BCS report

Monday, November 19, 2012

— Luck of Irish tilts their way

NEW YORK - It took five years, but college football finally saw the top two teams in the BCS Standings stumble.

And the SEC’s hopes of a seventh-consecutive national title were revived.

Two consecutive weekends of seismic upsets not only sent tremors throughout college football from the Deep South to the Pacific Northwest, they’ve all but cleared the way for two marquee teams and best-known brands to play for the national title.

Notre Dame was No. 1 in the BCS standings released Sunday and Alabama was No. 2 after a pair of stunning Saturday night upsets rearranged the rankings.

When the BCS standings come out later Sunday, they are expected to line up the same way.

Notre Dame needs only to beat struggling rival Southern California (7-4), with its star quarterback injured, to secure a spot in the BCS title game for the first time. In the 76-year history of the AP poll, Notre Dame has been crowned national champion by the media panel eight times, the last in 1988.

“It’s like being selected for the playoffs,” Notre Dame Coach Brian Kelly said. “Now you know you’re in if you take care of business.”

The only other school with as many AP championships is Alabama.

The Crimson Tide potentially has two more games left. The Tide is at home Saturday against rival Auburn (3-8) and, if it beats the Tigers, advances to the Southeastern Conference championship game against No. 3 Georgia on Dec. 1.

Win that one, too, and it will be Notre Dame and Alabama playing in Miami on Jan. 7 for the championship.

And after Kansas State and Oregon stumbled relief abounded in South Bend and Tuscaloosa.

Alabama wide receiver Amari Cooper tweeted as the dominoes were falling: “I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited before haha.”

NOTRE DAME

Told ya so

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Coach Brian Kelly was doing the same thing Notre Dame fans around the country were doing Saturday night, flipping back and forth between the Kansas State and Oregon games and cheering loudly for one of the top two teams in the BCS standings to lose so the Fighting Irish could have a shot at the title game.

When both went down, though, he says he felt neither a sense of elation nor satisfaction. It was more a feeling of control. The Fighting Irish (11-0) were now in control of their own destiny, knowing a win over rival Southern California (7-4) puts the Irish in the BCS title game after they ascended to No. 1 in the standings Sunday.

“We get a chance to play for the national championship provided we win this week,” he said.

It’s been 19 years since the Irish were last able to think like that. That’s how long it had been since Notre Dame was last ranked No. 1 in 1993 before Boston College shocked the Fighting Irish with a 41-39 victory.

ALABAMA

Tide rises, again

AUBURN, Ala. - Alabama’s Barrett Jones summed up the Iron Bowl’s significance hours before it got really meaningful nationally.

“It’s the West, it’s all our hopes and dreams, and also, it’s Auburn,” the Crimson Tide center said Saturday

Then it got even bigger.

For the fifth consecutive year, the Iron Bowl features a team squarely in the national title hunt. No. 2 Alabama (10-1, 7-0 Southeastern Conference) almost certainly controls its own fate.

A victory over the Tigers (3-8, 0-7) would put the Tide into the SEC Championship Game against Georgia, who moved up to No. 3 in the BCS standings after losses by former No 1. Kansas State and No. 2 Oregon.

All the pieces fell into place hours after Bama’s 49-0 victory over struggling FCS team Western Carolina.

The twin defeats touched off the kind of celebration in Tuscaloosa normally reserved for big victories, with a YouTube video showing fans gathering near campus.

Auburn is trying to avoid going winless in the SEC since going 0-6 in Doug Barfield’s final season in 1980.

GEORGIA

Lurking ‘Dogs

ATHENS, Ga. - Alabama was supposed to be the best team in the country. Then Oregon and Kansas State got all the hype. Now it’s Notre Dame looking down at everyone else.

Plodding along quietly, barely noticed, is one other team that has a prime spot in the national championship race.

The Georgia Bulldogs.

Coach Mark Richt’s squad moved up to No. 3 in the BCS standings Sunday, leaving them among only three teams in control of their own destiny.

The Bulldogs need to beat Georgia Tech in the regular-season finale, then Alabama in the Southeastern Conference championship game to earn a shot at the big prize in Miami.

Someone else asked about having a shot at winning it all.

“Right at this moment, all I can think about is Georgia Tech,” Richt said.

Nevertheless, timing is everything in the BCS.

Oregon and Kansas State fell right at the end of the regular season, with little time to recover, while Georgia has won five consecutive since an Oct. 6 loss to South Carolina.

OREGON

Help needed

EUGENE, Ore. - Oregon still has a chance, however slight, to be in the mix for the BCS championship game. The Ducks are just going to need some help.

OK, a lot of help.

First, the fifth-ranked Ducks have to beat rival Oregon State in the Civil War on Saturday. That’s a challenge, because the game is in Corvallis, where the Beavers are known for big upsets. And Oregon State (8-2) is no slouch this season.

Then, they’d be helped if UCLA beat Stanford next week in Los Angeles.

The Cardinal knocked the Ducks off the top of the BCS standings with a 17-14 overtime victory Saturday night

Most of all the Ducks need Notre Dame to lose to USC next weekend. But the Fighting Irish are undefeated and Trojans quarterback Matt Barkley will not play Saturday because of an injured sustained near the end of the UCLA loss.

“It’s not going to be easy, but we understand that we have a couple of more games and whatever plays out plays out,” Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota said. “We just have to control what we can control.”

Tom Murphy’s ballot

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette writer Tom Murphy is a voter in The Associated Press Top 25. Here are his weekly selections in the latest poll.

  1. Notre Dame

  2. Alabama

  3. Georgia

  4. Florida

  5. Ohio State

  6. Oregon

  7. Kansas State

  8. Texas A&M

  9. Florida State

  10. Clemson

  11. LSU

  12. S. Carolina

  13. Stanford

  14. Oklahoma

  15. UCLA

  16. Texas

  17. Nebraska

  18. Oregon State

  19. Louisville

  20. N. Illinois

  21. Okla. State

  22. Northwestern

  23. Rutgers

  24. Kent State

  25. Michigan

DROPPED OUT

Louisiana Tech,

USC, Texas Tech

Sports, Pages 19 on 11/19/2012