NCAA Football Bowl Championship 1998: Week 1
Week 1: October 26, 1998
UCLA, ranked second in the AP and Coaches poll, was ranked first in the BCS poll; Ohio State, Number 1 in the AP and Coaches Poll, was second. How does that happen? Well, simply put, UCLA's conference is stronger than Ohio State's this year, meaning the Bruins have a harder schedule and have been rewarded for it.
Both Tennessee and Kansas State are still undefeated, and if certain things happen (like if Ohio State's past and future opponents drop in the rankings and therefore OSU's strength of schedule suffers further) one of them could leapfrog the Buckeyes and earn a spot in the Fiesta Bowl. Of course, if some of the top teams lose a game between now and the end of the regular season, it will make things much less complicated. Stay tuned.
| Team | AP | ESPN/USA | PAvg. | ST | Sagarin | NYT | CAvg | Sked | Q-Rank | L | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UCLA | 2 | 2 | 2.00 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.00 | 1 | 0.04 | 0 | 3.04 |
| Ohio St. | 1 | 1 | 1.00 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2.67 | 16 | 0.64 | 0 | 4.31 |
| Tennessee | 3 | 4 | 3.50 | 2 | (3.75) | 3 | 2.92 | 2 | 0.08 | 0 | 6.50 |
| Kansas St. | 4 | 3 | 3.50 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 3.33 | 49 | 1.96 | 0 | 8.79 |
| Florida St. | 5 | 6 | 5.50 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 6.33 | 14 | 0.56 | 1 | 13.39 |
| Nebraska | 7 | 7 | 7.00 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 5.67 | 15 | 0.60 | 1 | 14.27 |
| Florida | 6 | 5 | 5.50 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 8.67 | 22 | 0.88 | 1 | 16.05 |
| Texas A&M | 8 | 9 | 8.50 | 5 | (9) | 7 | 7.00 | 8 | 0.32 | 1 | 16.82 |
| Wisconsin | 9 | 8 | 8.50 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9.00 | 91 | 3.64 | 0 | 21.14 |
| Penn St. | 10 | 10 | 10.00 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 11.00 | 13 | 0.52 | 1 | 22.52 |
| Oregon | 12 | 13 | 12.50 | 11 | 6 | (12.75) | 9.92 | 28 | 1.12 | 1 | 24.54 |
| Arkansas | 14 | 12 | 13.00 | 8 | 13 | 12 | 11.00 | 89 | 3.56 | 0 | 27.56 |
| Georgia | 11 | 11 | 11.00 | 13 | 15 | 19 | 15.67 | 54 | 2.16 | 1 | 29.83 |
| Arizona | 13 | 15 | 14.00 | 15 | 12 | 17 | 14.67 | 55 | 2.20 | 1 | 31.87 |
| Virginia | 15 | 14 | 14.50 | 16 | 20 | 21 | 19.00 | 69 | 2.76 | 1 | 37.26 |
| Notre Dame | 16 | 16 | 16.00 | 17 | (24) | 15 | 18.67 | 57 | 2.28 | 1 | 37.95 |
| Ga. Tech | 23 | 24 | 23.50 | 18 | 22 | 13 | 17.67 | 11 | 0.44 | 2 | 43.61 |
| Missouri | 18 | 21 | 19.50 | 27 | 16 | 23 | 22.00 | 23 | 0.92 | 2 | 44.42 |
| Tulane | 19 | 18 | 18.50 | 14 | 30 | (33) | 25.67 | 86 | 3.44 | 0 | 47.61 |
| Syracuse | 17 | 19 | 18.00 | 33 | 24 | 27 | 28.00 | 34 | 1.36 | 2 | 49.36 |
Legend
PAvg.— The average of the Associated Press media poll and ESPN-USA Today coaches poll. Others receiving votes are calculated in order received.
CAvg.— The average of The Hester & Anderson/Seattle Times, Jeff Sagarin's rankings and New York Times rankings. In order to prevent differences in individual formulas, a maximum adjusted deviation of no greater than 50 percent of the average of the two lowest computer rankings is utilized.
Quartile Rank— Rank of schedule strength compared to other Division I-A teams divided by 25. The component is calculated by determining the cumulative won/loss records of the team's opponent (66.6 percent) and the cumulative won/loss record of the team's opponent's opponents (33.3 percent).
Losses— One point for each loss during the season.
Notes: BCS rankings each week will list the top 15 or down to the lowest-ranked BCS-affiliated conference leader. Adjusted computer scores in parentheses (Sagarin's raw scores: Tennessee 4, Texas A&M 10, Notre Dame 36, New York Time's raw scores: Oregon 13, Tulane 98).
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