Over the Top

After listening to panicked college football fans and analysts complain that Boise State would be the No. 1 team in the first BCS poll, the real winner turned out to be Oklahoma — coincidentally, the team that put the BCS-busting Smurf Turfers on the map in a wild, flee-flicker, Statue-of-Liberty, marriage-proposal-filled Fiesta Bowl a few years back.

“Big Game” Bob Stoops’ club jumped over the competition thanks in large part to a strength of schedule that includes wins over Florida State, Texas, Air Force, Cincinnati, Utah State and Iowa State.

As the BCS dominoes fell, top-ranked Ohio State lost, the Red River rival Longhorns upset Nebraska and the Sooners landed on top of the football world, at least for this week.

The season’s first Bowl Championship Series poll — which is comprised of seven computer polls and two human polls (Harris and USA Today) — had new AP No. 1 Oregon as the second-best team in the country, with Boise State, Auburn and TCU rounding out the top five:

1. Oklahoma
2. Oregon
3. Boise State
4. Auburn
5. TCU
6. LSU
7. Michigan State
8. Alabama
9. Utah
10. Ohio State
11. Missouri
12. Stanford
13. Wisconsin
14. Oklahoma State
15. Iowa
16. Nebraska
17. Florida State
18. Arizona
19. Texas
20. West Virginia
21. South Carolina
22. Kansas State
23. Arkansas
24. Mississippi State
25. Virginia Tech