Indiana Gazette from Indiana, Pennsylvania • 17

jEfre 3nMan (Sunlit College Sports Tuesday, November 9, 2004 Page 17 Utah slips one big spot in the BCS standings Utah takes big slip Utah dipped one spot to seventh in the Bowl Championship Series standings Monday, a drop that could cost the unbeaten Utes a berth in one of the four big-money bowl games. The first- and second-place teams in the final standings will play in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 4 for the BCS national title. in BCS standings By RALPH D. RUSSO Games through Associated Press USA TodayESPN Computers Nov.

6 Avg. Camp. BCS TEAM Rank Points Pet Rank Points Pet Rank Points Pet Average Previous V. Southerner ,1 1 1,611 .9914 1 1,514 .9928 2 97 .970:. .9847: 2.

Oklahoma 2 1.555 .9569 2 1,452 .9521 1 99 .990 -9664 2 3 Auburn- 3 1512" 9305 .9285 3 67 .870 .9097 3' 4. California 5 1.341 .8252 6 1,203 .7689 4 86 .860 .8247 4 5. Wisconsin 4 1,384 .8517 4 1,289 .8452 9 70 .7990 fV 6. Texas 6 1.259 .7748 7 1.169 .7666 5 83 .830 .7904 7 7 Utah 7 7662 8 1,124 8 75 .750 -7511 8. Georgia 8 1.210 .7446 5 1,233 .8085 13 49 .490 .6810 9 9 Michigan 9 1.133 6972 9 .6951 ID 59 .590 .6808 11 10.

Boise State 14 788 .4849 13 782 .5128 t-6 78 .760 12 11. Virginia 10 971 :.5975 11 877 .5751 M1 52 .520 .5542 14 12. Florida State 11 B87 .5458 12 866 .5692 15 44 .440. .5163 13 .13. West Virginia J3 662 .5305 10 886.

.5810 20 29 590 .4671 16 14. LoulsvIlie 12 866 5329 14 727 .4767 18 37 .370 .4599 15 :15. Tennessee 15 654 .4025 18 466 .3058 M1 52 .520 .4093 8 16. Arizona State 20 345 .2123 20 331 5170 t6 78 .760 .4031 18 17. Miami (FL) 18 593 .3649 17 568 .3725 14 46 .460 .3991 10 18.

Virginia Tech 6 631 .3683 16 582 .3816 16 41 .410 .3933 20 19 Louisiana State' 17 628 3865 IS' .649 .4256 22 17 .170 .3273 17 20. towa 19 522 .3212 19 450 5951 19 36 .360 3254 21 St. Texas 22 160 .0985 23 150 .0984 17 39 .390 .1956 22 22. Oklahoma State 25 131 .0806 24 138 .0905 21 20 200 .1237 19 23. Boston College 21 254 21 244 .1600 NR 0 .000 .1054 25 24.

UTEP 23 148 .0911 27 68 .0446 23 15 .150 .0952 24 25. Notre Dame 24 -143 .0880 28 66 .0433 24 7 .070 .0671 should be changed, he said. Is the sky blue? Absolutely. And it will happen. Logical thinking will eventually take over." Texas' 56-35 comeback victory over Oklahoma State on Saturday boosted its BCS grade to .7904.

The Utes aren't getting enough bounce in the polls and computer rankings out of their lopsided victories over conference opponents. Their grade (.7511) went up slightly after a 63-31 win over Colorado Slate. Utah maintained its positions in both The Associated Press 'lop 25 (seventh) and coaches poll (eighth) this week, but the Utes dropped in the computer rankings from sixth to eighth, while the Longhonis moved up to Na 5 in that category. Utah finishes its season with games at Wyoming on Saturday and at home against Brigham Young the next week. Two wins would ensure a second straight MWC title.

The league champ gets a Liberty Bowl berth, which pays $1.35 million. But how the races play out in die Big 12, Fac-10, Southeastern Conference and Big Ten will have as much to do with where the Utes play in the postseason as their own games. And with Georgia and Michigan right behind Utah, the Utes may be in danger of gelling caught again. "I still think there's a lot of football to be played in the next two weeks," quarterback Alex Smith said. "Especially for some of those conferences.

They all have conference championship games. I still think some things are going lo take care of themselves. If we win out, I don't think there will be a worry if we're going to get in the top six or not" The AP media poll and ESPN USA Today poll each account for one-tliird of a team's BCS grade. A compilation of six computer rankings make up the other third. Texas is ahead of Utah In both polls, sixth in the AP and seventh in the coaches.

