BCS Standings 2013: Breaking Down Week 13 Top 25 Teams
Week 12 was a deceptively fun one, featuring a top-five upset in the BCS standings, a couple of impressive blowouts and one of the craziest finishes in college football history.
There wasn't much movement in Sunday's release of the Week 13 BCS rankings, which may not reflect just how entertaining Week 12 was, but don't let that fool you.
It was sufficiently awesome.
Still, even without certified chaos inside the Top 25, there was some important jockeying at the top and further down towards the middle. The BCS picture is fuzzy, but it's beginning to sharpen into focus.
Here's a quick look at the most recent batch of rankings.
25. Minnesota
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It's nice to see Minnesota break into the Top 25 of the BCS rankings, even if the distinction will likely be short-lived.
The Gophers have won four straight games and still technically have a shot at winning the Big Ten. But their schedule is insanely backloaded, starting this week with a home game against Wisconsin and continuing with a road game at Michigan State after that.
Given the health issues of head coach Jerry Kill, what Minnesota has done this year has been one of the best stories in college football.
We're rooting for the team to keep up the magic, however unlikely that seems.
24. Ole Miss
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Ole Miss suffered no pretense of a look-ahead game against Troy on Saturday, posting a school record with 751 yards of total offense, according to Matt Hinton of SB Nation.
The Rebels have played much better as of late, rebounding nicely from a midseason three-game losing streak by winning four straight, including a home win over LSU.
That resilience is a testament to head coach Hugh Freeze, and if he can get his boys up for an upset bid against Missouri this week, Ole Miss has a very real chance at winning 10 games (bowl included) this season.
What a triumph that would be.
23. USC
3 of 25
USC makes its triumphant return to the polls after beating down Stanford on national TV, its fifth win in six games under interim head coach Ed Orgeron.
His prospects at USC beyond this season are up for debate, but no one can discredit the job Coach O has done since taking over for Lane Kiffin. A team and a program that could have crumbled has instead been re-invigorated, playing better football than it has since 2011.
In order to win the Pac-12 South, the Trojans need to run the table against Colorado and UCLA and then hope for Arizona State to lose its two remaining games, against UCLA and Arizona.
That seems highly unlikely, so the BCS is probably not in USC's cards. But it can still get to 10 wins and potentially spoil UCLA's shot at winning the conference—and that would be a solid consolation.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
22. LSU
4 of 25
LSU got the week off in Week 12, providing it with a much-needed opportunity to lick its wounds after losing at Alabama. Texas A&M is up next for the Tigers.
Zach Mettenberger and the Tigers offense looked great in the first half in Tuscaloosa, but the Tide stymied them down the stretch. The unit should find things much easier against a sieve-like Aggies defense.
But the Tigers defense has also had some troubles this year, and facing Johnny Manziel is the worst kind of medicine. LSU might need to win a shootout.
21. Louisville
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Louisville didn't smoke Houston the way I thought it would on Saturday, but it still looked awfully impressive against a Cougars team that has proven to be decent.
Still, UCF would need to lose two of its next three games for the Cardinals to make a BCS bowl, and after it grabbed victory from the jaws of defeat at Temple, that doesn't appear to be in the cards.
If he wants to make another signature bowl, Teddy Bridgewater will need to experience a minor miracle. Weirder things have happened—I think?—but for now, it appears his junior season (and probably college career) will end with a whimper, not a bang.
20. Oklahoma
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Oklahoma sleep-walked through the first part of Saturday's game against Iowa State, perhaps suffering from some sort of hangover in the wake of last Thursday's blowout at Baylor.
But Bob Stoops woke his boys up for the second half, leading them to 45 consecutive points in a 48-10 win.
The passing offense is still a mess, and it becomes clearer each week that this team does not have any reliable answers at quarterback. It's hard to compete for a conference title when that is the case.
But with a very good defense and a solid power running game, this is still a team that no opponent looks forward to playing.
19. Wisconsin
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It was just another ho-hum afternoon for Wisconsin, which rushed for a casual 554 yards in a 51-3 defeat of Indiana.
No one seems to be paying attention—as reflected by its criminally low spot in the polls/BCS rankings—but Wisconsin is playing like one of the best teams in college football, and it doesn't show any signs of slowing down.
The Badgers lost by one touchdown at Ohio State and on a bogus call at Arizona State, their only two losses. Those two opponents have combined to lose just twice all season.
This team could hang with anyone in the country.
18. Central Florida
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UCF fell asleep at the wheel at Temple on Saturday, taking its supposedly insurmountable lead in the AAC for granted and almost losing a game it should have dominated.
Fortunately, J.J. Worten bailed them out with an amazing game-winning touchdown catch, and now the Golden Knights continue to look like an essential lock to make a BCS bowl.
Unless it loses two of its last three games, George O'Leary's team will win the conference and claim its automatic bid to the BCS. In spite of what it showed on Saturday, UCF is good enough to hang with most every team in America.
