BCS Top 25 Rankings: LSU, Alabama Claim Nation's Highest Two Spots

College Football Rankings Ramifications, Week 8: Wisconsin, Stanford Can Improve Resumes

Most of the top 10 should walk, and there aren't many ranked-on-ranked battles this week, but three matchups could have major impact on the top 25.

BlogPoll Top 25, Week 8: LSU Still On Top; Oklahoma State Moves To No. 5

Aside from Oklahoma State leaping over Boise State, there is little change atop the Week 8 BlogPoll rankings. But there is tons of movement in the bottom half, where teams like Michigan State, Michigan and Illinois experience huge shifts.

FCS Top 25, Week 8: Record CAA Showing, But SoCon The Conference To Beat

Which is FCS' best football conference? It might depend on whether you like quality or quantity. Well, whether you like lots and lots of quality or a little bit of very high quality. The CAA, for one, put a record nine teams into the latest FCS top 25, led by the Maine Black Bears at No. 9.

But the SoCon maintained its grasp on the upper tier of postseason-enhanced college football, putting three teams in the top six. The Georgia Southern Eagles again locked down a strong majority of first-place votes, with 125 out of 157 favoring the team from Statesboro. The Wofford Terriers and Appalachian St. Mountaineers filled out the upper ranks. The 'Neers acquired spot No. 6 after the New Hampshire Wildcats were toppled by William & Mary.

Leaving us: the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles and McNeese St. Cowboys. Joining us: the UMass Minutemen and Norfolk St. Spartans.

The complete top 25:

For more on the Week 8 college football rankings, check out our comprehensive StoryStream.

BCS Standings Week 8: Boise State The Only Mountain West Representative

When Boise State made the decision to move to the Mountain West for a higher standard of competition, they thought they were going to get a serious BCS computer rankings boost. After all, the league regularly produces two or three ranked teams that are good enough to push BCS conference teams. Boise State's move to the Mountain West was supposed to make it a de facto BCS conference, especially with the perpetual mediocrity that's come out of the ACC and Big East in recent years.

While the move has been a step-up, as the WAC does not have a single team above .500, they're not helping Boise get to a title game. The Broncos are No. 5 in the initial BCS standings, and their chances of climbing to No. 2 are looking very slim. TCU, Wyoming and San Diego State all have two losses already, and are hardly going to boost Boise's computer profile.

The Broncos will be headed for the BCS once again if they run the table as expected, but they're still stuck in BCS limbo without a chance to get to the title game unless a lot of teams choke.

For more on the Week 8 college football rankings, check out our comprehensive StoryStream.

BCS Standings Week 8: The Big East Still Gets A BCS Bowl Bid, Eventually

According to the wonderful BCS rules, the Big East Conference still gets an automatic bid into a BCS bowl game at the end of the season. Their representative regularly enters their January bowl ranked in the low teens or 20s, and that trend seems likely to continue. Only one team from the Big East has made the initial BCS rankings, and that's West Virginia, who come in at No. 15.

Currently, Rutgers and Cincinnati are the only other two teams anywhere near the BCS picture. While they're obviously not serious contenders for anything beyond a Big East title and a bid to a bowl against a superior team, both teams sit at 5-1 and are currently undefeated in the Big East.

So yeah, Big East. Still a BCS conference with an automatic bid. Hopefully for everyone who is not a fan of the other seven teams in the conference, West Virginia runs the table to avoid the ridiculousness that is an unranked team making a BCS bowl.

For more on the Week 8 college football rankings, check out our comprehensive StoryStream.

BCS Standings Week 8: Rankings Not Kind To Pac-12; Stanford Needs Help

West coasters, get ready to cry 'East coast bias!' If you're a fan of the Stanford Cardinal or just a champion of the idea that teams from the left coast don't get their due respect, you have a cause to support. Stanford come in at No. 8 in the initial BCS Rankings, making them the lowest ranked team from a BCS conference. They're also ranked lower than one non-BCS school, Boise State.

The Oregon Ducks are the second highest ranked one-loss team, but the BCS doesn't have much love for the Pac-12 after that. Only one more team from the conference cracks the standings, and that's the Washington Huskies at No. 25.

