Michigan remains No. 2 in BCS despite first loss

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- For now, the BCS numbers add up to an Ohio State-Michigan rematch for the national championship. But Southern California could prevent that with two more victories.

Michigan was impressive enough in a 42-39 loss to the Buckeyes to retain second place in the Bowl Championship Series standings released Sunday, by a slim margin over USC.

"I'm not surprised," Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said of Michigan retaining second place. "The pollsters had to be impressed with the way [Michigan] has played."

Michigan's BCS average was .926. The Trojans, who have two games left, were at .919.

"It'll be interesting to see how it comes out," Tressel told Fox television.

The No. 1 Buckeyes locked up a spot in the BCS title game Jan. 8 in Arizona with their victory over the Wolverines on Saturday, their 19th straight overall. They also became the first team to have a perfect score of 1.000 under the BCS formula introduced in 2004. Ohio State is a unanimous No. 1 in all the polls and the best team in the country according to the BCS computer ratings.

Florida was in fourth place in the BCS standings with an average of .884, followed by Notre Dame (.820), which plays at USC on Saturday. Arkansas (.807) was sixth. The Razorbacks and Gators meet in the Southeastern Conference title game on Dec. 2.

Michigan's regular season is complete, so the Wolverines can do nothing but watch what happens to USC and the other contenders over the next two weeks.

The Trojans, who beat Cal 23-9 on Saturday to lock up the Pac-10's automatic BCS bid, passed Michigan and moved up to No. 2 in both the coaches' poll and the Harris poll. The polls count for two-thirds of a team's BCS average. Michigan remained second in the computer ratings that account for the other third of the BCS average.

USC is third in the computers, a mark that should improve if the Trojans can knock off highly rated Notre Dame and crosstown rival UCLA the following week.

It appears Michigan needs USC to lose to get another crack at Ohio State. But that could open an opportunity to the SEC champion if either the Gators or Razorbacks win their final two games.

Unbeaten Boise State moved up to 11th place. With one more victory in their season finale at Nevada, the Broncos will become the second team from a conference without an automatic bid to reach the BCS.