Nebraska is one. Miami is two. Oklahoma’s three.
And the Oregon Ducks, who reside in the wacky West Coast Pacific-10 Conference, are still in the hunt for the national championship at the fourth spot.
In the latest Bowl Championship Series rankings released Monday, Oregon leapfrogged Texas and Tennessee up to No. 4 with a total of 11.97 BCS points, where less is best.
“Who would of thought that?” Oregon tight end Justin Peelle said. “I thought they had all written us off by now.”
Just behind the Ducks (9-1 overall, 6-1 Pac-10) at the fifth spot, with 11.98 points, is Florida, followed by Texas, Tennessee, Washington State and Stanford.
The top two teams in the final BCS rankings on Dec. 9 will meet in the Jan. 3 Rose Bowl and play for the national title. Which leaves the Ducks with two weekends off to watch and wait to see how it all plays out, before worrying about Oregon State on Dec. 1.
As of Monday, though, Oregon would rather just enjoy its 21-20 win over UCLA and not worry too much about all the pesky little details regarding the BCS standings.
“Won’t catch no rise out me,” cornerback Rashad Bauman said. “It ain’t no big deal if it ain’t one or two. I mean, that’s what everybody’s shooting to get at and three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, they’re all in the same bracket in my book.
“It’s definitely exciting to be rated that high; it’s awesome really, but whatever happens, happens.”
Bauman can hardly be blamed for not wanting to think about all that has to happen for the Ducks to make a return trip to Pasadena. The BCS standings can be quite confusing when considering that they’re formulated using both the coaches and media polls, eight separate computer rankings, the strength of schedule, the teams’ records and added points for “quality wins,” which are victories over teams currently in the BCS top-15.
For Oregon, that win is against Washington State, giving the Ducks reason to root for the Cougars this week despite what a loss by them would mean.
Should Washington State lose to Washington on Saturday in the Apple Cup, the Ducks could lose to the Beavers and still be guaranteed at least a berth in the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Ariz., on New Year’s Day. Should the Cougars win, though, Oregon would continue to reap the benefits from its win in Pullman, Wash., and gain those bonus BCS points.
“I don’t worry about that,” Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said Monday. “I don’t root for anybody other than the Ducks. We need to do the best we can to try and get a victory in the Civil War.
“There are still a lot of what-ifs.”
Anything is possible in the remaining weeks of the season, but good teams need to lose to give Oregon a chance at sneaking up even more.
“I don’t know how it all works exactly but a couple of teams still have some big games left,” quarterback Joey Harrington said.
Florida is the team on the rise with remaining computer-friendly games against No. 21 Florida State and No. 6 Tennessee. Miami has reached the meat of its schedule and after surviving a Boston College scare, now must tread through No. 14 Syracuse, No. 16 Washington and No. 18 Virginia Tech.
And then there’s the Big 12 teams in Nebraska and Oklahoma. The Sooners have only Texas Tech and Oklahoma State left, but then must win in the league championship game on Dec. 1. Oklahoma’s opponent in that game will be decided on Nov. 24 when second-ranked Nebraska visits No. 15 Colorado.
As for Texas, it needs a Sooner loss and a victory against Texas A&M to play in the Big 12 title game and keep its Rose Bowl hopes alive.
A good scenario for the Ducks would be if they beat the Beavers, and Miami (8-0), Florida (8-1) and Oklahoma (9-1) all lost once, leaving Oregon possibly in a date with Nebraska (11-0) on Jan. 3.
“We can’t really think about or dwell on those games because it’s not in our hands,” Bauman said. “We let that slip away when we lost to Stanford. If it’s two undefeated teams left at the end, then they deserve to play, without a doubt. If it’s not, who knows.
“I’m definitely ready to go to the Rose Bowl if they call, but whatever one we get into will be the game that we deserve.”
Added Bellotti: “We know we’re going to be in a bowl game, we just don’t know which one, and obviously we’re hoping to get to the very best bowl game possible.”