Stanford has some chances to advance in the standings with games against Washington and Oregon in the coming weeks. Additionally, Notre Dame has won four in a row, and a win over them will provide Stanford with a BCS boost if the Irish are a two-loss team when they meet the Cardinal in the last week of the season. However, for the time being, Stanford can't really hope for much more than a Rose Bowl berth.

For more on the Week 8 college football rankings, check out our comprehensive StoryStream.

BCS Standings Week 8: Wisconsin Is Big Ten's Only Title Hopeful, But Current Track Points To Rose Bowl

The Big Ten boasts six teams in the initial BCS Rankings in Week 8 of the college football season, but only one of those teams is undefeated and they don't control their own destiny in terms of making a title game. Unlike the SEC and Big 12, both of which have two teams that will almost certainly make the BCS Championship game if they win all of their remaining games, the Wisconsin Badgers are currently at the mercy of others, sitting at sixth. They're behind two SEC teams, two Big 12 teams, and Boise State.

If they run the table, the Rose Bowl is obviously a foregone conclusion, but to get there, they'll need to go three teams currently in the BCS Top 25. They've already defeated current No. 13 Nebraska, and their game away to No. 16 Michigan State is arguably the best on the college football schedule next week.

No. 18 Michigan, No. 21 Penn State, and No. 23 Illinois are the other three Big Ten teams to make the season's first inaugural BCS rankings.

For more on the Week 8 college football rankings, check out our comprehensive StoryStream.

BCS Standings Week 8: Virtual Play-In Opportunity For Oklahoma, Oklahoma State

It's not right, and it's not ideal, but the first set of 2011 BCS rankings has set up a chance for the Oklahoma Sooners and Oklahoma St. Cowboys to control their own destinies, so to speak. The two are ranked No. 3 and 4, respectively.

Since they play each other, and the No. 1 LSU Tigers and No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide also have a veritable semifinals matchup of their own if all plays out, there are four schools in the country who have nothing to complain about this time around. Four out of 10 unbeatens. That sucks, but it's better than three!

But one Big 12 school that does have a bone to pick: the undefeated, No. 11 Kansas St. Wildcats. The computers love them -- if the machines had their way, K-State would rank No. 7, putting them in line for high BCS standing if total catastrophe happened at the top. As it is, they'll have to step it up just to make a consolation BCS game.

For more on the Week 8 college football rankings, check out our comprehensive StoryStream.

BCS Standings Week 8: Clemson Looks Like ACC's Last, Best National Championship Hope

There's one ACC team in the top 10 of the Week 8 AP Poll, the Week 8 Harris Interactive Poll, the Week 8 USA Today coaches poll, and the initial BCS standings for 2011: it's Clemson. And the Tigers may be the Cinderella story of the 2011 college football rankings.

Clemson's the lone unbeaten left in the ACC, and thus the conference's only plausible candidate for a BCS National Championship Game berth. The Tigers will need a lot of help — losses by three of Alabama, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State, by Wisconsin, and by the winner of the Stanford-Oregon Pac-12 duel, say — but their path to New Orleans is at least plausible.

For the rest of the ACC, BCS No. 12 Virginia Tech and BCS No. 22 Georgia Tech on down, national championship dreams will have to wait at least another year.

For more on the Week 8 college football rankings, check out our comprehensive StoryStream.

BCS Standings Week 8: LSU, Alabama Lead SEC At Top Of Rankings

LSU tops Week 8 AP Poll and the Week 8 Harris Interactive Poll, and came in second in the Week 8 USA Today coaches poll. With that dominance of the college football rankings, It's no surprise, then, that LSU is also on top of the initial BCS standings for 2011.

LSU edges No. 2 Alabama in the initial BCS rankings, taking pole position in the race to the BCS National Championship Game in New Orleans next January.

But whether LSU or Alabama are on top of the BCS rankings or not is, at this point in the season, academic. That's because both teams being in the top three means that either school should be able to win out and end up in the top two of the final BCS rankings, giving the SEC another BCS National Championship Game representative.

And barring a massive upset to a lesser-rated team, at least one of those squads will win out; one of the two must win the November 5 showdown in Tuscaloosa that many are viewing as a BCS play-in game.

Elsewhere in the SEC, Arkansas is No. 9, South Carolina sits at No. 14, and Auburn is No. 20, meaning that the SEC is both more shallow and more dependent on the SEC West than it has been in the last few years.

