Posted by ESPN.com's Graham Watson
The latest BCS standings were released on Sunday and it appears Boise State's 61-10 win over Fresno State did nothing to impress voters.
The Broncos are still No. 9 in the standings, behind No. 6 Utah, which will lock-up the non-BCS automatic bid. So it's still a waiting game for the Broncos, and really for TCU and Ball State. Although they are ranked below Boise State, both teams satisfy the provisions for an at-large bid since all are now ranked in the top 12.
The team to watch here is Ohio State. Coming into the weekend, USC and Ohio State appeared to be the biggest threats to Boise State's chance at the BCS. Now, with Oregon State's loss to Oregon, USC is a win over UCLA away from capturing the Pac-10 title and securing a spot in the Rose Bowl. Figuring that both the SEC and the Big 12 will also earn two spots in the BCS, that leaves Ohio State, which at No. 10 in the BCS standings, as the next likely candidate for a BCS bid.
You know, TCU might be a team to watch here as well. If the BCS is going to pick a two-loss team, TCU would be a better candidate since its losses are to the Nos. 2 and 5 teams in the BCS. Not saying it will happen, and I really don't think it's a possibility, but the Horned Frogs' surge up the polls has been interesting.
Also, if Ball State beats Buffalo in the MAC championship on Friday, the Cardinals will have more wins than any of the non-BCS teams. We'll see if that comes into play.
WAC and Mountain West officials said their bowl announcements would come early this week, but it almost looks as though we'll have to wait another week to see which team grabs the at-large spot since some of the same questions that were in the air last week seem to still be floating this week.
Watson joined ESPN.com in 2008 after four seasons covering the Missouri Tigers and the Big 12 Conference for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. She also covered college football recruiting for the Dallas Morning News.
