College Football

BCS standings released, Week 14: Ohio State, Auburn next in line

Alabama and Florida State remain on course to play in the BCS National Championship. But if one of them falls, we now know who's stepping in. We think. For now. Let's just hurry up and get to the games.

By Jason Kirk Nov 24, 2013, 8:36pm EST

There, that was easy.

The weeks-long debate over which team should rank No. 2 or 3 or 4 has been given a week off. Thanks to Baylor's fall and the Pac-12 eating itself alive, we have a tidy top three that just about everyone can agree on. (Well, Ohio State fans aren't happy about ranking third, but ranking third is better than being jumped by an alternate-dimension Baylor team that beat Oklahoma State, right?)

Thus, we get a week free of arguing about the rankings. I think. And it couldn't be better timed. It's now Thanksgiving rivalry week, and there are far more important things to yell about than BCS computers.

The standings

		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	.9881	1	1	2595	.9981	1	1544	.9961	2	2	1	2	1	2	2	.970
2	Florida State	.9697	2	2	2494	.9592	2	1488	.9600	1	1	2	1	2	1	1	.990
3	Ohio State	.9200	3	3	2389	.9188	3	1428	.9213	3	3	3	3	3	4	3	.920
4	Auburn	.8236	6	5	2139	.8227	5	1268	.8181	4	5	7	4	5	8	4	.830
5	Missouri	.8077	8	6	2109	.8112	6	1243	.8019	5	4	10	5	7	6	5	.810
6	Clemson	.7726	7	4	2148	.8262	4	1289	.8316	10	12	4	9	10	14	7	.660
7	Oklahoma State	.7615	10	7	2013	.7742	7	1225	.7903	8	7	5	10	14	5	10	.720
8	Stanford	.6665	9	8	1759	.6765	10	981	.6329	9	8	8	7	8	11	12	.690
9	Baylor	.6456	4	9	1679	.6458	8	1009	.6510	11	9	6	12	13	10	9	.640
10	South Carolina	.6101	11	10	1620	.6231	9	1003	.6471	12	13	11	11	16	7	13	.560
11	Michigan State	.5780	13	11	1595	.6135	11	962	.6206	14	14	15	13	9	13	14	.500
12	Arizona State	.5052	17	16	976	.3754	18	574	.3703	6	6	13	6	4	9	6	.770
13	Oregon	.4950	5	12	1284	.4938	12	777	.5013	15	11	12	15	12	17	16	.490
14	Northern Illinois	.4620	16	17	936	.3600	20	459	.2961	7	10	9	8	6	3	8	.730
15	Wisconsin	.4448	19	15	1035	.3981	14	661	.4265	13	17	14	16	11	12	11	.510
16	Fresno State	.4124	15	13	1206	.4638	13	687	.4432	17	21	20	14	NR	15	15	.330
17	LSU	.3737	22	14	1155	.4442	15	646	.4168	19	22	19	24	18	19	18	.260
18	Oklahoma	.3380	20	19	856	.3292	17	581	.3748	18	15	17	18	21	18	20	.310
19	UCF	.3364	18	20	855	.3288	19	512	.3303	16	19	16	17	23	16	17	.350
20	Louisville	.2522	21	18	930	.3577	16	603	.3890	27	NR	18	25	NR	NR	NR	.010
21	Texas A&M	.2243	12	21	698	.2685	21	410	.2645	23	23	23	23	20	23	21	.140
22	UCLA	.1921	14	22	391	.1504	22	257	.1658	19	18	21	21	15	20	19	.260
23	USC	.1779	23	23	385	.1481	23	210	.1355	21	16	22	19	17	21	22	.250
24	Duke	.0885	NR	24	298	.1146	24	203	.1310	26	24	NR	22	NR	NR	NR	.020
25	Notre Dame	.0674	NR	25	55	.0212	NR	17	.0110	22	20	NR	20	19	24	23	.170

The storyline

Since we can assume the SEC's getting two teams into the BCS (likely Alabama and Auburn, in my opinion), let's ponder which non-SEC teams can rank in the top 14 without earning automatic bids. Teams like Arizona State, Baylor, Clemson, Michigan State, Oregon, Stanford, or Wisconsin have good chances of cracking that threshold and earning consideration from BCS bowls, assuming one of the big three doesn't slip up. This is our new thing to yell about every week, I guess.

Fresno State and Northern Illinois both retain shots at automatic BCS bids. The higher-ranked of the two that finishes either within the top 12 or in the top 16 and ahead of (presumably) UCF will be assured of a BCS bowl bid. That likely takes a spot away from one of those teams listed in the previous paragraph, leaving pretty much just the Orange Bowl with any actual choices to make. That's the way things go.

At this point, we know the toughest challenges still ahead for each of the top teams. Almost 12 months of chattering have given way to what appears to be a straightforward finish to the regular season. Nothing is ever straightforward in college football, and even more so during Hate Week. But at this point, we know exactly who can wreck each contender's parade.