17. Arizona State
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Arizona State made convincing work of Oregon State on Saturday, winning by 13 points in a game that felt even more lopsided than that.
The Sun Devils are one of the most balanced teams in America, capable of beating you with the pass, the run and—on most occasions—a slowly improving defense. It's hard to find a good place to attack them.
Todd Graham's team controls its own fate in the Pac-12 South, but with a road game at UCLA looming and USC starting to play great football, there is so shortage of quality contenders behind it in that division.
16. Northern Illinois
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Northern Illinois barely eked out a win against Ball State on Wednesday, even though the final score (48-27) might not seem to indicate it.
The Cardinals hung around all game and even had a chance to tie things late in the fourth quarter, but they imploded down the stretch and helped NIU advance to 10-0 on the season.
Even if it wasn't pretty, the Huskies did well to beat a quality team and have now closed the gap on Fresno State. Jordan Lynch looks hell-bent on keeping this team undefeated, but it still might need some help to reach the BCS.
15. Fresno State
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Fresno State got the week off in Week 12, allowing it a chance to bask in the glow of its best performance in quite some time in a convincing win at Wyoming in Week 11.
Northern Illinois made up some composite points on them this week, but the Bulldogs still remain ahead in the rankings, though the race might be neck-and-neck all year.
NIU plays a very tough game at Toledo this week, and pending the result of that Wednesday night affair, all of this jockeying might become moot. It's a game the Huskies could easily lose
But paying too much attention to that would be foolish. Fresno just needs to bear down, focus on its own schedule, take care of business and trust the rest to take care of itself.
14. UCLA
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UCLA's offense has been a unit revived these past two weeks, thanks in large part to the contribution of running 'backer Myles Jack, who has been a revelation since surprisingly entering the game on offense against Arizona in Week 11.
The Bruins put up 41 points against a decent Washington defense, playing one of their most complete games of the season and keeping alive their hopes of winning the Pac-12.
On any given night, this team is capable of playing like a BCS-caliber outfit. On other nights, it's capable of playing far worse.
If you're Oregon, though, the potential for the former would be scary in the conference championship game (provided both teams get there).
13. Michigan State
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It needs to be taken with a grain of salt—since Nebraska's defense is...well, Nebraska's defense—but Michigan State continues to move the ball on offense and put up decent scoring numbers in Big Ten play.
Even though its vaunted defense showed some rare holes in Lincoln, MSU forced enough turnovers and made enough plays on the other side of the ball to win with relative ease.
With the win, Sparty all but clinched a spot in the Big Ten Championship, needing to lose both of its next two games (along with a Minnesota win against Wisconsin) to miss out.
Be afraid, Buckeyes. Be very afraid.
12. Texas A&M
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Like its upcoming opponent, LSU, Texas A&M was granted a weekend of rest, allowing it to prepare for what could be a season-defining showdown in Baton Rouge.
The Aggies defense appears woefully unprepared to play an explosive LSU offense, having not stopped anyone of note this entire season. Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham Jr. could have a lot of room to operate.
In turn, Johnny Manziel and the offense will need to be heroic, which is not an unfamiliar position but might be difficult nonetheless. The personnel was different, but LSU did hold Manziel in relative check last year.
With Missouri still left on the schedule, a loss at LSU might set Texas A&M up for a potential four-loss season. As well as Manziel has played in his encore season, that would be a profound disappointment.
11. South Carolina
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It wasn't pretty—in either case—but South Carolina got the results it needed on Saturday, beating Florida at home and watching Georgia lose at Auburn.
The Gamecocks are now just one Missouri loss from taking control of the SEC East, owning the tiebreaker over the Tigers by virtue of their thrilling win in Columbia, Mo., a few weeks back.
Even if Missouri wins out, though, South Carolina almost certainly controls its own BCS fate. Should the Gamecocks beat Clemson in the regular-season finale, it would be hard to keep them out of a signature bowl.
10. Oklahoma State
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Oklahoma State exposed Texas for the fraud that it is on Saturday, running rampant over the Longhorns en route to a 38-13 win.
Clint Chelf continued to play like the most unlikely dual-threat quarterback in America, finishing with 197 yards passing, 95 yards rushing and four combined scores.
He'll need to keep up the good work against Baylor this week, but more important than that, the defense will need to continue rolling. For most of this year, that unit has looked like the best that Mike Gundy has ever coached in Stillwater.
With a home crowd behind them, the Cowboys might be able to give Baylor's offense some serious problems—which would be a rare feat, indeed.
9. Stanford
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After taking a giant step forward in last Thursday's win against Oregon, Stanford quarterback Kevin Hogan took two steps back at USC, contributing to his team's loss with a number of severely ill-advised throws.
The Cardinal defense played well enough to win, but their offense betrayed them with a woeful effort, and they were never able to establish a rhythm against the Trojan defense.
The result was a crippling blow to Stanford's BCS chances, as it now trails Oregon in the Pac-12 North with two conference losses this year.
