College Football Rankings, Week 8: South Carolina, West Virginia lose as first BCS standings ready to come out

The latest college football rankings, including the first release of the BCS rankings, will experience another round of shakeups following losses by two top-five teams on Saturday. The No. 3 South Carolina Gamecocks played a close one but dropped a 23-21 decision to the No. 9 LSU Tigers, while the No. 5 West Virginia Mountaineers left Lubbock, Texas, and lost to the Texas Tech Red Raiders, 49-14.

South Carolina led LSU at the start of the fourth quarter, 14-10, but LSU put up 13 straight points on two field goals and a Jeremy Hill 50-yard rushing touchdown. Connor Shaw got the Gamecocks within two points following a score with 1:41 left in the game, but he ended the game by throwing an interception to Craig Loston.

West Virginia's normally-accurate quarterback Geno Smith was just 29-of-55 for 275 yards and one touchdown. Tech quarterback Seth Doege, on the other hand, completed 32-of-42 passes for 499 yards and six touchdowns. The Mountaineers could fall out of the top 10 in the AP and Coaches Top 25 polls while the Red Raiders, now 5-1, have a strong case to appear at the back end of the polls.

The No. 15 Texas Longhorns (to No. 13 Oklahoma), the No. 17 Stanford Cardinal (to No. 7 Notre Dame), and the No. 23 La. Tech Bulldogs (to No. 2 Texas A&M) were the only other top 25 teams to lose on Saturday.

Boise State moved to 5-1 after beating Fresno State, 20-10, but they won't move that much higher from the No. 24 spot they occupy at the moment in the polls. They won't be a huge factor in the BCS rankings this week.

No. 1 Alabama beat Missouri, 42-10, and should be the top team in the BCS rankings, which will be released on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. MT on ESPN. The No. 2 Oregon Ducks had the weekend off and are the likely No. 2 team. Beyond that, it could be Florida, Notre Dame and Kansas State to round out the top five, as Sam Chi projects.