Kansas State, Notre Dame make their moves

SINCE FLORIDA lost, you knew there was going to be a new No. 2 in the BCS standings behind Alabama. It was merely a matter of who.

And the winner, at least for the time being, is Kansas State. Which makes sense, since the Wildcats were third last week, after jumping a spot over Oregon, and beating nationally ranked Texas Tech at home by a bunch.

Notre Dame, which won by 17 at Oklahoma, also moved up one to third. Oregon, which is second in both polls that are used, is fourth because it's not liked as much by the computers. But the Ducks are just entering the meat of their schedule, so there's a lot of opportunity to change that.

The margin between K-State and ND is close. They've beaten two like opponents, Miami and Oklahoma.

Louisiana State is the highest one-loss team, at No. 5. And the Tigers host Alabama this week.

The next five is Georgia, Florida, two-loss South Carolina, Florida State and unbeaten Louisville.

Remember, being second at this juncture doesn't get you into BCS title game. It only matters where you stand a little over a month from now. And the fun doesn't really start until you get close to the end and there's more than one unbeaten still sitting there.

- Mike Kern