They still have a chance to crash as an at-large, but the Cardinal are now unlikely to return to the Rose Bowl, where they have found such prodigious success the past few years.
8. Missouri
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Missouri got the week off in Week 12, allowing itself a chance to rest up and prepare for the home stretch, which features two very losable games and little margin for error.
The Tigers start that stint at Mississippi on Saturday, taking on a team that beat LSU at home and appears to have turned a proverbial corner.
After that, Mizzou gets to host former Big-12 rival Texas A&M in what could very likely be the last regular-season game of Johnny Manziel's career.
If the Tigers play the way they've played all season, they should be good enough to hang around and win both of those games. But if the enormity of the stage affects Missouri, this team could end the season with three losses.
7. Clemson
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Clemson quietly put up one of the most impressive performances of Week 12, beating a good-not-great Georgia Tech team with ease on Friday night.
Even after getting pasted by Florida State at home, this team still has one of the most impressive one-loss resumes in football—especially given how FSU has played every other team on its schedule.
With just one loss and a game against South Carolina still remaining, the Tigers might easily be the most sought-after BCS at-large team in the country.
In order to receive a BCS bowl bid, though, they will need to finish with just the one loss.
6. Auburn
20 of 25Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good; even the most delusional supporter of Auburn football would agree that his or her team was the former on Saturday.
Which isn't to say the Tigers weren't good. They were. They played well enough to win against a quality side, but 99.9 percent of the time they were stuck in that late-game situation, they wouldn't have.
They got lucky.
But none of that matters. Auburn still controls its own fate in the SEC, hosting Alabama in the Iron Bowl two weeks from now in what will amount to a de facto division championship game.
If this team keeps winning, no one will care how lucky it got to beat Georgia. Do the Tigers have any more miracles left in the tank?
5. Oregon
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Oregon bounced back nicely after Week 11's loss at Stanford, and combined with the Cardinal's loss at USC, it regained control of its Pac-12 fate.
Now ranked highest among the one-loss teams, Oregon can still hold out hope for a shot at the BCS National Championship. It would just need losses from three of the four teams ahead of it, though even that wouldn't assure it a spot in title game.
Still, if it wins out from here, Oregon would be able to punch a different ticket for Pasadena—this one for the Rose Bowl. That's an improvement on last week's BCS outlook.
4. Baylor
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Baylor spotted 14 points to Texas Tech on Saturday, but it quickly turned on the engines and ran Kliff Kingsbury's team out of Jerry's World, eventually cruising to a 63-34 win.
In the wake of Tevin Reese's wrist injury, Levi Norwood emerged as yet another explosive threat on the outside, finishing with 156 receiving yards, two receiving touchdowns and one 58-yard punt return for a score.
It's not fair to call these skill players fungible; that diminishes how talented each and every one of them is. But given the injury situation, it's looking more and more like Art Briles' system is the true superstar in Waco.
That system will be put to the test against Oklahoma State this weekend and against a Cowboys defense that is among America's most underappreciated.
3. Ohio State
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Ohio State didn't cover a huge spread of 35-plus points against Illinois on Saturday, but it didn't exactly struggle with the Illini en route to a 60-35 win.
With the win, OSU was able to hold off Baylor and maintain the No. 3 spot in the rankings, but that could be short-lived. Baylor closed the gap, which is now down to just .001, and would almost certainly take the lead with a win at Oklahoma State this week.
The thought of going undefeated for two straight years but not making a single BCS National Championship Game—no matter the circumstances—is scary for Ohio State players to think about. It certainly doesn't seem just.
But this is the system we are burdened with—at least for one more season. Complaining and lobbying will not get the Buckeyes anywhere.
All they can do is keep on winning; from there, the matter is out of their control and squarely in the hands of the football Gods.
2. Florida State
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Florida State continued its warpath of dominance this weekend, steam-rolling Syracuse to the tune of 59-3 in Tallahassee.
Jameis Winston showed no ill-effects from the pending sexual assault investigation, playing with his usual mode of efficiency and finishing the week with the second-highest total QBR among BCS quarterbacks, according to ESPN.
Elsewhere in the ACC, Virginia Tech and Miami both looked pretty bad in losses to Maryland and Duke, setting up a very realistic scenario where David Cutcliffe's Blue Devils are tasked with beating FSU in the ACC Championship Game.
For fans in Waco and Columbus, that is very bad news.
1. Alabama
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By its own lofty standards, Alabama looked sluggish at Mississippi State on Saturday, beating the Bulldogs 20-7 in Starkville.
But that minor offense can be forgiven on the heels of such a convincing win against LSU. By virtue of its quality wins this season (and back-to-back BCS National Championships), Alabama needs not be concerned with style points.
It simply needs to win.
After ostensibly beating down Chattanooga this weekend, the Tide will have to play at Auburn in the Iron Bowl and potentially pick up another win in the SEC Championship Game. Starting in a couple of weeks, it can no longer afford any minor letdowns.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
