SPORTS THE BATTALION 7 Tuesday, November 4, 2003 >er 4,; iimist possess®; sn’tsell, )rthe5 irly. 'ATE excellent cr; Ke to pool s; year old, rasher and c; S81,900 Wot ory, new can in, end units idle, $mj irmation cal 1 /CS 764-6ffi; TES ded. Fully 535/mo, +1,S; )82 or 210-r; 13/2 tovmte 1/3bills. 0 semester, ii Close lo cr 455. at Exctoji 5 covered pai ’81-788-342! lor Spring« 175/mo +1/2:; ne, call Mrf New 3/3-dui? +1/3dep« 04-5398. iublease & I i, W/D, wow I i. Call Ei i bedroom, s 9-574-1236. I for 312 to l/3utilities, S3 id. Brand if included. SIS 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. i bedroom w , $275 plus li le Decembe 1 . 3/2 $300/mo. ta 1 for Sp"; dost bills |t i house. IW ig. Pels?® All Bills P» )0-0151 g Spring 2® jate StucM! . to camp sk for Frare lornmate if® SSSO/moV' W/D, elepW 6-635! :s ving. Lots* jismissalZ® pm-9p4 Fri(6pm#' (8anv2:36p r 20yrs. 1^ i Inn, Ste?- 1 Walk-ins »■ price by f H7. SW i! 5-9193, ier Course 1 ' 1 3 get 1®" ts for * :om ,04. Peak 1 , Lowest 426-7710 Spring inclusive®' free! Thanksg' ruary Sk' 1 ' ture in ^ (duforP^ 1 II or sW' Cente^ ree food.? seen on ED 'E 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. mz. $.50 Slovacek Sausagi T Tomorrow! #21 Texas A&M VS. #11 Nebraska Wednesday, November 5 ir 7 p.m. Tickets: 845-2311 VOLLEYBALL www.AggieAthletics. com Tickets: 845-231 Its ThAT TT ■Rl MR Mr Jl «R9llk Jr, " Jr Ml PURCHASE THIS X . PITCHHR FOR ★ , • ONLY $26.22 ' HJh AHD QUALIFY TO ✓ RRD22M THIS * Ysk f"! 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