Tuesday, October 23, 2001

OU ranked No. 1 in BCS polls, Miami ranked fourth
Associated Press

Miami, No. 1 in the AP media poll and the coaches’ poll, was fourth in rankings that determine which teams will play for a national championship at the Rose Bowl in January.

The Hurricanes, thanks to a first-half schedule ranked 92nd of 117 teams, were behind Oklahoma, Nebraska and UCLA in the first Bowl Championship Series standings released on Monday night.

Unbeaten Miami is on the outside looking in because its first five opponents have a combined 8-19 record against major colleges. The second-half schedule gets tougher, with season-ending games against Washington (5-1) and Virginia Tech (6-0).
“I don’t need a computer. Teams are going to fall,” Miami coach Larry Coker said.

“The month of November is as critical as December. We saw three undefeated teams fall last week. The only thing we can control is to make sure we’re not one of them.”

The BCS rankings are based on a formula that incorporates the AP poll plus the USA Today/ESPN coaches’ poll, eight computer rankings, strength-of-schedule and number of losses.

New this year are bonus points for a win over a team in the BCS’ top 15. Final standings will be released Dec. 9, with the top two teams playing in Pasadena on Jan. 3.

With the standings out a week later than originally planned, the timing couldn't be better for the BCS — the Sooners (7-0) visit the Cornhuskers (8-0) on Saturday.

Oklahoma and Nebraska are ranked 2-3 in the AP poll and coaches’ poll this week.

Virginia Tech is fifth in the BCS standings, followed by Texas, Michigan, Maryland, Tennessee and Washington State. Rounding out the top 15 are Florida, Washington, Oregon, Stanford and South Carolina.

Oklahoma still has games left against Tulsa, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State before a Big 12 title game, where a rematch with Nebraska is possible.

Expect lots of shuffling in next week's standings.

Besides Oklahoma-Nebraska on Saturday, UCLA (6-0) visits Stanford (4-1); Florida (5-1) plays Georgia (5-1) in Jacksonville, Fla.; South Carolina (6-1) is at Tennessee (4-1); Maryland (7-0) at Florida State (4-2); and Oregon (6-1) at Washington State (7-0).
Oklahoma had 3.06 points in the BCS standings — 2 for poll average, 1.50 for computer-rank average, 0.56 for strength-of-schedule, zero for losses and a 1-point bonus deduction for its win over Texas on Oct. 6.