Chaos in The BCS: A New Number One

The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame are the new number 1

Last Saturday the college football world was turned completely upside down as the number one and two teams in the nation suffered their first losses. Kansas State was completely embarrassed by Baylor, losing to the Bears 52-24. Oregon fell to Stanford, 17-14 in overtime. This catapulted the third ranked Irish to the top in this weeks rankings. Notre Dame has never been ranked first in the BCS standings, and hasn't been number one since it was ranked first in the AP Poll in 1993. The top 10 looks like this:

1. Notre Dame

2. Alabama

3. Georgia
4. Florida
5. Oregon
6. Kansas State
7. LSU
8. Stanford
9. Texas A&M
10. Florida State

The major issues with this poll is how far Oregon and Kansas State fell. Kansas State is better than Florida. Florida will have its hands full with Florida State this weekend. Florida will have to shut down the high powered offense of Senior quarterback EJ Manuel. Manuel has completed 68.8% of his passes, while also throwing for 21 touchdowns. The Seminoles have averaged 42.9 points per game while giving up just 13.1. The Gators average 25.8 points per game, while giving up 11.7. This game will probably be a low twenties to mid thirties game. Look for The Seminoles to have to find a running game to open up passing lanes. The Gators are 3-1 against the Top 25 this season.

Oregon lost to a tough Stanford team to get their first loss. Oregon fell much further than necessary as well, as they should be sitting at number four instead of the Gators. Notre Dame has gotten very lucky in two games this season that it should have lost. The Fighting Irish were a blown call away from a loss to Stanford, and the luck of the Irish continued against Pittsburgh as they pulled out a 29-26 victory in triple overtime.USC is looking less likely to upset the Irish this weekend without quarterback Matt Barkley who suffered an injury last weekend against UCLA, but with the receivers that the Trojans have I can see them giving Notre Dame a run for their money. The Top 10 in the polls should be like this:

1. Notre Dame
2. Alabama
3. Georgia
4. Oregon
5. Kansas State
6. Florida
7. Stanford
8. LSU
9. Texas A&M
10. Florida State

Games of the Week:

(1) Notre Dame vs USC

(4) Florida vs (10) Florida State

Teams On Upset Alert:

(4) Florida vs (10) Florida State

(1) Notre Dame vs USC

(18) Rutgers vs Pittsburgh






Credits:

Everett Golson Photo:
http://news.yahoo.com/golson-leads-no-4-nd-29-26-3ot-000453374--spt.html

Information and Stats from:
http://espn.go.com/college-football/