The University of Alabama, among eight of the top 10 college football teams that played and won yesterday, stayed atop the Bowl Championship Series standings that showed little change from the previous week.
The Crimson Tide rolled to a 32-7 win over Mississippi State at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, improving to 11-0 overall and 7-0 in the Southeastern Conference. Texas Tech, which was idle, stayed No. 2 in the nation, and the University of Texas remained third after defeating the University of Kansas 35-7.
The University of Florida battered the South Carolina Gamecocks 56-6 to stay No. 4. The fifth-ranked Oklahoma Sooners had a bye week before their Big 12 Conference shootout with Texas Tech on Nov. 22 that matches up two of the top-five offenses in the country.
Ohio State, which beat the University of Illinois 30-20, moved up one spot to No. 10. The Buckeyes swapped places with the University of Georgia, which defeated Auburn 17-13.
The teams that are first and second in the final BCS standings, released Dec. 7, will play for the national championship. The BCS standings are determined using the USA Today coaches' poll, the Harris Interactive poll and six computer rankings.
All of the top five teams in this week's rankings are from the Big 12 and SEC. Beside the national title game, BCS bowls include the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Fiesta Bowl and Orange Bowl.
Alabama, which will next play on Nov. 29 against Auburn, has a BCS rating of .9787, with a possible score of 1.000. Texas Tech has a rating of .9698, followed by Texas at .8911, Florida at .8755, and Oklahoma at .8388.
The Crimson Tide were leading 12-7 at the half before Javier Arenas returned a Mississippi State punt 80 yards for a touchdown. He also had a 46-yard punt return in the second quarter that set up quarterback John Parker Wilson's one-yard scoring run.
"Special teams, probably as much as any game this year, had a tremendous impact on the field position in this game with certainly Javier Arenas and his returning, but also a good job by the return teams," Alabama coach Nick Saban said after the game.
Alabama and Texas Tech are the only unbeaten teams from the six conferences that receive automatic bids to play in a BCS bowl. Utah, which is 11-0 and ranked seventh, is in the Mountain West Conference, while No. 9 Boise State (10-0) plays in the Western Athletic Conference.
The Texas Longhorns improved to 10-1 overall and 6-1 in the Big 12 behind quarterback Colt McCoy's 255 yards passing and two touchdowns against the Jayhawks in Lawrence, Kansas. He also had a rushing score.
In Gainesville, Florida, Percy Harvin rushed for a career- high 167 yards and two touchdowns for the Gators (9-1, 7-1 in the SEC). South Carolina, previously ranked 25th, put up just 173 yards of offense and turned the ball over four times.
Rounding out the top 10 are No. 6 University of Southern California, Utah, Penn State, Boise State and Ohio State.
Georgia is 11th in the BCS standings, followed by Oklahoma State, Missouri, Brigham Young, Michigan State, Texas Christian University, Ball State, Louisiana State University, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.
Four teams that were unranked last week—Oregon State (No. 21), the Miami Hurricanes (No. 23), University of Oregon (No. 24) and University of Maryland (No. 25)—are in the top 25.