Notre Dame Climbs to No. 3 in New BCS Standings

Oct. 27, 2012; Norman, OK, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish defensive end Stephon Tuitt (7) celebrates after Notre Dame defeated the Oklahoma Sooners 30-13 at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-US PRESSWIRE

Coming off a 30-13 defeat of Oklahoma, Notre Dame climbs to No. 3 in the new BCS standings, released Sunday night.

The Fighting Irish jumped two places and bypassed Oregon, which stood pat at No. 4. The Ducks’ blasting of hapless Colorado did nothing to bolster Chip Kelly’s team’s BCS profile. Oregon also has a lot more to make it nervous from the most recent standings. Its marquee match-up with USC next week loses some of its quality after USC suffered a 39-36 defeat at Arizona, and tumbled eight spots from No. 9 to No. 17.

The Trojans’ sustained the greatest drop from the first BCS standings to the second. Conversely, Arizona entered the rankings. With a win over the Wildcats already to its credit, Oregon does get some boost in its score. UO also still faces Stanford and Oregon State, which rank No. 14 and No. 11.

Notre Dame’s schedule is headed in the opposite direction. After running through a gauntlet that included currently ranked opponents Oklahoma and Stanford, the Fighting Irish faces a three-game of lackluster opponents in Pitt, Boston College and Wake Forest.

UO and Notre Dame share a similar quandary — how does one climb past Alabama and Kansas State? The Crimson Tide is a fixture at No. 1, gaining points after blasting top 12 ranked Mississippi State. Kansas State’s challenging Big 12 slate helped the Wildcats reach No. 2, and the Wildcats have another BCS top 25 match-up to come via Oklahoma State.

Louisville made the greatest strides from last week. The Cardinals moved up six spots, from No. 16 to No. 10. UL faces the toughest road to the top two of any remaining undefeated team, as none of the Cardinals’ previous or remaining opponents factor into the standings. Louisville desperately could have used a Rutgers win over Kent State, with the Scarlet Knights still to come. As it stands, Charlie Strong’s team likely needs the front running teams to lose twice to climb into the top two. And even at that, Louisville is behind the week’s second highest mover and two-loss team, South Carolina.

The Gamecocks jumped to No. 8 with their defeat of Tennessee, and prior win Georgia gaining added traction from the Bulldogs’ win over Florida.

Rank

School

Points

Previous

1.Alabama.975912.Kansas State.940033.

Notre Dame.91475

4.Oregon.913645.LSU.813666.Georgia.7753107.Florida.760428.South Carolina.5968139.Florida State.57431210.Louisville.56611611.Oregon State.5559712.Oklahoma.5454813.Clemson.50951814.Stanford.48631715.Mississippi State.39131116.Texas A&M.35932017.USC.3509918.Texas Tech.32421419.Boise State.31232120.Nebraska.2568NR21.West Virginia.25121922.Arizona.1692NR23.Texas.16402324.Oklahoma State.0893NR25.Louisiana Tech.0784NR