With the very first polls released in Bowl Championship Series action, the landscape of college football has began to heat up.  Although the AP and the coaches polls do show significance, it is the BCS one that will ultimately lead to a national champion. 

The BCS standings are essentially a measuring stick for each program in terms of how they stack up against the rest of the competition.  More importantly, what each respective college must do in the next couple of months in order to reach their goals.

That said, the first release of the BCS standings was posted with several surprises.  Although Alabama is ranked #1 as expected, Florida shockingly sits at #2 in front of Oregon.  Alabama is first with an average index of .976, Florida possesses a .909 and Oregon is close with .899.  However, Oregon is ranked #2 in both polls that were compiled using the BCS formula (Harris and USA Today), but is trailing behind in the computer generated ones.

Delving deeper into the standings, Kansas City sits at fourth place, and is followed by Notre Dame, Louisiana State, South Carolina, Oregon State, Oklahoma and USC.

All-time leaders with 20 weeks spent at #1 in the rankings, Oklahoma's place in the top ten is no surprise.  However, the lack of a presence from the Big Ten and USC is indeed shocking.  The conference had added Nebraska last year assuming it would be an upgrade and USC was predicted in the preseason to be #1 in the Associated Press's poll.  As expected, four teams out of the BCS top 10 have come out of the Southeastern Conference. 

The SEC has actually taken the last six BCS titles and eight of the 14 championship games played.  The two teams that ultimately take the top two spots will go head-to-head against one another for the BCS title in South Florida on January 7.

Tags: BCS television