Despite being one of the win-ningest teams in the country in recent years, the Longhomshave never reached the BCS, which was created in 1998 and includes the Sugar, Rose, Orange and Fiesta bowls. Last season Texas was in line to grab one of the BCS's two at-largc bids when Kansas State knocked off Oklahoma in the Big 12 championship game. That gave the Wildcats the automatic berth as league champ and made the Sooncrs an at-large team playing for the national title. For Texas, it was back to the Holiday Bowl for the third time since 2000. Recent disappointments tern- pered Monday's good news in Austin.

"We've been there before," Texas coach Mack Brown said. "We were five last year and didn't go. You'd belter just keep winning." Utah is one of six unbeaten teams in Division I-A, along with Southern California, Oklahoma. Auburn, Wisconsin and Boise AP Sports Writer A perfect record probably isn't going to be enough io get Utah into the Bowl Championship Secies. The unbeaten Utes si ipped one spot to seventh in the BCS stand- -ings Monday, a drop that could cost them a berth in one of the four big-money bowl games.

The top five in the BCS stayed the same with Southern California, Oklahoma and Auburn leading the way, followed by California and Wisconsin. The top two teams in the final standings will play in the Orange Jiowl on Jan. 4 for the BCS national title. Utah is trying to become the first team from a non-BCS conference (Mountain West) to play in a BCS game. The Utes can guarantee a spot in what probably would be the Fiesta Bowl which delivers a payout of about $14 million by finishing in the top six.

A top-12 finish makes the Utes eligible for consideration, but guarantees nothing. Texas jumped over Utah this week into sixth place. Just like two weeks ago when Utah moved up to sixth, Utes coach Urban Meyer found out from his wife that the team had dropped. "She had a little reaction. I won't use the language she did," he said.

"In three weeks we'll have a reaction. There's too much football to be played yet" Meyer tried to be diplomatic, but asked if the BCS system Explanation Team percentages are derived by dividing a team's actual voting points by a maximum 1 ,625 possible points in trie AP PoiJ and 1.525 possible points in theUSA TodayESPN Coaches Poll. Six computer rankings calculated in Inverse points order (25 tor 24 for 2. etc) aie used to determine the overall computer component. The best and worst ranking tor e3Ch team is dropped, and the remaning four are added and divided by 100 maximum possiie poims) lo produce a Computer Rankings Percentaoe.

The six computer ranking providers are Anderson Hester, Richard Billfngstey, Galley Malik. Kenneth fassey, Jetf Sagarin and Peter Wolte. Each computer ranking accounts lor schedule strength in its formula. The BCS Average is calculated by averaging the percent totals of the Associated Press, USA TodayESPN Coaches and Computer poUs. SOURCE: The National Football Fowtdation and Cofege Katr of Fame inc.

AP State. puter rankings. noma's is .9664, and Auburn's is The Sooners increased their USC, No. I in both polls and lead on the ulleTigcrs, by moving second in the computer rank- poll and according to the coin- tnto the No. 1 spot in the com- ings, has a grade of .9847.

Okla- pulers. Jayhawks get men's preseason nod season. The Jayhawks were ranked No. 1 for one week last season and they have been ranked No. 2 in five of the last 12 preseason polls.

"I hope we're never going to be satisfied and our veterans understand they've got to go play. It's nice, but it means nothing in the big scheme of things," second-year Kansas coach Bill Self said. The Jayhawks hope they can do even better than the last time they were No. 1 in the preseason: In 195657, Chamberlain led them to the national championship game, a triple-overtime loss to North Carolina. As for Wake Forest, it has all five starters back from the team that lost to Saint Joseph's in the round of 16.

"You see it, you look at it, and you shake your head, hut you can't waste one nanosecond to worry about it," Demon Deacons coach Skip Prosser said, referring to the lofty ranking, which matches the highest in school history in any AP poll. By JIM O'CONNELL AP Basketball Writer Sure, Kansas often grabs a spot in the upper half of the AP preseason college basketball poll, but the school hasn't been No. 1 since a player named Wilt Chamberlain suited up for the Jay-hawks in the 1950s. Kansas stood atop The Associated Press' Top 25 on Monday, the 13th straight season the Jay-hawks have been ranked 11th or higher in the first poll. The Jayhawks received 25 first-place votes and 1,697 points from the national media panel, edging Wake Forest, which had 22 first-place votes and 1,680 points.

