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Every college football season features a signature weekend, a weekend of upsets and statement victories that separates the serious title contenders from the rest of the pack. It appears that we just experienced this season’s signature weekend, which just so happened to proceed the release of the season’s first BCS rankings.
Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, allow me to explain the BCS for the college football novices in the audience. The NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the college football division of the largest and most widely known college football programs (ACC, Big 10, Big 12, SEC, Pac-10, etc.), decides its national champion through the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), a collection of four bowl games and a national title game. The BCS rankings, a ranking system combining several computer ranking systems and two human polls, decides the top two teams in the nation who play for the national title game. The first BCS rankings are usually released in mid-October and serve as an early indicator of which teams appear headed towards the national title game. The computer ranking systems rely heavily on strength of schedule, meaning a victory over a higher ranked opponent counts for more than a victory over a lower ranked opponent. Similarly a loss to a higher ranked opponent hurts far less in the rankings than a loss to a lower ranked opponent.
Prior to the weekend, speculation abounded about the identity of the top three teams in the BCS rankings. It appeared clear that the University of Florida and the University of Alabama would be ranked #1 and #2 respectively, but since they hail from the same conference (SEC), they will likely meet in the conference championship game with the winner eliminating the other from the national championship game. Therefore, the #3 spot was the most the eagerly anticipated ranking to be unveiled.
The University of Texas was ranked #3 in both of the human polls, but skeptics questioned their strength of schedule, with no real signature victories. Meanwhile, Virginia Tech, the #4 ranked team in the human polls, continued to impress pollsters with impressive wins over quality opponents. Lurking in the background were fellow undefeated programs the University of Iowa and Boise State and with only one loss, USC, a traditional college football power, could not be omitted from the title talks.
All six teams were involved in close games over the weekend. The #1 ranked Florida Gators entered their game with the Arkansas Razorbacks as a 24 point favorite, but needed a last second field goal to escape with a victory. Similarly, Alabama needed a fourth quarter touchdown to put their game with South Carolina out of reach. Texas struggled to move the ball offensively, but managed to secure a 16-13 victory over their arch-rival Oklahoma. Iowa fell behind to Wisconsin, 10-0, before they mounted a come from behind victory. Boise State and USC had to survive 4th quarter rallies to emerge with victories. And poor Virginia Tech would have gladly traded places with any of them, as the Hokies fell to Georgia Tech 28-23, all but eliminating them from the national title hunt.
As expected, Florida and Alabama were ranked #1 and #2 respectively in the first BCS rankings, followed by Texas. It now appears that if Texas wins the remainder of their games, they will play the winner of Florida/Alabama in the BCS title game. However, if the Longhorns should lose one of their remaining games things become a little more interesting.