New formula no help to Sooners

The revamped BCS standings ranks Miami not Oklahoma in second place.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Bowl Championship Series gave Oklahoma a break last season, letting the Sooners play for a national championship after they lost their conference title.
The BCS's new formula isn't treating the Sooners quite so kindly.
Miami, not Oklahoma, was second behind first-place Southern California when the revamped BCS standings made their debut Monday.
Put in place after last season's split national championship, this year's stripped-down BCS formula relies more on the AP Top 25 and ESPN/USA Today coaches polls. The idea was to ensure that when there is a clear consensus top two in the polls -- as No. 1 Southern California and No. 2 Oklahoma have been this season -- the BCS standings would reflect it.
Instead, Miami's strong computer rankings helped the Hurricanes edge the Sooners.
Oklahoma's view
With about a month and a half remaining in the season, the BCS news hardly caused a stir in Norman, Okla.
"At this point in the season, it just generates a lot of discussion among the people who like to talk about college football," Sooners coach Bob Stoops said. "In that sense, it's a positive because it keeps people talking about our sport. But it really makes no difference where anyone is ranked today. There is too much of this season left to play for anyone to get too worked up about this now."
Though BCS officials again had to do some explaining.
"It's obviously very early. It's important that there not be an overreaction to this poll," BCS coordinator and Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg said, adding that when he saw Miami ahead of Oklahoma, "I was a little surprised, to tell you the truth."
Weiberg noted that the top two teams in the first BCS standings of the season have never played in the system's championship game.
"I've never really understood the BCS process," Southern California coach Pete Carroll said. "And at first look, this year's updated process confuses me once again. I'm not sure how some of the other teams worked out to being where they are. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me."
The scoring
The AP and coaches polls each count for a third of a team's total score under the new formula. The other third comes from six computer rankings.
The Hurricanes are ranked fourth in the AP media poll and third in the coaches poll, but have the second-most points in the computer rankings. Oklahoma came out fifth in the computer rankings.
"Our philosophy is that the only thing we can control is how we play," Miami coach Larry Coker said. "Because we have been named the No. 2 team in the first BCS standings, our job now is to respond and move forward."