spike in their BCS rating, jumping from No. 7 to No. 5 this week following a close victory at home over Oregon State on Saturday, although the computers remain unconvinced, ranking the Trojans ninth.

No. 8 Cincinnati and No. 9 LSU get left in the dust, after the Bearcats played a less than stellar opponent in Louisville and the Tigers were idle.

Oregon, Georgia Tech and Penn State round out the top 12 in this week’s standings, and will look for some help from the teams above them, which could come for the Ducks as they play USC next weekend at home.

BCS Rankings – October 25th

BCS Computer Rankings

For more information visit the BCS Formula page.

As much as the upset is a part of college football, so too is the Houdini-like escape of a national power to avoid such a fate.

On Saturday, we saw not one, but two teams pull exactly that, and let another week go by without any questions about where this college football season is going having been answered.

In fact, only one top-25 team fell victim to an upset from an unranked opponent (Miami), although Michigan State and Tennessee did almost everything in their power to add to that number.

In Tuscaloosa, the Crimson Tide hosted a very hungry Volunteer team that stifled the Crimson Tide attack that had eaten up other SEC defenses. Missed and blocked field goals held the Volunteers from claiming a lead late in the game, but it seemed to not matter, as they lined up for a game tying field goal with four seconds left.

But Terrance Cody, who had blocked an earlier field goal, worked his magic on the point of attack once again, and blocked a second Daniel Lincoln attempt to save the Tide’s hope for a national title run.

Iowa did not have the convenience of home field advantage to aide in their last second touchdown drive of 70 yards on ten plays, but they used every last tick of the clock to their advantage, saving their season on a Ricky Stanzi touchdown pass with no time left on the clock to send the Hawkeyes to 8-0 for the first time in school history.

Iowa and Alabama were not alone on Saturday as many top teams faced conference opponents who ended up giving them all they could handle, although Miami was the only one to fall. Florida, USC, Utah and West Virginia all struggled for victories, but were able to make good on their favorite status, claiming victories late in their matchups.

TCU-BYU, which had been the story heading into the weekend, turned into a non-contest, with the Horned Frogs holding down Max Hall and the BYU offense, 38-7.

The second BCS standings are due tomorrow, and likely will look very similar to the ones you saw last week, quite simply because no one loss. One change that might just be in the works would be Iowa taking the No. 5 spot away from Cincinnati.

Last week the Hawkeyes were .0001 points behind the Bearcats, and with the Hawkeyes beating a Michigan State team (4-4) with victories over teams like Michigan and Northwestern. Cincinnati, on the other hand, beat Louisville (2-5), a team with a slightly less impressive track record, and will likely see the consequences of that in their computer rankings this week. Without much information on hand, including the very unpredictable nature of the human poll voters, it looks like the Hawkeyes will jump the Bearcats in tomorrow’s BCS standings, but much of the rest of the standings will look very familiar to college football’s faithful.

Without any polling information, here is a quick stab at what the BCS top 8 might look like tomorrow.

Projected BCS Standings October 25th