Oklahoma is No. 1 in the first BCS rankings, released Sunday night.

The Sooners (6-0, 2-0 Big 12) jumped up to No. 3 in the AP and Coaches' polls after blowing out Iowa State 52-0 on Saturday, and — in part because of previous AP/Coaches No. 1 Ohio State's 31-18 loss to then-No. 18 Wisconsin — hold the coveted top spot in the BCS rankings that determine postseason bowl placement.

Oregon sits at No. 2 in the BCS, followed by Boise State, Auburn and TCU in the top 5. LSU, Michigan State, Alabama, Utah and Ohio State round out the first top 10.

"I understand that the announcement of the poll makes for good conversation among media and fans, but two games into our conference season, it's too early for us to give it any attention," OU coach Bob Stoops told to the Oklahoma Daily. "At this point, it just speaks to the quality of the schedule we've played. And while I appreciate the caliber of those teams, our focus has to be on the games we have remaining. We're not talking or thinking about anything but playing Missouri."

How important is being in the top five of the standings? If history is a guide, 20 of the 24 teams to play in the title game were in the top five in the initial standings. No team has reached the title game from lower than 12th in the initial release (from ESPN.com)

COMPLETE RANKINGS

College Football bcs rankings, oklahoma, oregon, boise state, auburn, tcu, lsu, michigan state, alabama, utah, ohio state

Game of the Week:

#5 USC at #10 Oregon
8:00 PM
ABC

The Pac-10 champion won't be decided Saturday when these two square off, but it will definitely have an effect on the outcome.

The fifth-ranked Trojans will be out of the hunt if they should lose to Oregon. Meanwhile, Oregon has turned around their season since their season-opening loss to Boise State and are looking for their first Pac-10 title since 2001.

The key for the Trojans will be their defense and their running game. They will have to improve on the defensive side of the football after giving up 36-points last week to Oregon State this week, as they go against Oregon's prolific offense led by quarterback Jeremiah Masoli. On offense they will need to control the ball and open up some big holes for Joe McKnight and Allen Bradford in the run game.

For Oregon the key will be to get off to a fast start on offense and create turnovers on defense. The offense is averaging 45.7 points and 484.7 yards in the last three games that Masoli has played. Defensively the Ducks are tied for the lead in the Pac-10 with 19 takeaways. If they are able to get up early and force a turnover or two by USC freshman quarterback Matt Barkley then the Ducks have a great chance to pull off the upset.

Other Games to Watch:

#3 Texas at #14 Oklahoma State

This year should renew the rivalry between these two teams. Colt McCoy is 3-0 against the Cowboys while completing 79.4 perecent of his passes for 1,019 yards. Will he come out of this one 4-0?

#22 South Carolina at Tennessee

Tennessee tries to rebound at home after their close call with Alabama last week against a South Carolina team that has only won once in 14 tries in Knoxville.

Upset Pick of the Week: Tennessee over South Carolina

College Football ncaa, football, usc, oregon, south carolina, tennessee

The bowl games finally start this weekend. Fellow GetSportsInfo.com writer, Jeremy Fischer, and myself have put together our picks including how confident we are in them. In case you've never done a pick 'em game like this before, here's how it works. In addition to picking who you think will win the game, you assign a number to that pick as to how confident you think that pick is going to be right. There are 34 bowl games this year (way too many in most people's opinion, but that's beside the point), so the max number of confidence points you can give to one game is, yep, you guessed it, 34. The game you are least confident in you assign one point too, and fill in everything in between.

A lot of office pools are done like this and make it much more challenging than simply picking a winner for each game. As J-Fish states when it comes to doing a pick 'em game like this, "I have seen many strategies and I prefer the one that calls for using the higher confidence points on the bigger BCS games." He goes on to give his reasons as to why.

"Right or wrong, the larger conference teams get more coverage. The more information that is out there, the better informed pick you can make. The more informed you are, the more confident you'll be about a particular selection." Makes sense right? So picking the BCS bowl games really isn't as difficult as picking some of the more obscure games like the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl between Southern Mississippi and Troy that provide more difficulty in not only picking who will win, but deciding how confident you are in that pick.

J-Fish goes on to say, "Unless you fancy yourself as the next Jimmy the Greek, don't over analyze. The amount of games will definitely lead to paralysis-by-analysis." In my opinion, when it comes to picking some of the lower level bowl games, its almost more of a gut feeling when making that selection than anything else.

With all that said, let's get to the picks. What you'll find below is the bowl schedule starting with the first game on the docket all the way to the National Championship game on January 8th. With each pick you'll see both J-Fish's pick as well as my own with a little bit of analysis and how many confidence points (#) we have assigned to the pick we've made. Let's get to it with a look at the BCS games.

January 1st
ROSE - Penn State vs. USC
JFISH: USC (34) - Too much defense.
DICO: USC (32) - Too much USC! PSU hasn't seen anything like the Trojans this year. Ask OSU how things worked out for them. Plus this is a "home game" for the Trojans.

