Running BCS Commentary Thread

6:30 PM - It looks like we won't see any of the 5 computer polls that haven't been released yet before the BCS Countdown, so I guess you'll just have to watch that! I'm headed off for awhile now, but I'll recap the Sooners chances of getting back into the discussion sometime tonight or tomorrow.

5:55 PM - OU is ranked #11 in the Harris Poll.

4:50 PM - It looks like the Billingsley Ratings will not be released until 8 PM, which is after the BCS Countdown show. We know the Sooners are #11 in the Coaches Poll, and #5 in the Sagarin computer rankings. I think the Harris Poll will get released in the next couple of hours, but I'm not sure about the rest of the computer rankings (A&H, CM, MR, PW). We'll keep watching for new polls!

3:45 PM - Is all hope lost? Not necessarily. Consider that we are in the midst of a pretty crazy college football season. If the Sooners indeed come in ranked higher than #10 in the latest BCS rankings, they will have at most 7 teams standing between them and a top 2 ranking. Oklahoma will have plenty of games remaining to make a statement. 7 teams, 6 weeks. It's possible, but the Sooners need to be ranked high enough after this fall in order to work their way back.

I'll keep hunting down different polls up until the standings are released, and this will act as a running commentary.

3:36 PM - Ken Massey's ranking comparison page has the Sooners coming in with the 7th best average amongst the aggregate of all rankings. These are mostly computers, but includes the AP and Coaches Polls which have been released. Their mean is being thrown off by computers that will never be considered, and their median rank is 6th highest. I'm expecting their computer average to be somewhere in the 5-7 range. Since that's only a third of the formula, I think that will be good enough to buoy them to the #8-9 spot in the BCS rankings, possibly past the likes of Ohio State and Wisconsin, who don't fare too well in the computers.

3:22 PM - The Sooners are ranked 11th in the latest Coaches Poll, with a pretty large gap in the voting behind Ohio State. They are the 4th highest ranked 1 loss team, which gives you an idea of the hurdles they would have to clear in order to make the championship game.

The Sagarin ratings give you an idea of how much of a boost the Sooners might get from the computers. Sagarin has the Sooners at 5th. If that is anywhere close to a computer average, then you will definitely see the Sooners higher than #11 on the new BCS rankings.

BCSGuru.com is projecting OU to be #11 in the new rankings but it seems he is going with the absolute lowest ranking that the Sooners could achieve. I think it's likely that they'll be a little higher than that based on the computer rankings. If I had to hazard a guess right now, I would say #9 - but that is based on very limited information.