For more on the Week 8 college football rankings, check out our comprehensive StoryStream.

BCS Standings Week 8: LSU Tops Initial Rankings

LSU tops the BCS Rankings in Week 8, the first week that the poll is available. Kansas State is ranked higher in the BCS than human polls, while the computer polls don't like Wisconsin.

College Football Rankings: LSU Tops Harris Interactive Poll For Week 8

LSU takes two of three in the college football rankings for Week 8: the Tigers add a No. 1 ranking in the Week 8 Harris Interactive poll (PDF) to their No. 1 ranking in the Week 8 AP Poll, and look very good for the first BCS rankings of the 2011 college football season.

LSU snared 74 of 115 first-place votes in the Week 8 poll, almost three times the 25 that No. 2 Alabama garnered. The top nine of the poll remains unchanged from Week 7, and Michigan's fall from No. 10 to No. 17 is the first major correction in the top 25.

No. 12 Kansas State jumps into the top 15 after rallying to defeat Texas Tech, while Michigan State, which knocked Michigan from the realm of the unbeatens, makes the biggest leap in the Harris poll, moving up seven places from No. 22 to No. 15.

Here's the full Harris Interactive poll top 25 for Week 8:

College Football Rankings: Boise State On Outside Looking In Prior To First BCS Standings

Boise State is fifth in the Week 8 AP Poll and seventh in the Week 8 USA Today coaches poll. That's not good enough for the Broncos' national championship dreams.

The Broncos are projected to be No. 5 in the initial BCS rankings of 2011, but they, unlike the teams in BCS automatic qualifier conferences, face a critical lack of rigor in the rest of their schedule. The only other team in the AP Poll or coaches poll top 10 to not have a top-10 team left on its schedule is Clemson, and the Tigers have wins over Auburn and Virginia Tech and top-15 squad South Carolina left to play.

Boise State's best win is over Georgia, which creeps back into the AP Poll at No. 24. The Broncos can win out and play in a BCS bowl fairly easily. But that wasn't Boise State's goal or hope.

For more on the Week 8 college football rankings, check out our comprehensive StoryStream.

College Football Rankings: Week 8 Polls Show Pac-12 Supremacy Up For Grabs Between Stanford, Oregon

Neither Stanford nor Oregon is in the top five of the Week 8 AP Poll and the Week 8 USA Today coaches poll. But the Pac-12's premier teams both appear positioned to be the conference champions, and the loser might yet be a BCS representative.

The Cardinal (No. 5 coaches/No. 7 AP) and Ducks (No. 8 coaches/No. 9 AP) are both in position to be in the top 10 by season's end by winning out, but each will need help to make a BCS National Championship Game. Stanford needs losses by Wisconsin, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State to be in position to meet an unbeaten SEC champion for a national title; Oregon needs all of that and losses by Boise State and Clemson.

The other hard fact for the two Pac-12 lions: there isn't much meat on their conference schedules. Washington (No. 22 AP/No. 24 coaches) and Arizona State (No. 24 AP/No. 25 coaches) are the only other ranked Pac-12 teams.

For more on the Week 8 college football rankings, check out our comprehensive StoryStream.

College Football Rankings: Clemson Is Last Remaining ACC Unbeaten In Week 8 Polls

Only one ACC team is in the top 10 of the Week 8 AP Poll and the Week 8 USA Today coaches poll: it's unbeaten Clemson that is the conference's last best chance at a national championship in 2011.

The Tigers (No. 8 AP/No. 8 coaches) won't be highly rated in the first BCS standings of the season if the projections for the initial BCS rankings of 2011, but they're close enough to the head of the class to be waiting should a handful of peers flunk a test or two.

It would probably take losses by at least four teams ahead of Clemson for the Tigers to be in position to play in the BCS National Championship Game, though. And considering that Oregon might leap Clemson with a win over Stanford, it might take a loss by a team behind the Tigers, too.

But Clemson's the only ACC team with any sort of shot. Virginia Tech (No. 14 coaches/No. 16 AP) and Georgia Tech (No. 19 coaches/No. 20 AP) are the only other ranked ACC teams, and neither is near the head of the one-loss pack.

For more on the Week 8 college football rankings, check out our comprehensive StoryStream.

