SPORTS
THE BATTALION
7
Tuesday, November 4, 2003
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USC moves up to second
spot in latest BCS poll
By Josh Dubow
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Miami’s first regular season
loss in more than three years
cleared a path for Southern
California to get to the Sugar
Bowl.
USC was in second place in
the Bowl Championship Series
standings Monday, trailing only
unanimous No. 1 Oklahoma.
“I suspect that this ranking
shows the respect people have for
our program and the way we’re
playing,” Trojans coach Pete
Carroll said. ‘‘We hope to contin
ue to play like we have. If we do,
good things will happen.”
The Sooners (9-0), the only
undefeated team from a major
conference, got every first-place
vote in the polls and was the top
pick by all seven computers used
in the BCS standings.
The standings are used to
detemiine which teams play in a
national title game. The teams
that finish 1-2 in the final BCS
standings on Dec. 7 will play for
the championship in the Sugar
Bowl on Jan. 4.
The formula uses the AP
media and USA Today/ESPN
coaches’ polls, seven computer
rankings, strength of schedule,
losses and a bonus-point system
for quality wins.
The Sooners have a 1.0 for
poll average, 1.0 for computer-
rank average, 0.24 for strength of
schedule and zero for losses for a
2.24 total. USC was second with
7.02 points.
The Trojans (8-1) are off this
week and close the season with
three unranked teams: Arizona,
UCLA and Oregon State.
“Our focus is on the remain
ing three games we have on our
schedule,” Carroll said. “I don’t
pay much attention to the polls
and the predictions and all that.
And I really don’t fully under
stand the mechanisms of how the
BCS rankings are determined.”
Miami fell two spots to No. 4
with 10.26 points following a 31-
7 loss to Virginia Tech that
snapped a 39-game regular-sea
son winning streak. Florida State
remained in third place with 9.52.
If Oklahoma wins its remain
ing three regular season games
and the Big 12 title game, it is
guaranteed one of the two spots
in the Sugar Bowl. The other spot
is still up for grabs, although USC
has the inside track.
“I’ve got enough problems
without having to worry about
anybody else,” Sooners coach
Bob Stoops said.
Following Miami are the other
three major one-loss teams: Ohio
State (11.47), Virginia Tech
(12.47) and LSU (14.92).
Despite falling to sixth in the
AP poll and seventh in the coach
es’ poll, Miami remained in sec
ond place among the computers
with a 2.83 average.
“If we win the games, we’re
going to be fine,” Miami coach
Larry Coker said. “We’ll be
where we want to be.”
TCU, major college football’s
only other undefeated team,
moved up three spots to No. 9.
The Homed Frogs are hurt by
having the 98th toughest schedule
out of 117 teams.
BCS Standings!
1 Dtc
1 ou
2.24
I use
7.02
I Florida State
9.52
I Miami
10.25
J Ohio State
11.47
M Virginia Tech 12.47
■ LSU
14.92
1 Michigan
20.79
I TCU
24.75
j Georgia
25.15
Ruben DeLuna • THE BATTALION
TCU will need to be in the top
12 to be eligible for one of the
lucrative BCS games and the top
six to guarantee a bid. There has
been pressure from schools out
side the big six conferences to
improve access to the BCS bowls
— Orange, Sugar, Fiesta and
Rose.
The BCS was started five
years ago to create a national title
game without playoffs.
Champions of six conferences —
the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big
12, Pac-10 and SEC — qualify
for a BCS game, and two at-large
teams are selected to fill out the
field.
The BCS standings will be
released each week for the
remainder of the season.
The seven computer rankings
are operated by Anderson &
Hester, Billingsley, Colley
Matrix, Kenneth Massey, The
New York Times, Jeff Sagarin’s
USA Today and Peter Wolfe.
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Wagner
The Astros could reduce payroll even more if
Ihey trade right fielder Richard Hidalgo, who is
due $12 million for 2004 and has a contract with
a $15 million team option in
12005.
;C i First baseman Jeff Bagwell
will earn $13 million in 2004,
and second baseman Jeff Kent
gets $8.5 million, of which $5.5
million is deferred without
interest. Houston holds a $9
million option on Kent in 2005.
With Wagner gone, Octavio
Dotel likely will move up to the
closer’s role and Brad Lidge, will become the,
setup man.
‘He’s got the physical talent to be a closer,”
Hunsicker said of Dotel. “We’ll make that deci
sion in spring training, but that’s the plan. We feel
very fortunate we’ve got somebody like Dotel and
Lidge to come behind (Wagner). Both will have
SPORTS IN BRIEF
opportunities to close out games.”
Hunsicker said the Astros’ salary structure
became inflexible because of too many long-term
contracts.
“We’ve made a lot of decisions with the
heart,” Hunsicker said. “For the sake of winning
for the sake of fan identification, we tried to keep
as many of our star players together for as long as
we could but we can’t do that forever.”
The Astros expect Duckworth to contend for a
spot in the starting rotation. He was 4-7 with a
4.94 ERA in 18 starts and six relief appearances
last season, and he has a 15-18 record in three
major league seasons.
“He was one of our better pitchers out of
spring training,” Phillies manager Larry Bowa
said. “But he opened on the disabled list and was
trying to catch up the whole year and that hurt
him. The change of scenery is going to help him.
He’s got big league stuff. Hopefully, this will
jump start his career.”
Buchholz was 9-11 in 24 Double-A starts last
season. The Astros project him to begin the season
at Triple-A New Orleans. Astacio likely will begin
at Double-A Round Rock.
WAGNER
Continued from page 5
Carr returns to
practice with team,
will start Sunday
HOUSTON (AP) — Texans
quarterback David Carr is
expected to
return to
practice this
week for the
first time
since sprain
ing his right
ankle and will
start at
Cincinnati
next Sunday
if there are no complications.
“I don’t know how limited
he’ll be on Wednesday, but
we’re planning on him coming
out and practicing,” coach
Dorn Capers said. ‘‘We’re
hoping to move forward with
David.”
Carr, the No. 1 pick of the
2002 draft, had started the
first 23 games in Texans his
tory before suffering the injury
Oct. 26 at Indianapolis as he
was sacked.
Veteran Tony Banks started
Sunday against Carolina and
threw a fourth quarter touch
down pass to Billy Miller in a
14-10 upset of Carolina.
Carr did not miss a snap
throughout his rookie year
despite absorbing a record 76
sacks. He has been sacked
only 11 times in seven games
this season.
Money
Continued from page 5
be an Astros fan.
“I watched 95 percent of the
games this year, and I felt like I
was a loyal fan,” Niebuhr said. “I
feel betrayed because they aren’t
hying to win games, they’re try
ing to make money.”
Until McLane and the Astros
show a conscious effort to do
more than make the playoffs,
Astros fans should stop buying
the $45 seats, stop buying the $6
beers and $5 hot dogs.
Until McLane opens up his
$1.2 billion dollar wallet to put a
quality product on the field, there
is no reason why blue-collar fans
should spend every dime in their
wallets to watch the Astros com
pete, but never win.
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For more info about MSC ACE, visit ace.tamu.edu
Persons with disabilities, please call 845-1515
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