As expected, Notre Dame is now ranked No. 1 in the BCS standings for its first time ever. Alabama, which just last week looked to be nearly out of the running for the national championship game, is now back in a driver's seat at No. 2. And the team it'll face if it gets to the SEC Championship Game (this is a very likely occurrence -- the Tide only has to beat Auburn), Georgia, shows up at No. 3. As it stands, there are three teams in the country that control their destinies, and two of them should play each other in two weeks. It gets complicated after that.

The two teams that fell from the top of last week's rankings, Oregon and Kansas State, fall into the big one-loss morass that also includes Florida and Florida State, who'll play each other next week. If Notre Dame falls at USC next week, the door will be open for the winner of Florida-FSU or Oregon (if it can beat Oregon State and UCLA) or mayyybe Kansas State, but it's hard to imagine anybody beyond that making it in. So let's say that as of right now, six teams still have a chance at the title game.

Here's a look at the kinds of things that can happen to the rest of the bowl picture if things play out as they're expected to. There are plenty of other scenarios -- if Georgia Tech beats Georgia, Georgia beats Alabama, USC beats Notre Dame, Florida State beats Florida, Oregon State beats Oregon and so on, well, I guess we'll all just be super happy to see Kent State playing for it all, won't we?

The full BCS rankings as of November 18, via ESPN.com:

BCS Harris Poll USA Today Computer Rankings RK TEAM AVG PVS RK PTS % RK PTS % AVG A&H RB CM KM JS PW % 1 Notre Dame .9973 3 1 2863 .9958 1 1469 .9959 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1.000 2 Alabama .9333 4 2 2732 .9503 2 1386 .9397 3 5 2 4 3 3 3 .910 3 Georgia .8763 5 3 2573 .8950 3 1348 .9139 6 4 5 7 7 6 4 .820 4 Florida .8434 6 5 2242 .7798 6 1166 .7905 2 2 6 2 2 2 2 .960 5 Oregon .8318 2 4 2483 .8637 4 1227 .8319 7 7 4 6 6 5 8 .800 6 Kansas State .7692 1 7 2161 .7517 8 1056 .7159 4 3 3 3 10 7 7 .840 7 LSU .7308 7 8 2077 .7224 7 1062 .7200 8 10 7 8 4 8 6 .750 8 Stanford .7077 13 11 1897 .6598 11 934 .6332 5 6 8 5 5 4 5 .830 9 Texas A&M .6526 8 10 1909 .6640 10 994 .6739 10 15 11 10 8 12 9 .620 10 Florida State .6363 10 6 2231 .7760 5 1199 .8129 17 18 16 15 0 22 16 .320 11 Clemson .6056 11 9 1953 .6793 9 1029 .6976 15 13 13 11 20 23 14 .440 12 South Carolina .5871 9 12 1647 .5729 12 853 .5783 11 14 10 12 11 9 10 .610 13 Oklahoma .5677 12 13 1530 .5322 13 798 .5410 9 9 9 14 9 11 12 .630 14 Nebraska .4790 14 14 1275 .4435 14 654 .4434 12 11 15 9 12 15 11 .550 15 Oregon State .4499 16 15 1202 .4181 17 563 .3817 12 8 14 13 13 10 13 .550 16 Texas .4235 15 17 1088 .3784 15 593 .4020 14 12 12 16 14 13 17 .490 17 UCLA .3826 17 16 1144 .3979 16 590 .4000 16 16 18 17 16 18 18 .350 18 Rutgers .2432 22 19 756 .2630 19 408 .2766 21 20 20 18 25 0 20 .190 19 Michigan .2253 21 20 575 .2000 20 289 .1959 19 19 22 20 17 20 15 .280 20 Louisville .2165 19 18 898 .3123 18 453 .3071 26 23 0 21 0 0 0 .030 21 Oklahoma State .2042 24 22 425 .1478 21 258 .1749 18 17 17 22 19 16 0 .290 22 Boise State .1043 NR 21 426 .1482 22 243 .1647 30 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 23 Kent State .0955 NR 25 196 .0682 25 86 .0583 22 24 19 19 0 0 19 .160 24 Arizona .0836 NR NR 21 .0073 NR 5 .0034 20 21 23 23 15 14 21 .240 25 Washington .0643 25 NR 53 .0184 NR 36 .0244 23 25 24 0 18 17 22 .150

This week's fun facts from the National Football Foundation:

• First-time school(s) in the BCS Standings: Kent State. A total of 88 schools have appeared in the BCS Standings since they were created in 1998. • Schools debuting in 2012 BCS Standings: No. 23 Kent State. • Dropped out of BCS Standings: No. 18 Southern California, No. 20 Louisiana Tech, No. 23 Texas Tech. • Notre Dame makes its first-ever appearance at No. 1 in the BCS Standings. The No. 1 ranking also marks the first time an independent team has held the top position in the BCS. • Georgia tied its highest BCS ranking at No. 3, last reached on Dec. 8, 2002. • The squad ranked No. 1 in Week 6 of the BCS Standings has not gone on to win the BCS National Championship since LSU did it in 2007.

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