Associated Press
NEW YORK —
Notre Dame is a victory away from playing for the BCS title. Alabama and Georgia each need two, and could have to go through each other.
A day after Oregon and Kansas State lost to give up control of the BCS race, the Fighting Irish (.9973) moved into first place in the standings for the first time.
“Now we don’t have to answer questions about style points or politics,” Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said. “Now we have a chance to play for the national championship this week.”
Notre Dame (11-0), ranked No. 1 in both polls and by the computer ratings, needs only to beat slumping rival Southern California on Saturday in Los Angeles to earn its first trip to the BCS title game.
USC has been a major disappointment this season, starting it No. 1 and dropping to 7-4 after losing Saturday to UCLA. They also will be without quarterback Matt Barkley for the matchup with the Fighting Irish. Max Wittek will make his first career start after Barkley was injured at the end of the UCLA game.
No. 2 Alabama (.9333) and No. 3 Georgia (.8763) also have rivalry games Saturday. The Crimson Tide hosts Auburn and the Bulldogs play Georgia Tech at home.
If the favorites win, the Southeastern Conference championship game will be a national semifinal of sorts, with the winner advancing to the BCS title game.
Florida (10-1) is in fourth heading into a huge game at 10th-place Florida State. The Seminoles (10-1) also will have an ACC title game to play.
Oregon (10-1) dropped to fifth and Kansas State (10-1) was sixth.
Notre Dame, which last won a national championship in 1988, has lost nine of the last 10 against USC, the lone victory coming in 2010, Kelly’s first season as coach.
But the Trojans have been a major disappointment this season, starting it No. 1 and dropping to 7-4 after losing Saturday to UCLA. There’s also a chance quarterback Matt Barkley could miss the game. He was injured at the end of the UCLA game, but USC does not make injury information public so his status likely will be a mystery this week.
If Notre Dame loses, it could leave a muddle of one-loss teams vying for a spot in the BCS title game, even opening up the possibility of a second consecutive all-SEC national championship game.
AP POLL
The Top 25 teams in The Associated Press college football poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Nov. 17, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote, and previous ranking:
Record Pts Pv
1. Notre Dame (60) 11-0 1,500 3
2. Alabama 10-1 1,399 4
3. Georgia 10-1 1,316 5
4. Ohio St. 11-0 1,292 6
5. Oregon 10-1 1,246 1
6. Florida 10-1 1,171 7
7. Kansas St. 10-1 1,064 2
8. LSU 9-2 1,048 8
9. Texas A&M 9-2 1,028 9
10. Florida St. 10-1 1,026 10
11. Stanford 9-2 991 14
12. Clemson 10-1 874 11
13. South Carolina 9-2 795 12
14. Oklahoma 8-2 734 13
15. UCLA 9-2 624 17
16. Oregon St. 8-2 599 15
17. Nebraska 9-2 559 16
18. Texas 8-2 498 18
19. Louisville 9-1 362 20
20. Michigan 8-3 282 23
21. Rutgers 9-1 265 22
22. Oklahoma St. 7-3 240 NR
23. Kent St. 10-1 155 25
24. N. Illinois 10-1 144 NR
25. Mississippi St. 8-3 82 NR
25. Utah St. 9-2 82 NR
Others receiving votes: Boise St. 20, Northwestern 20, Washington 20, Arizona 13, Southern Cal 12, Tulsa 10, San Jose St. 8, Fresno St. 7, Louisiana Tech 4, Wisconsin 4, San Diego St. 2, Baylor 1, Iowa St. 1, TCU 1, Vanderbilt 1.
USA TODAY POLL
The USA Today Top 25 football coaches poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Nov. 17, total points based on 25 points for first place through one point for 25th, and previous ranking:
Record Pts Pvs
1. Notre Dame (56) 11-0 1,469 3
2. Alabama (2) 10-1 1,386 5
3. Georgia (1) 10-1 1,348 4
4. Oregon 10-1 1,227 1
5. Florida St. 10-1 1,199 6
6. Florida 10-1 1,166 7
7. LSU 9-2 1,062 8
8. Kansas St. 10-1 1,056 2
9. Clemson 10-1 1,029 9
10. Texas A&M 9-2 994 10
11. Stanford 9-2 934 13
12. South Carolina 9-2 853 11
13. Oklahoma 8-2 798 12
14. Nebraska 9-2 654 14
15. Texas 8-2 593 15
16. UCLA 9-2 590 16
17. Oregon St. 8-2 563 17
18. Louisville 9-1 453 18
19. Rutgers 9-1 408 20
20. Michigan 8-3 289 23
21. Oklahoma St. 7-3 258 24
22. Boise St. 9-2 243 22
23. Northern Illinois 10-1 149 NR
24. Mississippi St. 8-3 99 NR
25. Kent St. 10-1 86 NR
Others Receiving Votes: Utah State 74; Northwestern 59; Louisiana Tech 36; Washington 36; Southern California 14; Tulsa 14; San Jose State 7; San Diego State 6; Arizona 5; Vanderbilt 4; Wisconsin 4; Fresno State 3; Middle Tennessee 3; Arkansas State 2; Cincinnati1; Texas Tech 1.