FEDEX ORANGE - Cincinnati vs. Virginia Tech
JFISH: Cincinnati (22) - 1st BCS bowl berth will drive the Bearcats.
DICO: Cincinnati (10) - Special teams could be the difference in this game. Mardy Gilyard for the Bearcats is one of the best in the country in the return game. A chance to finish the season in the Top 10 will push the Bearcats to a win.

January 2nd
ALLSTATE SUGAR - Utah vs. Alabama
JFISH: Alabama (32) - Utah hasn't faced a defense like this.
DICO: Alabama (33) - See JFISH's comments...the Utes will have a hard time stopping the 'Bama offense as well.

January 5th
TOSTITOS FIESTA - Ohio State vs. Texas
JFISH: Texas (33) - Too much speed on defense, and the Horns will be playing angry because of the whole BIG XII, BCS screw job.
DICO: Texas (31) - QB Colt McCoy will be too much even for a good Buckeyes' defense. Terrelle Pryor will see what team speed on defense is all about against the Longhorns.

January 8th
FEDEX BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP - Florida vs. Oklahoma
JFISH: Florida (26) - Tebow/Harvin will find a way.
DICO: Oklahoma (22) - Bradford leads the most potent offense in the country. Even with the loss of DeMarco Murray at RB, the Sooners won't miss a beat. Expect a high scoring affair.

COMPLETE PICKS (ALL 34 GAMES) 

College Football college bowl game pick 'em, bcs, national title, wake forest, navy, colorado state, fresno state, memphis, south florida, byu, arizona, southern miss, troy, boise state, tcu, hawaii, notre dame, florida atlantic, central michigan, west virginia, north carolina, wisconsin, florida state, miami (fl), california, northern illinois, louisiana tech, nc state, rutgers, missouri, northwestern, maryland, nevada, western michigan, rice, oklahoma state, oregon, houston, air force, oregon state, pittsburgh, boston college, vanderbilt, kansas, minnesota, lsu, georgia tech, south carolina, iowa, georgia, michigan state, nebraska, clemson, penn state, usc, cincinnati, virginia tech, ole miss, texas tech, kentucky, east carolina, utah, alabama, buffalo, connecticut, ohio state, texas, ball state, tulsa, florida, oklahoma, butch davis, pat white, noel divine, jahvid best, chase daniel, lesean mccoy, jacquizz rogers, shonn greene, javon ringer, knowshon moreno, matt stafford, mardy gilyard, graham harrell, michael crabtree, colt mccoy, terrelle pryor, tim tebow, percy harvin, sam bradford, demarco murray

There weren't many changes in the polls this week as all but three ranked teams won their games. One difference of note from last week to this week is that the number of first place votes are now spread out between three teams, not just two. The votes are now split between Alabama (42), Texas Tech (21) and Florida (2). The reason for that is due to the Florida Gators domination of South Carolina this weekend.

The Gators have been rolling over the past couple months, going 6-0 now after their surprising loss to Mississippi. To think, had they not lost that game, the Gators would likely be the number one team in the country. With the 56-6 smackdown they laid on the Gamecocks this weekend, the Gators have put themselves in prime position to make the BCS championship game should they beat Alabama in the final game of the season and then go on to win the SEC championship game. If Texas Tech should falter against Oklahoma next weekend or in the Big 12 championship game should they make it there, that would help the Gators' chances as well.

Other than Florida stealing a couple of the first place votes in this week's AP Top 25, there weren't many moves up or down in the rankings. South Carolina fell back out of the Top 25 after losing to Florida. Florida State fell out as well after losing to Boston College Saturday night. With those two teams falling out of the Top 25, two teams must replace them. Those two teams would be Miami (FL) and Oregon. North Carolina fell from No. 20 to No. 25 after being beat by now No. 22 Maryland. The only other significant movement was Cincinnati and Pittsburgh moving up to No. 19 and No. 20 respectively.

The complete list of the AP Top 25 looks like this:

1. Alabama 11-0
2. Texas Tech 10-0
3. Florida 9-1
4. Texas 10-1
5. Oklahoma 9-1
6. USC 9-1
7. Penn State 10-1
8. Utah 11-0
9. Boise State 10-0
10. Ohio State 9-2
11. Oklahoma State 9-2
12. Missouri 9-2
13. Georgia 9-2
14. Ball State 10-0
15. TCU 9-2
16. BYU 10-1
17. Michigan State 9-2
18. LSU 7-3
19. Cincinnati 8-2
20. Pittsburgh 7-2
21. Oregon State 7-3
22. Maryland 7-3
23. Miami (FL) 7-3
24. Oregon 8-3
25. North Carolina 7-3

College Football ap top 25, alabama, texas tech, florida, south carolina, florida state, miami (fl), oregon, north carolina, maryland, cincinnati, pittsburgh

As posted on YourTeamStinks.com

The Texas Longhorns are still the unanimous No. 1 team in the country, but its another Texas team that has caught the attention of the college football world. The Texas Tech Red Raiders faced what was thought to be one of their toughest tests to date in the season when they traveled to play Kansas. All they did was put up 63 points against the Jayhawks on their way to a dominating victory by a score of 63-21.

