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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?
More from SB Nation college football:
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• Pic: FSU starters playing Hangman during Syracuse blowout
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