The Demon Deacons were the first of three straight Atlantic Coast Conference teams in the poll, and six teams from the league were in the Top 25. Wayne Simien leads four starters back for Kansas, which lost to Georgia Tech in the NCAA tournament's regional finals last Georgia Tech and North Carolina were third and fourth in the balloting. It is the second time in three years one conference lias had the Nos. 2-4 in the preseason poll. The Big 12 Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas were in that order in 2002.

No. 11 Duke. Na 15 Maryland and Na 19 North Carolina Slate round out the Atlantic Coast Conference teams in the poll. a tough, tough league," vPi osser said. "I don't think that'll ever change." Illinois, where Self coached before heading to Kansas, was fifth.

He succeeded Hoy Williams, who went to North Carolina. The two coaches have tics to diree of the top five. "So, I've got a 1 and a 5 and Roy's got a 1 and a 4 Self said. "What are you guys trying to do to us?" Syracuse was sixth, followed by Oklahoma State, defending national champion Connecticut, Kentucky and Arizona. After Duke came Mississippi State, Miclugan State, Louisville, Maryland, Texas, Pittsburgh.

Alabama, North Carolina Stale and Notre Dame. lire fast five teams in the poll were Wisconsin. Washington, Honda, Memphis and Gonzaga Six of the teams in the final poll last season were not ranked this preseason, including Stanford and Saint Joseph's, two schools that reached No. 1 during 2003-04. in the final poll, lost 18-year coach Mike Montgomery and All-American Josh Childress to the NBA.

The Cardinal missed the preseason Top 25 by one place. Saint Joseph's, No. 1 in the next-to-last poll and fifth in the final voting last season, lost its bockeourt of senior Jameer Nelson, the' consensus national player of the year, and Delonte West, a junior who went to the NBA. The Hawks, from the Ulan tic 10 Conference, didn't get a single vote in the preseason balloting. "It will be different, but we take each team as a separate entity," Saint Joseph's coach Plul MarteUi said.

"Last year wasn't just about a great team. It was more about our attempt to develop a great program." Georgia Tech and North Carolina each received 10 first-place votes, while Illinois and Oklahoma State got two each, and Kentucky had one. Connecticut was the preseason -No. I last year before winning it all, the 24th time that happened since the poll started for the 1948 49 season. Eigln conferences were represented in the preseason Top 25.

The Big East and Southeastern Conference followed the Atlantic Coast Conference with four teams each, while the Big 12 and Big 10 had three each. The Pac-IO and Conference USA each had two teams, while Gonzaga of the West Coast Conference was the only Top 25 team not from one of the power leagues. APTOP25 Men's college basketball poll Hie top 25 teams in TTie Associated Press men's preseason college basketbaa pcfl Win first-place votes in parentheses, records, total pornts based on 25 points lor a firstylace vote through one point tor a 251h-pIaoe vole, and last season's final ranking; TEAM RECORD PTS PV 1. Kansas(25) 24-9 1.637 16 2. Wake Forest (22) 21-10 1.680 17 3.

Geo. Tech (10) 28-10 1.567 14 4. North Caro. (10) 19-11 1.558 18 5. Kline-is (2) 26-7 1,457 13 6.

Syracuse 234 1.452 20 31-4 1,342 4 8. Coraiecrjcut 33 1,281 7 9. Kentucky (1) 27-5 1.177 2 10 Arizona 20-10 1.061 22 11. Duke 31-6 981 5 12. Mtssissppl St 26-4 913 6 13.

Michigan St 18-12 910 14. Louisville 20-10 876 15. Maryland 20-12 765 19 16. Texas 25 671 12 17. Pittsburgh 31-5 596 9 18.

Alabama 20-13 510 19. N.C. State 21-10 490 18 20. Notre Dame 19-13 429 21. Wisconsin 25-7 378 10 22.

Washington 19-12 355 23. Fkvida 20-11 337 24. Memphis 22-8 283 24 25. Gonzaga 28-3 215 3 Others receiving votes: Stanford 90, Michigan 74, Charlotte 37. Providence 32.

S. Illinois 31, Utah 31 Cincinnati 30. Oklahoma 28. Boston College 7, UTEP 7, George Washington 6, UAB 6. Xavier 5.

ETSU 4, LSU 4, Tennessee 4, Toledo 4, UCLA 4, UNLV 4, Iowa SL 2, Oregon 2. Rice 2. DePaut 1 Indiana 1 Va. Commonwealth 1, Vanderbilt 1, Vermont 1. Women's college basketball poll Tennessee returns to top of women's poll brutal nonconference schedule that includes seven teams from the preseason Top 25.

