After the controversial announcement that Ohio State had edged Southern Cal to move to No. 2 in the Bowl Championship Series polls on Monday, Pacific 10 officials were stunned.

The Trojans had just shut out Arizona 45-0 on the road while the Buckeyes had struggled to defeat Purdue at home in overtime. Despite the convincing shutout victory on the road, Southern Cal dropped in several of the computer indexes in the BCS equation, and many who dropped the Trojans in their indexes were located on the east coast, leaving many to claim an “East Coast bias.”

The New York Times dropped Southern Cal from third to fifth and Kenneth Massey of Blacksburg, Va., dropped the Trojans to fourth. The one drop that occurred on the west coast was made by a professor at UCLA, Southern Cal’s biggest rival. The two teams will face off with the Trojans this weekend.

“I think it’s a travesty they got dropped below Ohio State in the BCS poll,” Arizona interim head coach Mike Hankwitz said. “I guess it’s the East Coast bias towards schools in that region.”

Southern Cal (9-1) has played what could be considered the tougher schedule. Six of their 10 games have been on the road, whereas Ohio State didn’t play an away contest until Oct. 11, when they lost to Wisconsin.

“At least USC left the house once in a while,” BCS expert Jerry Palm said.

Even if Southern Cal defeats UCLA, it will not move up in the BCS rankings. That means Ohio State will play in the Sugar Bowl unless it loses to Michigan in a huge matchup this weekend. Pac-10 officials, however, are still stunned about what happened and trying to figure out what they need to change.

“It’s not like the computers are computing Pac-10 teams minus .05,” Palm said. “It’s the circumstance, not a bias. The Pac-10 can’t find a computer formula that likes their team.”

Two years ago the BCS removed margin of victory from its formula after Oregon was prevented from playing in the national championship because of the number of close wins it had.