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.

On Halloween, the fear is supposed to come from the costumes, or even the scary movies. But the scariest thing on this Halloween might be what the BCS will look like tomorrow.

Oregon’s upset victory over USC at home, although not completely unexpected, may have some completely unexpected ramifications on what the BCS will look like tomorrow.

Boise State, who zoomed by San Jose State on Saturday, may see the Oregon victory help them back up the BCS standings.

Last weekend, the nation was shocked when TCU bounced past the Broncos in last week’s BCS standings. Assumed to have the BCS bid locked down if they were to run the table, the Broncos instead saw the rug ripped out from under them, and thought they had to claw their way back to the BCS, and hope for a TCU loss.

Now, with Oregon’s victory over the No. 5 Trojans, the computers will likely reward the Broncos with a helpful boost. Oregon’s only loss of the season came at the hands of the Broncos in their season opener, and although both teams know that the Ducks team that night was nothing like it is today, the computers wont see it that way, rewarding the Broncos big time.

TCU, who was also victorious, might see themselves slip down, through no fault of their own, and have the tables turned on their BCS boost from last weekend.

Oregon, will likely jet past a few BCS teams as well, likely including LSU, Cincinnati, and maybe the two BCS buster teams as well, also leaving teams that were victorious over the weekend wondering just what went wrong.

On another front, Alabama, who was idle this past weekend, may just slip to No. 3 in this week’s standings, and Texas may jump over them after a very convincing victory over No. 14 Oklahoma State on Saturday night.

There is no reason for the Crimson Tide to worry, however, as an undefeated record in the SEC, and then a victory over Florida in the SEC Championship Game will more than certainly be enough for them to make it back up to the top two at the end of the season.

Either way, the BCS is sure to look a little different tomorrow, so without any polling information, here is a quick stab at what the BCS top 8 might look like when released after the NFL games on Sunday:

Projected BCS Standings November 1st