"I've turned to this veteran group to really help us through the process of teaching our freshmen," said Summitt, who has six NCAA titles. "Our expectations are always high here. As veterans and as leaders, they have to raise the bar for the younger players." Connecticut led the first poll in four of the previous five seasons and will try to become the first school to win four straight NCAA women's basketball tides. But the Huskies had a major loss with the graduations of superstar Diana Taurasi and point guard Maria Conlon. Coach Geno Auriemma is hardly without talent, though, because standouts Ann Strother, Barbara Turner and Jessica Moore all are back.

Texas returns four starters after miu said. "I think you could look at the top five and say on a given night, any team can win. It probably goes even deeper than that." Every team in the Top 25 except Maryland was ranked last season. Maryland made the AP poll for die first time since ihe week of Nov. 19.

2001. The No. 25 ranking for Louisiana tech was the lowest for the Lady Techsters since the 1991-92 season, when they were unranked in the final 16 polls. Some early games could cause an immediate shuffling in the poll. In a doublcheader at Austin, Texas, on Sunday, Texas meets Penn State, and LSU takes on Baylor.

LSU also has to play two games before that. Minnesota has a challenging game against Nevada-Las Vegas, and Duke, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Ari-7ona all are in the preseason WNIT starting Friday. tying Kansas State for the Big 12 championship last season. LSU has a star in Sctmone Augustus and a new coach in Pokey Chat-man, who filled in for the ailing Sue Gunter last season and took ihe Lady Tigers to die Final four for the first time. Chatman got the job nn a permanent basis when Gunter retired in April.

A third Southeastern Conference learn, Georgia, was ranked fifth, followed by Duke, Stanford, Baylor and Norm Carolina. Ohio State and Notre Dame tied for 10th. Then it was Texas Tech in 12th. and Vanderbilt 13th. followed by Minnesota, Michigan State.

Purdue, Rutgers, Boston College, Kansas Stale and DePatd. Penn State, Oklahoma, Maryland, Arizona and Louisiana Tech held the final five places. 1 don't think Uiere's much difference in the top teams," Surn- By CHUCK SCHOFFNER AP Sports Writer Tennessee is no longer chasing Connecticut The Lady Vols are back on top. Pat Summitt's team took the No. 1 spot in The Associated Press' preseason women's basketball poll Monday, the 11th time it has started the season atop the rankings and Best since 1998.

The Lady vols received 20 of 45 first-place votes from a national media panel to edge Texas, Southeastern Conference rival Louisiana State and three-time defending NCAA champion UConn for No. 1. "I was a little surprised, based on the players we lost and the fact that only three of our freshmen are healthy right now," Summitt said. "But as 1 told our team, it certainly is a compliment to them and how they fin ished last year and also to our newcomers." Tennessee had 1,085 points in the voting, while Texas had 1 ,056, three more than LSU. Connecticut was fourth with 1,017.

Texas had seven first-place votes, LSU L2, and Connecticut six. Tennessee returns starters Shanna Zolman, Loree Moore and Shyra Ely, plus four other veterans, from a 31-4 team that lost to Connecticut in the national championship game in April. As if that weren't enough, Summitt signed the nation's top-ranked recruiting class, including the Na 1 prospect, Candace Parker. But Parker and two other freshmen, Alex Fuller and Sade Wiley-Gatewood, are injured. Fuller is out for the season.

Still, the Lady Vols have three other talented newcomers. They'D be needed because Summitt has put together another Big East tops in region, stands to be better The top 25 teams in The Associated Press' women's preseason college basketball poH, wrlh first-place votes in parentheses, 2003O4 records, total pornts based on 25 points tor a first-place vote tiroogh one porn! for a 25th-place vote, aixl last season's rrnal ranking: TEAM RECORD FTS PV 1. Tennessee (20) 2 2. Texas (7) 4 3LSU(12) 19 4. Connecticut (6) 6 5.

Georgia 25-10 887 16 6. Duke 30-4 838 1 7. Stanford 27-7 627 10 8. Baylor 26-9 794 15 9. North Carolina 24-7 698 12 10.

Notre Dame 21-11 635 -10. Ohio SL 21-1D 635 21 12. Texas Tech 25-8 633 14 13. Vanderbilt 26-8 525 13 14. Minnesota 25-9 469 24 15.

