NCAA Football Bowl Championship 1998: Week 6
Week 6: November 30, 1998
Tennessee walloped a 2-9 Vanderbilt team 41-0 this week but their strength of schedule took such a hit that idle UCLA closed the gap to just 0.04 points in the Bowl Championship Series standings. Meanwhile, it appears that time has almost run out for Kansas State to move into the top two and gain a berth in the Fiesta Bowl. That is, unless Tennessee and UCLA both drop the ball next week. Undefeated K-State is third and will play eighth-ranked Texas A&M in the Big 12 championship game on Saturday. K-State was rooting hard for Texas A&M in last week's game with Texas, but the Aggies couldn't bring home a win against the Longhorns. Had the Aggies won, it would have strengthened K State's schedule, possibly enough to get them into the top two without a loss by Tennessee or UCLA.
Tennessee will play Mississippi State in the SEC title game and UCLA meets Miami, which lost big to Syracuse on Saturday.
If all of the top three teams win then it looks like Tennessee will meet UCLA for the national championship in the Fiesta Bowl while an undefeated K-State could play Florida in the Sugar Bowl but be on the outside looking in when the national championship is decided.
| Team | AP | ESPN/USA | PAvg. | ST | Sagarin | NYT | CAvg | Sked | Q-Rank | L | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tennessee | 1 | 2 | 1.5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2.33 | 29 | 1.16 | 0 | 4.99 |
| UCLA | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 (2.25) | 1.75 | 7 | 0.28 | 0 | 5.03 |
| Kansas St. | 2 | 1 | 1.5 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2.33 | 62 | 2.48 | 0 | 6.31 |
| Florida St. | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 0.20 | 1 | 8.20 |
| Ohio St. | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5.33 | 25 | 1.00 | 1 | 12.33 |
| Arizona | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 6.00 | 54 | 2.16 | 1 | 15.16 |
| Florida | 7 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 9.67 | 28 | 1.12 | 2 | 19.79 |
| Texas A&M | 10 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 7.67 | 13 | 0.52 | 2 | 20.19 |
| Wisconsin | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 9.33 | 63 | 2.52 | 1 | 20.85 |
| Tulane | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 16 | 22 (18) | 14.00 | 97 | 3.88 | 0 | 26.88 |
| Nebraska | 13 | 17 | 15 | 11 | 7 | 15 (13.5) | 10.50 | 14 | 0.56 | 3 | 29.06 |
| Georgia Tech | 12 | 14 | 13 | 17 | 20 | 10 | 15.67 | 44 | 1.76 | 2 | 32.43 |
| Arkansas | 11 | 11 | 11 | 18 | 15 | 21 | 18.00 | 59 | 2.36 | 2 | 33.36 |
| Virginia | 14 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 19 | 17 | 16.67 | 43 | 1.72 | 2 | 33.39 |
| Syracuse | 18 | 18 | 18 | 27 (17.25) | 17 | 6 | 13.42 | 31 | 1.24 | 3 | 35.66 |
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.
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