The man of the hour was the Red Raiders' QB, Graham Harrell. He threw for 386 yards and five TDs. He has now thrown at least one TD pass in 31 consecutive games. He has now thrown for 3147 yards and 28 TDs this season. While Texas Tech has put everyone in the country on notice that they're a team to be reckoned with, Harrell has also put the Heisman voters on notice that he's a legitimate candidate for the award.

The Red Raiders have a tough road ahead over their next three games, all three against current top 10 teams in the country. Their first challenge will be this coming weekend when they host the No. 1 team in the country in the Longhorns. Even if they come out of that game with a win they will then have to take on Oklahoma State at home and then travel to Norman to play Oklahoma. Not a tough stretch of games ahead, but if Harrell can continue to hook up with his primary target, Michael Crabtree, any team is going to have a tough task of defeating them.

In other top 25 news, Penn State was able to take down Ohio State 10-6 and solidify their spot as one of the top teams in the country. Georgia won a shoot-out with LSU, helping them move up a couple spots in the standings. TCU's dominating win over Wyoming has them just outside the top 10 now at No. 12. North Carolina, Michigan State and Oregon return to the top 25 this week and Maryland finally makes it in after being on the cusp for the last few weeks. With the entry of these four teams, four obviously had to drop out. Those teams would be Pittsburgh, Kansas, Georgia Tech and Boston College.

Here's a look at the complete Top 25 rankings:

1. Texas 8-0
2. Alabama 8-0
3. Penn State 9-0
4. Oklahoma 7-1
5. Florida 6-1
6. Texas Tech 8-0
7. USC 6-1
8. Georgia 7-1
9. Oklahoma State 7-1
10. Utah 8-0
11. Boise State 7-0
12. TCU 8-1
13. Ohio State 7-2
14. Missouri 6-2
15. LSU 5-2
16. Florida State 6-1
17. BYU 7-1
18. Ball State 8-0
19. Tulsa 7-0
20. Minnesota 7-1
21. North Carolina 6-2
22. Michigan State 7-2
23. Oregon 6-2
24. South Florida 6-2
25. Maryland 6-2

College Football texas, texas tech graham harrell, michael crabtree, penn state, ohio state, georgia, lsu, tcu, north carolina, michigan state, oregon, maryland

The regular season came to and end this weekend in most of the nation's major conference, leading to this week's conference tournaments. With less than a week until the NCAA tournament committee makes their selections many teams are fighting for their tournament chances.

Here is a summary of what some of the web's top bracket prognosticators are saying:

ESPN BRACKETOLOGY - Joe Lunardi
LAST FOUR IN
Arkansas
Arizona State
Virginia Tech
Maryland

LAST FOUR OUT
Florida
Syracuse
Saint Joseph's
Western Kentucky

NEXT FOUR OUT
Ohio State
Houston
Southern Illinois
Oregon

BRACKETOGRAPHY.COM
LAST FOUR IN
Syracuse
Temple
Villanova
VCU

LAST FOUR OUT
Ohio State
New Mexico
Maryland
Illinois State

NEXT FOUR OUT
Mississippi
Dayton
St Joseph's
Virginia Tech

College Hoops arkansas, arizona state, dayton, florida, houston, illinois state, maryland, mississippi, new mexico, ohio state, oregon, syracuse, saint joseph's, southern illinois, temple, vcu, villanova, virginia tech, western kentucky

How about these former Musketeers making an impact elsewhere: 

Boubacar Coly (Morgan St. – 19-9, 13-2,  1^st MEAC) – The junior is averaging 9.5 ppg, 11.1 rpg with 75 blocked shots on the season.  Had 12 points and 13 boards vs. UConn.  Coly has pulled down at least 12 rebounds on 15 different occasions.  He also has eight double-doubles for the Golden Bears. 

DuPree Lucas (Portland St – 20-9, 13-2, 1^st Big Sky) – Has seen PT dwindle from a year ago when he averaged 13.2 ppg and 3.9 apg.  In 2008, Lucas has only mustered only 6.2 ppg as injuries have forced him to nine of 12 Viking tilts.   

Churchill Odia (Oregon – 16-12, 6-7, Tied 6^th PAC 10) – The junior continues to improve his scoring average year to year having gone from 1.6 ppg as a freshman at XU to his current 1.9 ppg for the Ducks (haha).  He has just one double figure scoring outburst, only two contests with more than two assists and just three games with more than four boards on the season.  Has played 11 total minutes in the last three tilts for Oregon.

College Hoops xavier, oregon, morgan state, portland state, churchill odia, dupree lucas, boubacar coly