Michigan St 22-9 426 23 16. Purdue 29-4 423 3 17. Rutgers 21-12 407 -18 Boston College 27-7 376 18 19. Kansas St. 25-6 358 8 20 DePaul 23-7 248 21.

Perm SI. 284 217 5 22. Oklahoma 24-9 182 11 23. Maryland 18-13 166 24. Arizona 24-9 156 25.

Louisiana Tech 29-3 137 7 Others receiving votes: UCLA 96, Vrllanova 55, Chattanooga 38, Utah 36, SW Missouri St. 29. UNLV 14. Auburn 13, Old Dominion 11, TCU 11, Virginia Tech 9, UC Santa Barbara 8. Middle Tennessee 7, Arizona St 4, New Mexico 4.

Florida 3, Richmond 3, Crekjhton 2. Miami 2, Virginia 2. Ws -Green Bay 2, George Washington 1 Houston 1 Louisville 1 Mississippi I.Mississippi SL1, Montana 1. AP Pitt schedule Sabjid to change Jai. 22 it 9pm.

Home garnet in CAPS Jan. 29 SYRACUSE 7 ro. Nov. 20 HOWARD 7 ra. Jan.

31 9 p.m. No 2 flOBCRT UOfiRlS 7p.m. Feb. at West Virginia 6p.m. Nov.

27 10V0LA (111.) 7 p.m. Feb. 8 Si. JOHN'S 7 p.m. Dec.

7 SA'WTfSAVCfS 7p.m. Feb. 12 NOTRE DAME noon Dec 4 DU0UESIVE 4 m. fefi. 14 at Syracuse 7 p.m.

Dec 7 Memphis- 7p.ro. Feb, 20 MVVJar.svi 1-0 p.m. Dec. 11 a) Perm State 2p-m. Feb.

23 WtST VIRGINIA 7 p.m. Dc tfl COPPfflSTAHi pro. Feb. 26 COMlECnCUI Dec. 23 RICHMOND 7 pm.

Ht. 28 at Boston Cofeqe 7 p.m. Dec 29 SOUTH CAROUMA 7 p.m. Mirch 5 a Notre Dams 2 p.m. Jin.

2 BUCKXtLL 7 p.m. March 9-12 East Tournament Jan. 5 GEORGETOWN 7 p.m. March 17-20 NCAA SA-regiooats Jan. 8 at Rutgers 2 p.m.

March 24-2? (JCAA fieqionats Jan. 15 SET0N HALL noon Aprs 2-4 NCAA Final Four Jan. 18 at St. John's 733 p.m. x-Jmmy CUjsk The Atlantic 10 wul change in 2005-05 as well, adding Charlotte and Saint Louis from Conference USA.

Manhattan will he chasing a third straight Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference title. The laspers won't have two-time league player of the year Luis Flores, but they wul have coach Bobby Gonzalez, who signed an extension through 2009-10 after being mentioned for several openings in the offseason. Princeton has former assistant Joe Scott back in charge in the Ivy League after he led Air Force to the best season in school history. Tom Brennan announced this would be his 19th and final season at Vermont and hell try to go out with three straight America East titles. The Catamounts will cracked the preseason Top 25, and only George Washington and Xavier received any votes at all.

Saint Joseph's Phil MarteUi, the consensus national coach of the year last season, doesn't sound too worried about the league's outlook. "There's always going to be ebb and flow," he said. "This league will play out and get to that point in March where you say 'Who wants to line up and play he said. "Whoever comes out of this league, they'll play well because they're prepared. "You look at these young players, you see the bounce will come back.

It's a whole new cast of characters, really. There are stars in this league, NBA players. They'll emerge." Continued from page 13 to Georgetown, the program his rather took to national prominence during the 1980s. "Whatever burden is put on me, it's going to come 10-fold from that office up there," Thompson said, nodding toward his own workspace The Atlantic 10 will have a tough time matching last season. The league had its second straight national player of the year, had a team reach a No.

1 national ranking, and put two schools in the NCAA tournament's regional Pnals. Well, there's no one in the league this season on the level of David West of Xavier and Jameer Nelson of Saint Josephs, the last two national players of the year. Nobody from the Atlantic 10 be led by nvo-timc conference player of the year Taylor Coppen-rath- Lehigh has four starters back as it tries to repeat in the Patriot League, while Monmouth is expected to repeat in the Northeast Conference..