College Football Rankings 2013 Week 13: Projecting the Top 25 After Saturday

Nothing like a little monkey wrench getting thrown into the BCS standings.

Voters and computers alike will have a hard time sifting through the mess that is the top half of the standings.

Does Baylor leap ahead of Ohio State? How far down will Stanford go as a result of its loss to USC? Does Auburn get a boost after its late win over Georgia?

Considering this is the last year before the playoff system takes over, it's fitting that there would be chaos regarding who deserves to be in the national title game and get into the BCS bowls.

Here's what the Bleacher Report's BCS guru Samuel Chi thinks the standings look like when they're unveiled.

Rank	Team	Record
1	Alabama	10-0
2	Florida State	10-0
3	Baylor	9-0
4	Ohio State	10-0
5	Oregon	9-1
6	Clemson	9-1
7	Auburn	10-1
8	Missouri	9-1
9	Stanford	8-2
10	Texas A&M	8-2
11	South Carolina	8-2
12	Oklahoma State	9-1
13	UCLA	8-2
14	Fresno State	9-0
15	Northern Illinois	10-0
16	Michigan State	9-1
17	Central Florida	8-1
18	Oklahoma	8-2
19	Arizona State	8-2
20	Louisville	9-1
21	LSU	7-3
22	Wisconsin	8-2
23	Ole Miss	7-3
24	Minnesota	8-2
25	USC	8-3

These are three of the bigger questions to which fans will want answers with the new polls.

How Far Does Stanford Fall?

Stanford could remain in the Top 10. South Carolina and Texas A&M both have two losses, so you could see where some voters could have the Cardinal drop to ninth, ahead of the Aggies, or 10th, behind A&M but ahead of the Gamecocks.

However, that may not happen.

Texas A&M's losses came against Top 10 teams. First was the defeat to Alabama, and then came the upset by Auburn. So both of those are strong losses and don't do much to hurt the Aggies' ranking.

South Carolina's losses came against Georgia and Tennessee. Losing to the Bulldogs on the road isn't anything to be ashamed about, even with their eventual drop out of the Top 25 this week.

Basically, it's the same as Stanford losing to Utah and USC.

Considering the perceived weight of the SEC, it's hard to determine where the Cardinal end up.

Will Baylor Overtake Ohio State?

You can sense that Urban Meyer is trying to score as many points as possible in order to sway the voters. In their last three games, he Buckeyes have dropped 63 on Penn State, 56 on Purdue and then on Saturday, 60 against Illinois.

A large margin of victory still doesn't cover up what has been a lackluster schedule for OSU.

The biggest test of the Buckeyes' season came against Wisconsin, and they only managed to win by seven points. Looking back, Ohio State needed to do a lot more with that game in order to strengthen its position in the standings.

OSU's only hope is that beating Michigan State in the Big Ten Championship will be good enough to possibly get up to No. 2.

Meanwhile, Baylor walloped Texas Tech on Saturday. It was close early, but the Bears pulled away, winning by 19 points and having 675 total yards of offense.

And that win is off the back of the 41-12 win against Oklahoma.

Looking at Baylor's schedule, it's hard not to figure the Bears jumping ahead of the Buckeyes by the end of the season, if it doesn't happen this week.

Who Jumps into the Top 25?

It was interesting that the 23rd-, 24th- and 25th-ranked teams all lost. That opens up three spots at the bottom of the standings. In addition, some of the non-ranked teams receiving the most votes lost.

At least two of those spots appear to be assured.

USC has done enough to warrant a spot in the Top 25. The Trojans have won their last four games. Wins over Utah and Oregon State are solid, and then you've got the huge win over Stanford. And they're 8-3, so it isn't like they're coasting on reputation.

There's no doubting that USC is playing much better under Ed Orgeron. That improvement in the second half of the season should be rewarded by the voters.

Ole Miss should back into the Top 25 as well. The Rebels were off this week. They've got a 7-3 record, with the wins over LSU and Vanderbilt looking good on their resume. Among the teams hanging outside the rankings, Ole Miss stands out.

That last spot is up for grabs.

It's hard not to give it to Duke. The Blue Devils are fresh off a 48-30 win over Miami. It's Duke's eighth win of the year.

After that defeat of Virginia Tech, the Blue Devils got on the voters' radar. By beating the Hurricanes, they've surely done enough to crack the rankings.

More importantly, Steve Spurrier can legitimately put his former school in the Top 25, via The Birmingham News' Jon Solomon:

Not to rain on the parade in Durham, but Minnesota had more Top 25 votes when Week 12 started. The Golden Gophers figured to be one of the next teams in should anybody near the bottom of the poll falter. They could very well keep the Blue Devils from cracking the rankings.