BCS Standings 2013: Full Rankings Entering Pivotal Week 12

With the Oregon Ducks falling from the ranks of the undefeated this past Thursday, the picture for the BCS title game became a lot clearer with the unveiling of Week 12's BCS rankings. The rest of the BCS bowls cannot say the same. 

After dominating the LSU Tigers in Saturday's second half en route to a 38-17 victory, No. 1 Alabama solidified an already entrenched spot at the top. 

Not that there was any doubt of the fact heading into this week, but if Alabama wins out, the Crimson Tide will not be denied an opportunity to play for a third consecutive national championship. 

What is a new development this week is that Florida State essentially now controls its own fate. 

While the Seminoles entered last week as the No. 2 team in the BCS rankings, they held a narrow lead over Oregon. 

With Oregon's 26-20 loss to Stanford and Florida State's 59-3 destruction of Wake Forest, the Seminoles can now feel supremely confident in the fact that they will play for the national title should they win out. 

The Seminoles' lead of nearly .07 over No. 3 Ohio State is over twice the amount with which they trail Alabama. 

Take a look at the full rankings, and then I'll dig a little deeper into how things are shaping up as we near the bowl season. 

Ranking	Team	BCS Average
1	Alabama (9-0)	.996
2	Florida State (9-0)	.962
3	Ohio State (9-0)	.893
4	Stanford (8-1)	.869
5	Baylor (8-0)	.862
6	Oregon (8-1)	.767
7	Auburn (9-1)	.721
8	Clemson (8-1)	.720
9	Missouri (9-1)	.712
10	South Carolina (7-2)	.558
11	Texas A&M (8-2)	.547
12	Oklahoma State (8-1)	.467
13	UCLA (7-2)	.455
14	Fresno State (9-0)	.432
15	Northern Illinois (9-0)	.351
16	Michigan State (8-1)	.342
17	UCF (7-1)	.341
18	Oklahoma (7-2)	.293
19	Arizona State (7-2)	.283
20	Louisville (8-1)	.281
21	LSU (7-3)	.276
22	Wisconsin (7-2)	.261
23	Miami (Fla.) (7-2)	.147
24	Texas (7-2)	.109
25	Georgia (6-3)	.086

As you can see, after Florida State, things get fairly tight in the rankings.

We have Nos. 3 through 5 in a tight battle to try and jump up to the coveted No. 2 spot in the rankings should Alabama or Florida State stumble. 

Then there is an even more heated competition for teams trying to get into the Top 14 to qualify for BCS bowl consideration. 

Check out my projections for the BCS bowl games and a B/R video with more projections as we continue to discuss the rankings race. 

BCS Game	Date	Location	Matchup	Prediction
Rose Bowl	Jan. 1	Pasadena, Calif.	Big Ten/BCS vs. Pac-12/BCS	Ohio State vs. Stanford
Fiesta Bowl	Jan. 1	Glendale, Ariz.	Big 12/BCS vs. BCS	Baylor vs. Fresno State
Sugar Bowl	Jan. 2	New Orleans, La.	SEC/BCS vs. BCS	Texas A&M vs. UCF
Orange Bowl	Jan. 3	Miami, Fla.	ACC/BCS vs. BCS	Clemson vs. Michigan State
BCS Title Game	Jan. 6	Pasadena, Calif.	BCS No. 1 vs. BCS No. 2	Alabama vs. Florida State

The Race for No. 3

No. 3 Ohio State leads No. 5 Baylor, with Stanford sandwiched between the two by less than .04 points.

Obviously there is plenty of room for jostling among these three teams even if they all win out. Have a look at the remaining schedule for each of the three: 

	Ohio State	Stanford	Baylor
Week 12	Illinois	USC	Texas Tech
Week 13	Indiana	California	No. 12 Oklahoma State
Week 14	Michigan	Notre Dame	TCU
Week 15	--	--	No. 24 Texas
Projected Conf. Champ. Game	No. 16 Michigan State	No. 19 Arizona State	--

Ohio State hasn't lost a game since Urban Meyer took over prior to last season. Still, the Buckeyes are relegated to third in the polls.

This is largely due to their strength of schedule. Their strength of schedule doesn't figure to improve much, either. Ohio State has Illinois, Indiana and slumping Michigan remaining on the schedule.

The Buckeyes do have the Big Ten Championship to potentially help their cause and will have to hope that it will be good enough to keep them ahead of one-loss Stanford and Baylor.

The Cardinal can thank the computers for sitting ahead of Baylor despite having a loss while Baylor is undefeated. Stanford leads Baylor in all but two of the computer polls while trailing in both human ones.

I can envision Bears fans all over grumbling about this injustice, but that is nothing for them to lose sleep over. 

If Baylor can remain undefeated, it stands an excellent shot at jumping over Stanford. The Bears' strength of schedule will improve, which will help its standing in the computer polls. Given that the voters already prefer Baylor over Stanford, the gains in the computer polls should be enough to push the team over the hump.

Also, if Baylor impresses human voters enough, it is certainly not out of the question that the Bears could pass the Buckeyes. 

On the Lookout for Teams on the Rise

To qualify for an at-large selection to a BCS bowl, a team has to be in the Top 14 of the rankings. 

Texas A&M has been hovering around this mark and made a leap up this week from No. 15 to No. 11 after beating Mississippi State 51-41. The Aggies have two tough games remaining with No. 21 LSU and No. 9 Missouri, and both come on the road. 

However, as long as the Aggies can win one of those, I would expect them to play in a BCS bowl. The lure (i.e. money) of Johnny Manziel will be too much for all of the BCS bowls to pass on. 

Another team hovering around this mark is No. 16 Michigan State. 

The Spartans have just one loss on the season and are coming off of a thorough 29-6 victory over rival Michigan. 

The Spartans don't have a ranked opponent left on the schedule but do have a possible matchup with Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship Game. 

Obviously, if they win that one, they will get the conference's automatic berth, but even if they lose respectably, this team will be in play for a BCS bowl.