Wacky season has unusual BCS poll

If the college football regular season ended today, Ohio State would play South Florida for the national title. That is the first development from the release of the Bowl Championship Series standings on Sunday, as Ohio State holds the top spot and South Florida is No. 2 thanks to strong numbers in the computer polls.

The only thing certain from here on is more changes in the next few weeks, given the volatility at the top of the rankings and all the games remaining.

With the chances of two one-loss teams playing for the nation title increasing every week, perception may be a key the rest of the season. Think it does not matter? Just look at South Florida's scoring 64 points against Central Florida, including 75- and 28-yard touchdown passes in the fourth quarter.

"USF is No. 1 in the computers right now because they're a little more accomplished than Ohio State or Boston College," said Jerry Palm, an analyst for collegebcs.com. "But the voters don't know beans about them. They couldn't even probably find it on a map."

There are other examples in which perception will factor in down the stretch:

• It is highly unlikely that undefeated teams will play for the championship, because only four are legitimate contenders — Ohio State, South Florida, Boston College and Arizona State. That means a one-loss team will have to be strong in voters' eyes. Boston College and South Florida began the season unranked, so if they lose, the perception will be that they are not capable of playing for the title.

• No. 4 Louisiana State is still considered the most talented team in the country. The Tigers lost in three overtimes to Kentucky on Saturday but have a huge lead over No. 5 Oklahoma in the BCS standings. Some of that comes from computer strength. The rest comes from the idea that LSU has unworldly talent. Winning the rest of its games in the Southeastern Conference, especially with a title game, is no small task. But voters will look favorably on the Tigers. There are two intriguing notions here: Can the Tigers stay that high in the rankings with two losses and would they hop over an undefeated team like Boston College or South Florida if all three of them won out?

• Six teams are unbeaten: No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 South Florida, No. 3 Boston College, No. 8 Arizona State, No. 13 Kansas and No. 18 Hawaii. There may be none by the end of the regular season.