College Football

Week 13 BCS standings released: Ohio State, Baylor battle for No. 3

The latest BCS rankings remain unchanged at the very top, but Stanford's fall and conference schedules mean the No. 3 spot is again disputed territory.

By Jason Kirk Nov 17, 2013, 8:38pm EST

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Every week, the battleground redefines itself. What was Florida State vs. Oregon became Stanford vs. Ohio State and Baylor. That's now given way to Ohio State vs. Baylor.

With Alabama and Florida State entrenched at Nos. 1 and 2 and in line for the BCS National Championship Game, the Buckeyes and Bears form the clear second tier. Odds are still slim we'll reach the end of the season with four unbeaten teams from power conferences (but what a frustrating segue to the College Football Playoff era that would be), so positioning still matters.

The full BCS rankings heading into Week 13, with full poll and computer data to be added in a moment:

		BCS		Harris Poll			Coaches Poll			Computer rankings
Rank	Team	Avg.	Prev	Rank	Points	%	Rank	Points	%	Avg.	A&H	RB	CM	KM	JS	PW	%
1	Alabama	.9914	1	1	2620	.9981	1	1544	.9961	1	1	1	2	1	2	2	.980
2	Florida State	.9661	2	2	2517	.9589	2	1487	.9594	1	2	2	1	2	1	1	.980
3	Ohio State	.8869	3	3	2375	.9048	3	1404	.9058	5	4	3	4	6	5	7	.850
4	Baylor	.8856	5	4	2343	.8926	4	1386	.8942	3	3	5	5	4	4	4	.870
5	Oregon	.7917	6	5	2102	.8008	5	1231	.7942	6	6	4	9	5	10	6	.780
6	Auburn	.7860	7	7	1967	.7493	7	1145	.7387	3	5	7	3	3	6	3	.870
7	Clemson	.7681	8	6	2019	.7691	6	1217	.7852	7	9	6	6	8	12	5	.750
8	Missouri	.7231	9	8	1919	.7310	8	1129	.7284	8	7	11	7	9	9	8	.710
9	Stanford	.6238	4	11	1584	.6034	12	865	.5581	8	8	8	8	7	11	9	.710
10	Oklahoma State	.5890	12	9	1660	.6324	9	1030	.6645	14	12	12	15	20	8	18	.470
11	South Carolina	.5883	10	12	1459	.5558	11	882	.5690	10	10	9	11	11	7	10	.640
12	Texas A&M	.5394	11	10	1626	.6194	10	928	.5987	17	16	18	16	13	19	14	.400
13	Michigan State	.4646	16	13	1269	.4834	13	729	.4703	15	14	16	14	15	16	15	.440
14	UCLA	.4615	13	15	1110	.4229	14	700	.4516	13	13	13	17	12	15	12	.510
15	Fresno State	.4134	14	14	1126	.4290	16	622	.4013	16	18	19	13	25	13	13	.410
16	Northern Illinois	.3729	15	18	864	.3291	21	418	.2697	12	21	10	12	14	3	16	.520
17	Arizona State	.3414	19	22	570	.2171	22	352	.2271	11	11	22	10	10	14	11	.580
18	UCF	.3033	17	20	793	.3021	20	446	.2877	18	20	14	18	22	17	17	.320
19	Wisconsin	.2907	22	19	794	.3025	17	511	.3297	20	19	24	21	18	20	20	.240
20	Oklahoma	.2760	18	21	746	.2842	18	502	.3239	21	15	17	19	23	24	23	.220
21	Louisville	.2664	20	16	1010	.3848	15	627	.4045	26	NR	15	25	NR	NR	NR	.010
22	LSU	.2645	21	17	880	.3352	19	478	.3084	23	NR	21	NR	17	21	21	.150
23	USC	.1070	NR	23	202	.0770	25	115	.0742	22	17	23	20	21	23	24	.170
24	Ole Miss	.1048	NR	NR	110	.0419	NR	35	.0226	19	22	20	24	16	18	19	.250
25	Minnesota	.0604	NR	25	183	.0697	23	173	.1116	28	NR	NR	23	NR	NR	NR	.000

Ohio State remains ahead of Baylor, but with the Bears holding a slight strength-of-schedule advantage (according to Sagarin and SRS) the rest of the way, that's not guaranteed to hold. Especially if Baylor's wins are simply more impressive, as they've been several times so far. But it might! We'll see. A loss by either makes all this just words.

Elsewhere, it's time to start thinking about which potential at-large teams can finish within the top-14 threshold. Assuming an SEC team to the Sugar and Clemson to the Orange (to replace Alabama and Florida State), jockeying will continue for teams like Arizona State, Michigan State, Oklahoma State, Stanford, UCLA, and Wisconsin. Several of whom could still win conference titles, of course.

On the undercard, a trip to San Jose State and a home rematch against Boise State look to be all that stand in between Fresno State and an automatic trip to either the Sugar or Fiesta. The Bulldogs already ranked within three slots of no-matter-what entry last week, and if UCF continues to justify its lack of poll traction by pulling out close wins, Fresno is right where it needs to be anyway. And if the Bulldogs fail, there's NIU.

All of this means the BCS could end with more than two unbeaten AQ-conference teams the year before the Playoff and automatic BCS entry by one of the least-impressive BCS-busters ever. There would be no more BCS way for the whole thing to end. Kind of wouldn't have it any other way, right?