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As expected, Notre Dame is now ranked No. 1 in the BCS standings for its first time ever. Alabama, which just last week looked to be nearly out of the running for the national championship game, is now back in a driver's seat at No. 2. And the team it'll face if it gets to the SEC Championship Game (this is a very likely occurrence -- the Tide only has to beat Auburn), Georgia, shows up at No. 3. As it stands, there are three teams in the country that control their destinies, and two of them should play each other in two weeks. It gets complicated after that.
The two teams that fell from the top of last week's rankings, Oregon and Kansas State, fall into the big one-loss morass that also includes Florida and Florida State, who'll play each other next week. If Notre Dame falls at USC next week, the door will be open for the winner of Florida-FSU or Oregon (if it can beat Oregon State and UCLA) or mayyybe Kansas State, but it's hard to imagine anybody beyond that making it in. So let's say that as of right now, six teams still have a chance at the title game.
Here's a look at the kinds of things that can happen to the rest of the bowl picture if things play out as they're expected to. There are plenty of other scenarios -- if Georgia Tech beats Georgia, Georgia beats Alabama, USC beats Notre Dame, Florida State beats Florida, Oregon State beats Oregon and so on, well, I guess we'll all just be super happy to see Kent State playing for it all, won't we?
The full BCS rankings as of November 18, via ESPN.com:
| BCS | Harris Poll | USA Today | Computer Rankings | ||||||||||||||
| RK | TEAM | AVG | PVS | RK | PTS | % | RK | PTS | % | AVG | A&H | RB | CM | KM | JS | PW | % |
| 1 | Notre Dame | .9973 | 3 | 1 | 2863 | .9958 | 1 | 1469 | .9959 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.000 |
| 2 | Alabama | .9333 | 4 | 2 | 2732 | .9503 | 2 | 1386 | .9397 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | .910 |
| 3 | Georgia | .8763 | 5 | 3 | 2573 | .8950 | 3 | 1348 | .9139 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 4 | .820 |
| 4 | Florida | .8434 | 6 | 5 | 2242 | .7798 | 6 | 1166 | .7905 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | .960 |
| 5 | Oregon | .8318 | 2 | 4 | 2483 | .8637 | 4 | 1227 | .8319 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 8 | .800 |
| 6 | Kansas State | .7692 | 1 | 7 | 2161 | .7517 | 8 | 1056 | .7159 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 7 | 7 | .840 |
| 7 | LSU | .7308 | 7 | 8 | 2077 | .7224 | 7 | 1062 | .7200 | 8 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 6 | .750 |
| 8 | Stanford | .7077 | 13 | 11 | 1897 | .6598 | 11 | 934 | .6332 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | .830 |
| 9 | Texas A&M | .6526 | 8 | 10 | 1909 | .6640 | 10 | 994 | .6739 | 10 | 15 | 11 | 10 | 8 | 12 | 9 | .620 |
| 10 | Florida State | .6363 | 10 | 6 | 2231 | .7760 | 5 | 1199 | .8129 | 17 | 18 | 16 | 15 | 0 | 22 | 16 | .320 |
| 11 | Clemson | .6056 | 11 | 9 | 1953 | .6793 | 9 | 1029 | .6976 | 15 | 13 | 13 | 11 | 20 | 23 | 14 | .440 |
| 12 | South Carolina | .5871 | 9 | 12 | 1647 | .5729 | 12 | 853 | .5783 | 11 | 14 | 10 | 12 | 11 | 9 | 10 | .610 |
| 13 | Oklahoma | .5677 | 12 | 13 | 1530 | .5322 | 13 | 798 | .5410 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 14 | 9 | 11 | 12 | .630 |
| 14 | Nebraska | .4790 | 14 | 14 | 1275 | .4435 | 14 | 654 | .4434 | 12 | 11 | 15 | 9 | 12 | 15 | 11 | .550 |
| 15 | Oregon State | .4499 | 16 | 15 | 1202 | .4181 | 17 | 563 | .3817 | 12 | 8 | 14 | 13 | 13 | 10 | 13 | .550 |
| 16 | Texas | .4235 | 15 | 17 | 1088 | .3784 | 15 | 593 | .4020 | 14 | 12 | 12 | 16 | 14 | 13 | 17 | .490 |
| 17 | UCLA | .3826 | 17 | 16 | 1144 | .3979 | 16 | 590 | .4000 | 16 | 16 | 18 | 17 | 16 | 18 | 18 | .350 |
| 18 | Rutgers | .2432 | 22 | 19 | 756 | .2630 | 19 | 408 | .2766 | 21 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 25 | 0 | 20 | .190 |
| 19 | Michigan | .2253 | 21 | 20 | 575 | .2000 | 20 | 289 | .1959 | 19 | 19 | 22 | 20 | 17 | 20 | 15 | .280 |
| 20 | Louisville | .2165 | 19 | 18 | 898 | .3123 | 18 | 453 | .3071 | 26 | 23 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .030 |
| 21 | Oklahoma State | .2042 | 24 | 22 | 425 | .1478 | 21 | 258 | .1749 | 18 | 17 | 17 | 22 | 19 | 16 | 0 | .290 |
| 22 | Boise State | .1043 | NR | 21 | 426 | .1482 | 22 | 243 | .1647 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| 23 | Kent State | .0955 | NR | 25 | 196 | .0682 | 25 | 86 | .0583 | 22 | 24 | 19 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 19 | .160 |
| 24 | Arizona | .0836 | NR | NR | 21 | .0073 | NR | 5 | .0034 | 20 | 21 | 23 | 23 | 15 | 14 | 21 | .240 |
| 25 | Washington | .0643 | 25 | NR | 53 | .0184 | NR | 36 | .0244 | 23 | 25 | 24 | 0 | 18 | 17 | 22 | .150 |
This week's fun facts from the National Football Foundation:
• First-time school(s) in the BCS Standings: Kent State. A total of 88 schools have appeared in the BCS Standings since they were created in 1998.
• Schools debuting in 2012 BCS Standings: No. 23 Kent State.
• Dropped out of BCS Standings: No. 18 Southern California, No. 20 Louisiana Tech, No. 23 Texas Tech.
• Notre Dame makes its first-ever appearance at No. 1 in the BCS Standings. The No. 1 ranking also marks the first time an independent team has held the top position in the BCS.
• Georgia tied its highest BCS ranking at No. 3, last reached on Dec. 8, 2002.
• The squad ranked No. 1 in Week 6 of the BCS Standings has not gone on to win the BCS National Championship since LSU did it in 2007.
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