College Football Rankings: It's Just West Virginia For The Big East In Week 8 Polls

The Week 8 AP Poll and the Week 8 USA Today coaches poll don't give the Big East any new good news: West Virginia's still the only team from the conference included in the college football rankings.

The Mountaineers haven't done a lot wrong in 2011, using their potent offense to run away from most of their opponents and losing only to a superb LSU squad, but they seem like the best team in the Big East almost by default. Both Cincinnati and Rutgers remain with West Virginia on the one-loss plateau, but neither has more than two wins against other BCS league teams, and neither has much standing in the rankings.

And so West Virginia, considered a possible SEC expansion target, must hold the banner high for a conference few expect to do anything. Maybe Boise State's potential defection to the Big East will help?

For more on the Week 8 college football rankings, check out our comprehensive StoryStream.

College Football Rankings: Big Ten Paced By Wisconsin In Week 8 Polls

Wisconsin's sort of a stalking horse in the Week 8 AP Poll and the Week 8 USA Today coaches poll. The Badgers won't be in position to play for a BCS National Championship, but they're in position to benefit from chaos.

LSU, Alabama, and Oklahoma are projected to top the initial BCS rankings of 2011, but Wisconsin (No. 4 AP/No. 4 coaches) should be fourth, and just behind that top three. All the Badgers have to do is hope that two of those three teams lose and take care of business in a down Big Ten.

Wisconsin looks like it is far and away the class of the conference. The Badgers have already clobbered Nebraska (No. 11 coaches/No. 13 AP), and face their toughest test of the regular season when they travel to East Lansing to play Michigan State (No. 13 coaches/No. 15 AP) in Week 8. And the only other ranked Big Ten teams are Michigan (No. 17 coaches/No. 18 AP) and Penn State (No. 22 coaches), neither of which appears anywhere near Wisconsin.

For more on the Week 8 college football rankings, check out our comprehensive StoryStream.

College Football Rankings: Oklahoma Leads Big 12 In Week 8 AP, USA Today Polls

Oklahoma stays near the top of the Week 8 AP Poll and the Week 8 USA Today coaches poll. But will the Sooners be in the top two of the initial BCS standings?

The Sooners are on top of the coaches poll and No. 3 in the AP Poll, but despite the coaches poll being the one of the two to factor into the BCS formula, LSU and Alabama are projected to top the initial BCS rankings of 2011.

Oklahoma shouldn't be too worried: either the Tigers or Crimson Tide will lose the two teams' SEC clash, and the Sooners should still be in position to make the BCS National Championship Game if they can run the table and win the Big 12. But the same might be true for Oklahoma State (No. 6 AP/No. 6 coaches), which could vault up the rankings by upsetting the Sooners at year's end.

Other ranked Big 12 teams include undefeated Kansas State (No. 12 AP/No. 16 coaches) and Texas A&M (No. 17 AP/No. 18 coaches), which routed Baylor and knocked the Bears out of the rankings. Texas also fell out of the polls after its loss to Oklahoma State.

For more on the Week 8 college football rankings, check out our comprehensive StoryStream.

College Football Rankings: SEC Led By LSU And Alabama In Week 8 Polls, BCS Standings Next?

As has become custom, LSU and Alabama lead the SEC in the Week 8 AP Poll and the Week 8 USA Today coaches poll.

LSU is No. 1 in the AP Poll and No. 2 in the coaches poll. Alabama is No. 2 in the AP Poll and No. 3 in the coaches poll. And the Tigers and Tide could be 1-2 in the BCS standings, too: ESPN's Brad Edwards is projecting that LSU and Alabama will top the initial BCS rankings of 2011, in that order.

Not much has changed, though; the winner of November's showdown between the two teams in Tuscaloosa should still be all but a shoo-in to win the SEC and earn a chance to represent the conference in the BCS National Championship game.

Other ranked SEC teams include Arkansas (No. 10 AP/No. 10 coaches), idle in Week 7; South Carolina (No. 12 coaches/No. 14 AP), which beat Mississippi State but lost Marcus Lattimore for the season; Auburn (No. 19 AP/ No. 23 coaches), which topped Florida; and Georgia (No. 24 AP), which re-enters the rankings after a number of other teams fell out.

For more on the Week 8 college football rankings, check out our comprehensive StoryStream.

