Oregon
State
's 42-24 victory in Provo
on Saturday was enough to jump up two spots in this week's AP Poll.
Losses by South Carolina and West Virginia opened up some space, although many were surprised the two-point Gamecock loss, one that was suffered on the road at the hands of the #9 team in the nation, dropped South Carolina
down six spots.
Oregon
State
's 21-3 thrashing of the Cougars in the fourth quarter might have had something to do with it, making a close game appear to be a Beaver blowout.
It's
Oregon
State
's highest AP ranking since the final poll of the 2000 season.
None of this is as important, of course, as the BCS Standings, which will come out tonight at 5:30 PM Pacific time. Those will determine
Oregon
State
's standing in the race for a BCS Bowl. While the AP is not used in the complicated BCS formula, the Coaches' and Jeff Sagrarin's computer rankings are. The Beavers are ranked 11th and 8th, respectively, in those two polls.
UPDATE: Oregon St. is also ranked #8 in the first BCS Ranking.
Alabama remains atop all of the polls, with Oregon
coming in second in the AP and Coaches, and seventh in the computers.
The Pac-12 grid shakes out like this, with the AP rank coming first, coaches second, and computers third:
Oregon: 2, 2, 7
Oregon
State
: 8, 11, 8
USC: 11, 9, 11
Stanford: 22, 23, 17
Arizona
State
: 26, 24, NR
Washington: 32, NR, NR
Arizona: 37, NR, NR
UCLA: NR, 40, NR
Oregon is in a situation where the only way they'll move up is with an Alabama loss, but they would certainly drop out of the Top 10 with a loss to
Arizona
State
on Thursday night. That would mean the Sun Devils and first-year coach Todd Graham would have a 6-1 record, meaning at least a Top 20 ranking come next Sunday.
Boise
State
is the only other western team that is ranked. The Broncos held steady at #24 after holding off
Fresno
State
for a 20-10 win.
Go Beavs!