HARRIS POLL
The Top 25 teams in the Harris Interactive College Football Poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Nov. 17, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and previous ranking:
Record Pts Pvs
1. Notre Dame (107) 11-0 2,863 3
2. Alabama (8) 10-1 2,732 4
3. Georgia 10-1 2,573 5
4. Oregon 10-1 2,483 1
5. Florida 10-1 2,242 7
6. Florida State 10-1 2,231 6
7. Kansas State 10-1 2,161 2
8. LSU 9-2 2,077 8
9. Clemson 10-1 1,953 9
10. Texas A&M 9-2 1,909 10
11. Stanford 9-2 1,897 13
12. South Carolina 9-2 1,647 11
13. Oklahoma 8-2 1,530 12
14. Nebraska 9-2 1,275 14
15. Oregon State 8-2 1,202 16
16. UCLA 9-2 1,144 19
17. Texas 8-2 1,088 15
18. Louisville 9-1 898 17
19. Rutgers 9-1 756 21
20. Michigan 8-3 575 24
21. Boise State 9-2 426 23
22. Oklahoma State 7-3 425 NR
23. Mississippi State 8-3 260 25
24. Northern Illinois 10-1 198 NR
25. Kent State 10-1 196 NR
Other teams receiving votes: USC 142; Utah State 132; Northwestern 112; Louisiana Tech 58; Washington 53; Arizona 21; Tulsa 21; Baylor 18; San Jose State 18; San Diego State 13; Wisconsin 11; Vanderbilt 10; TCU 9; Arkansas State 4; Fresno State 4; Texas Tech 4; Syracuse 3; Louisiana-Monroe 1.
BCS Standings List
Nov. 19, 2012
Harris USA Today Computer BCS
Rk Pts Pct Rk Pts Pct Rk Pct Avg Pv
1. Notre Dame 1 2863 .9958 1 1469 .9959 1 1.0000 .9973 3
2. Alabama 2 2732 .9503 2 1386 .9397 3 .9100 .9333 4
3. Georgia 3 2573 .8950 3 1348 .9139 6 .8200 .8763 5
4. Florida 5 2242 .7798 6 1166 .7905 2 .9600 .8434 6
5. Oregon 4 2483 .8637 4 1227 .8319 7 .8000 .8318 2
6. Kansas St. 7 2161 .7517 8 1056 .7159 4 .8400 .7692 1
7. LSU 8 2077 .7224 7 1062 .7200 8 .7500 .7308 7
8. Stanford 11 1897 .6598 11 934 .6332 5 .8300 .7077 13
9. Texas A&M 10 1909 .6640 10 994 .6739 10 .6200 .6526 8
10. Florida St. 6 2231 .7760 5 1199 .8129 17 .3200 .6363 10
11. Clemson 9 1953 .6793 9 1029 .6976 15 .4400 .6056 11
12. South Carolina 12 1647 .5729 12 853 .5783 11 .6100 .5871 9
13. Oklahoma 13 1530 .5322 13 798 .5410 9 .6300 .5677 12
14. Nebraska 14 1275 .4435 14 654 .4434 12 .5500 .4790 14
15. Oregon St. 15 1202 .4181 17 563 .3817 12 .5500 .4499 16
16. Texas 17 1088 .3784 15 593 .4020 14 .4900 .4235 15
17. UCLA 16 1144 .3979 16 590 .4000 16 .3500 .3826 17
18. Rutgers 19 756 .2630 19 408 .2766 21 .1900 .2432 22
19. Michigan 20 575 .2000 20 289 .1959 19 .2800 .2253 21
20. Louisville 18 898 .3123 18 453 .3071 26 .0300 .2165 19
21. Oklahoma St. 22 425 .1478 21 258 .1749 18 .2900 .2042 24
22. Boise St. 21 426 .1482 22 243 .1647 30 .0000 .1043 NR
23. Kent St. 25 196 .0682 25 86 .0583 22 .1600 .0955 NR
24. Arizona 31 21 .0073 34 5 .0034 20 .2400 .0836 NR
25. Washington 30 53 .0184 28 36 .0244 23 .1500 .0643 25
BCS
Computers
AH RB CM KM JS PW
1. Notre Dame 1 1 1 1 1 1
2. Alabama 5 2 4 3 3 3
3. Georgia 4 5 7 7 6 4
4. Florida 2 6 2 2 2 2
5. Oregon 7 4 6 6 5 8
6. Kansas St. 3 3 3 10 7 7
7. LSU 10 7 8 4 8 6
8. Stanford 6 8 5 5 4 5
9. Texas A&M 15 11 10 8 12 9
10. Florida St. 18 16 15 - 22 16
11. Clemson 13 13 11 20 23 14
12. South Carolina 14 10 12 11 9 10
13. Oklahoma 9 9 14 9 11 12
14. Nebraska 11 15 9 12 15 11
15. Oregon St. 8 14 13 13 10 13
16. Texas 12 12 16 14 13 17
17. UCLA 16 18 17 16 18 18
18. Rutgers 20 20 18 25 - 20
19. Michigan 19 22 20 17 20 15
20. Louisville 23 - 21 - - -
21. Okla St. 17 17 22 19 16 -
22. Boise St. - - - - - -
23. Kent St. 24 19 19 - - 19
24. Arizona 21 23 23 15 14 21
25. Washington 25 24 - 18 17 22
