Frogs drop in ranking
TCU moves from sixth to eighth in BCS
By JOSH DUBOW
Associated Press

TCU, the only undefeated team in Division I-A along with Oklahoma, fell from sixth to eighth in this week’s BCS polls. The Horned Frogs, who play Southern Mississippi Thursday on the road, need to be in the top six to guarantee an at-large berth in a BCS bowl.

“It just shows how volatile the BCS polls are,” said Athletics director Eric Hyman, referring to TCU’s drop in the BCS ranking. “This happens all the time. We just happen to be in the middle of it right now. We need to take care of the things we can control. The next challenge is Thursday night.

The biggest development this week was Ohio State’s move to second, although it might just be temporary.

Ohio State moved past USC into second place in the BCS standings Monday. Even so, the Buckeyes might need more than a win at Michigan to defend their championship.

The Buckeyes edged ahead of Southern California by 0.19 points following their 16-13 overtime win over Purdue. The Trojans lost ground in the computers and strength of schedule after winning 45-0 at Arizona (2-9).

“That’s great, I guess, but it doesn’t really mean anything until we go up and play Michigan,” Ohio State defensive end Will Smith said. “After we play Michigan and hopefully come out with a win, then we can see where we’re ranked then.”

Oklahoma (10-0) remained the runaway leader in the standings that will determine which two teams will play for the national championship in the Sugar Bowl.

The Sooners have a 1.0 for poll average, 1.0 for computer-rank average, 0.40 for strength of schedule, zero for losses and 0.6 bonus points for beating fifth-place Texas for a 1.8.

Ohio State was second with 7.52 points, followed by USC at 7.71 and LSU at 12.21.

“I wasn’t concerned about it last week, and I am not concerned about it this week,” USC coach Pete Carroll said. “We have a big game coming up against UCLA.”

Even with a win against a quality opponent like Michigan, the Buckeyes can’t improve their computer ranking unless Oklahoma loses. They are second in six of the computers and third in the other, but the lowest ranking is dropped.

Kelly Morris contributed to this story.