College Football Rankings: Week 8 AP Poll Has LSU On Top, Unsurprisingly

The second of the three major human polls in the college football rankings for Week 8 is out, and the AP Poll has the same team on top. LSU stays in the winner's circle in the Week 8 AP Poll, ahead of the initial BCS rankings for the 2011 season.

The Tigers crushed Tennessee on Saturday, continuing an impressive run through the first half of their schedule that has included wins over Oregon and West Virginia away from Tiger Stadium. They earned 41 of 59 first-place votes. Alabama, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Boise State complete the top five.

Elsewhere, Kansas State claws into the top 15 at No. 12, Michigan and Georgia Tech plummet after suffering their first losses, and Washington and Georgia sneak into the poll in the last five spots.

Here's the full AP Poll top 25 for Week 8:

BCS Rankings Preview: ESPN's Brad Edwards Projects No. 1 LSU In Initial Standings

The initial BCS rankings for the 2011 college football season drop Sunday night in an ESPN special. And ESPN's BCS expert thinks that the LSU Tigers will be on top when those first BCS standings are released. Edwards tweeted:

Seeing Sagarin & coaches' poll, my BCS projection is 1 LSU, 2 Bama, 3 OU, 4 OSU, 5 Boise, 6 Wisc. Top 3 are very tight

LSU is No. 2 in the Week 8 USA Today coaches poll and the Week 8 Sagarin ratings, but Oklahoma's No. 3 in the Sagarin ratings by a substantial margin and doesn't lead the coaches poll by much more. And LSU will likely fare very well in the computer rankings, with wins over both Oregon and West Virginia and four dominant showings in the SEC.

That said, Edwards could be wrong, or his definition of very tight could include LSU beating out the other two consensus top-three teams by hundredths or thousandths of a point.

The initial BCS standings of the 2011 season will be released at 8 p.m. on Sunday. For more on the Week 8 college football rankings, check out our comprehensive StoryStream.

College Football Rankings: Week 8 USA Today Coaches Poll Keeps Crown On Oklahoma

The king stays the king in the first part of the college football rankings for Week 8: Oklahoma stays on top of the Week 8 USA Today coaches poll, followed by LSU and Alabama, on the Sunday of the initial BCS rankings for the 2011 season.

The Sooners earned 31 first-place votes, more than LSU (15) and Alabama (12) received combined, and after crushing Texas in the Red River Rivalry and pulling away from Kansas on Saturday, the Sooners remain in pole position in one of the two human polls that factors into the BCS formula.

Elsewhere, Wisconsin and Stanford completed the top five, Oklahoma State nudged Boise for sixth by one point, Clemson and Oregon tied for eighth, Michigan State joined the top 15 at No. 13 after beating Michigan, Kansas State crept up to No. 16, and Washington entered the top 25 for the first time this year.

Here's the full USA Today coaches poll top 25 for Week 8:

College Football Rankings, Week 8: Sagarin Top 25 Makes Oklahoma Distant Third

Official BCS standings won't come out until 8:15 pm ET, and the AP Top 25 and Coaches Poll won't be out for at least another hour. For now, all we have to work with is the latest USA Today Sagarin ratings, a form of a computer system that does go into the BCS formula. It's a good look at what the machines are thinking.

While some BCS projections have the Oklahoma Sooners and Alabama Crimson Tide better than the LSU Tigers, Sagarin's set puts Bama and LSU ahead of Oklahoma, and by a convincing margin. Only 1.61 points distinguish the Tide and Tigers, while 3.78 mark the difference between the Bayou Bengals and the Sooners.

The top five forms another demarcated platform, with the No. 6 Oklahoma St. Cowboys trailing the Boise St. Broncos by 3.12 points. Yes, it's completely idiotic that all of this stuff actually matters.

In FCS computer news, the Georgia Southern Eagles retake their top spot from the Wofford Terriers. Good news here: they'll just end up playing in the playoffs if they're really that good.

This week's Sagarin top 25:

Alabama

LSU

Oklahoma

Wisconsin

Boise State

Oklahoma State

Oregon

Stanford

Clemson

Arkansas

Texas A&M

Kansas State

Nebraska

West Virginia

Penn State

Virginia Tech

South Carolina

Texas

Arizona State

Georgia

Houston

Michigan State

Auburn

Michigan

SMU

For more college football, visit SB Nation's college football news hub.

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