Oregon (#8, 7-1) was the national runner-up last year, so LSU's victory over them appears to be a quality win.
After the Northwestern State snoozer, LSU faced #25 Mississippi State which had just lost to an unranked *U team and ravaged them with four field goals and a fourth quarter TD. This moved them past Alabama, who beat the #23 Penn State team the week before and shutout a pathetic North Texas team, into the #2 spot in the AP poll.
West Virginia beat those powerhouses Marshall and Norfolk State and moved up from #24 to #18, then they barely beat a badly-dressed Maryland team that beat a short-handed Miami team that was thought to be on its way "back" from oblivion and this moved WVU up to #16 when LSU faced them. LSU beat them handily by a 26 point margin, only giving up 533 yards on 87 plays. It was this super-impressive victory over that Big East juggernaut that propelled LSU to #1 in the AP poll.
Of course, 51st ranked Syracuse (5-3) also beat WVU by 26 points, only giving up 408 yards on 68 plays, but we're talking about #1 LSU here and not some middle-of-the-road Big East team.
So then #3 Alabama pounds undefeated and #12 Florida 38-10 at The Swamp, but that's not impressive enough to move Alabama over #1 LSU, who slaughtered the UK Wildcats, who reside in last place in the SEC East. When LSU beats a Florida team that's down to its third-string QB by about the same margin as Bama, it's seen as PROOF that LSU is really the top team. Of course, the win over Florida does move us up to #2, past Oklahoma.
So, here's how it goes:
When #4 LSU beats #3 Oregon (then 0-0, now 6-1, BCS #8), they move up to #3 behind Alabama.
When #2 Bama beats #23 Penn State (then 1-0, now 8-1, BCS #16), they do not pass #1 Oklahoma.
When #3 LSU beats #25 Mississippi State (then 1-1, now 4-4, BCS unranked), they pass #2 Alabama.
When #2 LSU beats #16 West Virginia (then 3-0, now 6-2, BCS #24), they pass #1 Oklahoma.
When #3 Bama beats #14 Arkansas (then 3-0, now 7-1, BCS #7), then pass #1 Oklahoma, but do not pass #2 LSU.
When #2 Bama beats #12 Florida (then 4-0, now 4-4, BCS unranked), they do not pass #1 LSU.
LSU has victories over teams that are ranked #8 and #24 currently in the BCS standings. That's an average ranking of 16 for their two BCS ranked opponents. The winning margin was an average of 19.5 ppg.
Bama has victories over the teams that are ranked #7 and #16 currently in the BCS standings. That's an average ranking of 11.5 for their two BCS ranked opponents. The winning margin was an average of 20 ppg.
I can't figure out how anyone can say that LSU has more impressive victories than Alabama. The numbers just don't lie. It seems like every impressive victory for LSU was impetus to move them up while equally impressive victories for Alabama didn't produce the same type of excitement to the voters.
Voters have nothing invested other than their reputations, and for most of them that's not worth spit.
Bettors are more invested, they're more informed, and they're going to be proven to be more accurate. The voters will just change their votes and then stand around and boast about how they REALLY knew that Bama was the better team all along.