Projected BCS Standings 2013: How Alabama's Loss Impacts Week 15 Rankings
Sooner or later, the Alabama Crimson Tide were going to roll right off a cliff.
They fell to Auburn in what was one of the oddest games you'll ever see. To summarize, the Tigers overcame a 21-7 deficit in the second quarter to win 34-28, after Adam Griffith's 57-yard field goal was returned 100 yards to the house by Chris Davis.
It was just the monkey wrench into the BCS you wanted to see before the playoff is implemented next year. There might as well be as much chaos as possible.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Here's a look at what the standings could be. The late Saturday night games were at halftime at the time of writing, so the teams taking part retained their records from last week.
| 1 | Florida State Seminoles | 12-0 |
| 2 | Ohio State Buckeyes | 12-0 |
| 3 | Auburn Tigers | 11-1 |
| 4 | Alabama Crimson Tide | 11-1 |
| 5 | Missouri Tigers | 10-1 |
| 6 | Clemson Tigers | 10-1 |
| 7 | Oklahoma State Cowboys | 10-1 |
| 8 | Stanford Cardinal | 9-2 |
| 9 | Baylor Bears | 9-1 |
| 10 | South Carolina Gamecocks | 9-2 |
| 11 | Michigan State Spartans | 11-1 |
| 12 | Arizona State Sun Devils | 9-2 |
| 13 | Oregon Ducks | 10-2 |
| 14 | Northern Illinois Huskies | 12-0 |
| 15 | LSU Tigers | 9-3 |
| 16 | Oklahoma Sooners | 9-2 |
| 17 | UCF Knights | 10-1 |
| 18 | Louisville Cardinals | 10-1 |
| 19 | Wisconsin Badgers | 9-3 |
| 20 | Texas A&M Aggies | 8-3 |
| 21 | UCLA Bruins | 8-3 |
| 22 | USC Trojans | 9-3 |
| 23 | Duke Blue Devils | 9-2 |
| 24 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish | 8-3 |
| 25 | Fresno State Bulldogs | 10-1 |
How Far Does Alabama Fall?
This seems rather easy. The Crimson Tide immediately become the second-best one-loss team in the country. At the time of writing, Missouri had yet to finish its game against Texas A&M, but it's hard seeing how the Tigers could be ranked higher than Alabama in the event they beat the Aggies.
As much as many are happy to see Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide get their comeuppance, it's important to remember that this loss isn't the most damning of indictments. It came on the road to the No. 4 team in the country, on a last-second 100-yard return from a missed field goal.
If you're going to lose a game, that's not a bad way to have it happen.
There's almost no way you could spin this in a way that Alabama drops below Missouri, Clemson, Oklahoma State, Baylor, etc.
Although it offers little solace, the Tide can at least count on making the BCS as an at-large team. Two SEC teams are destined to go, and they should be in, along with the winner of the conference championship.
Does Auburn Sneak into the National Title Game?
The other big question is whether the Tigers will overtake Ohio State and be ranked No. 2 when the BCS standings are unveiled. Florida State will be the unquestioned No. 1 team, so there's no debate to be had there.
Many, especially those down south, are arguing that a one-loss Auburn team is better than the unbeaten Buckeyes.
There's certainly some validity to that claim. Auburn has wins over Alabama, Georgia and Texas A&M, and its only loss of the season came against LSU.
Ohio State, meanwhile, has a victory against Wisconsin on its resume, the value of which took a big hit after the Badgers lost to Penn State on Saturday. Making an example of Michigan State may be necessary if OSU wants to keep that spot in the national title game.
In all likelihood, the Tigers will move up to No. 3 this week. The time for any possible move into the national title picture will be after the SEC Championship.
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.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
