Forget about roses for a moment — the nationwide race for the Orange Bowl is on, and Oregon isn’t out of the running.
The long-awaited Bowl Championship Series standings were released Monday during halftime of ABC’s Monday Night Football, and Oregon is ranked No. 8.
Nebraska is on top of the BCS, followed in order by Oklahoma, Virginia Tech, Miami, Florida State, Florida and Clemson. Washington is No. 9 in the standings, followed by Kansas State.
At the end of the season, the BCS rankings determine which two teams play for the national title at the Orange Bowl in Miami. The standings are generated by a complex formula that considers the AP and coaches’ polls, eight different computer ratings, strength of schedule and losses.
Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti didn’t have much to say about the BCS rankings after practice Monday.
“I’m not going to pay much attention to it, to tell you the truth,” he said.
Bellotti’s reaction is best for the Ducks, who can’t afford to lose a single game if they want to retain an inside track to the Rose Bowl, or receive an at-large bid to the Fiesta Bowl.
But if defense wins championships, perhaps the Ducks should start thinking about something bigger.
Following Oregon’s thrilling 14-10 win over Arizona at Autzen Stadium Saturday night, almost every sports.com-type Web site on the Internet had some sort of centerpiece about the Ducks.
Those who logged on to ESPN.com’s college football page Sunday or Monday saw the headline “Ducks flying under the radar,” accompanied by a largecolor photo of receiver Marshaun Tucker celebrating his second touchdown of the game.
The story’s opening sentence read, “You don’t hear them mentioned as a national championship contender, but perhaps the 10th-ranked Ducks should start quacking.”
On collegebcs.com, an online fan poll asked which team should win the national championship. The eight choices were Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Miami, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Virginia Tech or someone else.
The Huskers led with 24 percent of the vote, followed by the Sooners (22 percent) and the Hokies (14). “Someone else” was in fourth place with 12 percent of the vote. Who could that someone else be?

Even the national media is suggesting Oregon may be Miami-bound.
“I don’t have any thoughts on that; my thoughts are on Arizona State,” Bellotti said. “For us, the one thing I do know is that if we win out we control our opportunity to go to the Rose Bowl. We’re becoming a good football team, we’ve got the attention of people, but we have to continue to prove that.”
With the right losses in the upper echelon of the NCAA, the Ducks could be going somewhere besides Pasadena this winter.
Three teams in the Associated Press poll’s top six will lose at least once in the coming weeks. Top-ranked Nebraska and No. 3 Oklahoma, both undefeated, face each other Saturday, and the Huskers later play No. 10 Kansas State. Second-ranked Virginia Tech, also undefeated, battles No. 4 Miami. Undefeated Clemson, ranked fifth, has to play No. 6 Florida State and No. 8 Florida.
The most likely outcome of all those top-six matchups is that Nebraska will probably be the only undefeated team in the NCAA by season’s end, possibly leaving the BCS standings’ No. 2 spot up for grabs.
The Ducks will need help to have a shot at the national title. Nebraska must blow out Oklahoma to push the Sooners down in the polls. Miami must beat Virginia Tech. Clemson must lose a game but beat either Florida State or Florida, or both.
“They talk about it, but with things like that we’ve really got to stay focused on the season,” Tucker said. “Once you start thinking about those teams, you get relaxed on different teams during the week. It doesn’t matter. Wherever God blesses us with, that’s where we’re going to go.”
Oregon could have been a solid Orange Bowl candidate this season, had a few things worked out differently.
What if the Ducks weren’t snubbed behind Washington in the coaches’ poll? What if Notre Dame had beaten Nebraska on Sept. 9, instead of losing in overtime? Or, the big question: Where would the BCS rank Oregon if it had beaten Wisconsin?
Perhaps CNNSI.com said it best in an article by staff writer Stewart Mandel.
“Moral of the story, for all you nervous Florida and Oregon fans out there, is this,” he writes. “It’s fun to speculate, it’s great to dream, but the mind is a terrible thing to waste — on math.”