BCS Rankings 2013: Complete Week 16 Standings Released

After plenty of wild and unpredictable results over the course of the college football season, things looked fairly cut and dried heading into the final week of the regular season. Just when observers let their guard down, though, the college football landscape was turned on its head once again.

Florida State and Ohio State entered Saturday needing to win their respective conference championship games in order to reach next month's BCS National Championship Game.

While the Seminoles got the job done, the Buckeyes did not, and this is how the final BCS rankings look in the aftermath:

Rank	Team	AVG	Previous
1	Florida State (13-0)	.9957	1
2	Auburn (12-1)	.9638	3
3	Alabama (11-1)	.9061	4
4	Michigan State (12-1)	.8600	10
5	Stanford (11-2)	.8191	7
6	Baylor (11-1)	.7722	9
7	Ohio State (12-1)	.7705	2
8	Missouri (11-2)	.7256	5
9	South Carolina (10-2)	.7152	8
10	Oregon (10-2)	.5811	12
11	Oklahoma (10-2)	.5756	17
12	Clemson (10-2)	.5553	13
13	Oklahoma State (10-2)	.5233	6
14	Arizona State (10-3)	.4416	11
15	Central Florida (11-1)	.4343	16
16	LSU (9-3)	.4322	15
17	UCLA (9-3)	.3703	18
18	Louisville (11-1)	.3199	19
19	Wisconsin (9-3)	.2365	21
20	Fresno State (11-1)	.1675	23
21	Texas A&M (8-4)	.1663	24
22	Georgia (8-4)	.1594	22
23	Northern Illinois (12-1)	.1572	14
24	Duke (10-3)	.1134	20
25	USC (9-4)	.0672	NR

The 'Noles entered their ACC Championship Game clash against Duke as heavy favorites, and even though they struggled to get going early on, they ultimately took care of the Blue Devils by a 45-7 score. Freshman quarterback Jameis Winston racked up 389 total yards and four touchdowns, and he essentially locked up the Heisman Trophy with his spectacular showing in a must-win game.

Florida State has shocked a lot of people with its dominance this season. It ranks No. 2 in offense and No. 1 in defense this season, but senior linebacker Telvin Smith said that the team believed it could reach this level all along, according to Andrea Adelson of ESPN.

"

We did envision this after last season, because we felt like we left a lot on the table. We felt like there was so much that we were supposed to accomplish that we came back and we had a little -- not a vendetta ... it was just a reckoning. We tried to put ourselves back to where we were supposed to be.

"

The Seminoles' true day of reckoning will come in the BCS National Championship Game, but it won't be against Ohio State as most had anticipated. The Buckeyes fell in the Big Ten Championship Game to Michigan State by a score of 34-24. They took a significant tumble in the rankings as well.

Ohio State's explosive offense hadn't faced a defensive challenge like the Spartans all year, and that was evident during the Buckeyes' offensive struggles in the second half. Quarterback Braxton Miller and running back Carlos Hyde couldn't get much going, which ultimately cost the Buckeyes a chance at the national title.

It seems like the SEC somehow, some way gets a representative into the championship game on a yearly basis. By virtue of Ohio State's loss, red-hot Auburn will receive an opportunity to cap its storybook season against Florida State at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.

The Tigers faced another capable group of Tigers in the form of Missouri on Saturday. As many expected, the SEC Championship Game turned into an old-fashioned shootout. Although Mizzou dropped 42 points on Auburn, it wasn't enough to overcome Auburn's 59-point outburst.

Auburn has gashed teams with its running game all season long, and that was once again the case in the SEC Championship Game. Running back Tre Mason and quarterback Nick Marshall both contributed heavily to an amazing 545-yard effort on the ground. Auburn now enters the BCS National Championship Game with a ton of momentum.

Even though Alabama was idle and still licking its wounds from the previous week's loss to Auburn, things almost played out perfectly on Saturday. Had Duke figured out a way to upset Florida State, an Iron Bowl rematch would have been on tap in the BCS National Championship Game. But it wasn't meant to be.

Stanford somewhat shockingly entered the Pac-12 Championship Game against Arizona State as an underdog despite beating the Sun Devils earlier in the season, but the Cardinal proved that the oddsmakers made a major mistake. They blasted Arizona State 38-14 to earn a Rose Bowl berth.

Although Stanford took care of business, Oklahoma State failed to do so in the Big 12. An automatic BCS berth in the Fiesta Bowl was on the line for the Cowboys if they could simply defeat Oklahoma on Saturday, but they allowed a go-ahead touchdown with 19 seconds remaining.

Baylor took advantage of the window of opportunity by beating Texas and staking claim to the Big 12 title.

Central Florida clinched its place in the BCS as American Athletic Conference champion when Louisville beat Cincinnati on Thursday, but the Knights showed their mettle on Saturday anyway. UCF's game against SMU didn't mean anything. Still, the Knights managed to complete a highly successful 11-1 season by outlasting the Mustangs.

Although some might consider the Knights to be BCS busters, the AAC is an automatic-qualifying conference, so that isn't the case.

Northern Illinois had a chance to crash the BCS party by beating Bowling Green in the MAC Championship Game and closing out a perfect season, but it wasn't meant to be.

The Huskies were thoroughly outplayed in a 47-27 loss to the Falcons, and they now have to settle for a lesser bowl despite their spectacular year.

Things didn't play out the way most expected them to this week, or throughout the season, for that matter. Regardless, the BCS system has certainly provided one last slate of intriguing games that college football fans won't want to miss.

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter