If Virginia Tech or Georgia hopes to squeeze into the national title game, each had better hope Texas loses.
The Hokies and Bulldogs likely won’t catch the Longhorns any other way.
The Bowl Championship Series’ first rankings of the college football season were announced Monday and No. 2 Texas, which trails Southern California, owned a huge gap on the rest of the field.
The BCS, started in 1998 to determine the top two teams for a national title game, listed USC at No. 1 by a wide margin, as expected. Based on a three-prong formula of the USA Today coaches poll, the new Harris Interactive poll and the average of six computer rankings, USC earned an average BCS score of .9923 based on 1.0 for a first- place vote.
For the all-important No. 2 spot, Texas was at .9591. Way back at No. 3 was Virginia Tech at .9067, with Georgia fourth at .8933. The BCS rankings will come out each Monday, with final standings and title game pairings announced Dec. 4. The championship will be decided in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 4.
“That’s virtually an insurmountable lead,” Jerry Palm, analyst with the Schererville, Ind.-based CollegeBCS.com, said of Texas. “If the margin in the polls holds up until Dec. 4, it’s almost impossible for the computers to make up for No. 3.”
In the Harris poll, Texas leads Virginia Tech 2,725 points to 2,596 – and the Longhorns lead the Hokies in USA Today 1,492 to 1,428, a 64-point margin that is two more than the 62 coaches voting in the poll.
“Obviously, the poll margin could erode until then, but if it’s the same Dec. 4, No. 3 has no shot,” Palm said.
“Virginia Tech would have to be two spots ahead in the computers. Right now, they’re two spots behind.”
The computer rankings, which took criticism for being so much different than the human polls in the past, all but mirrored the polls this time. USC was first in the computers’ average followed by Texas, Georgia and Virginia Tech.
It’s not likely Virginia Tech and Georgia will get a break on the field. USC, riding a 28-game win streak, has only two games left against BCS-ranked teams: fading California, 25th in the standings, and No. 9 UCLA in the regular-season finale. Texas’ lone remaining game with a BCS-ranked opponent is Saturday against No. 7 Texas Tech, unless a Big 12 North team is in the standings by the time of the Big 12 championship game Dec. 3. Nebraska now stands 23rd.
Meanwhile, Virginia Tech has two BCS-ranked opponents left and probably another in the Atlantic Coast Conference title game. Georgia also has two left, then the Southeastern Conference title game.
John Henderson can be reached at 303-820-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
