College Football Rankings 2011: Will Florida State Make It Back to the Top 5?

For a second there on Saturday night, it looked like Florida State was going to do the improbable by knocking off No. 1 Oklahoma.

But only for a second. Seemingly moments after the Seminoles tied the score 13-13 on a 56-yard pass from Clint Trickett to Rashad Greene, the Sooners doubled their efforts on both sides of the ball and went on to win, 23-13. The loss dropped Florida State from No. 5 down to No. 11 in the newest AP Poll.

And Seminoles fans everywhere went, "Nuts..."

Or some such reaction. The point is that Florida State came very close to knocking off the nation's best team, only to come away with a defeat that for all intents and purposes killed the Seminoles' national title aspirations.

Well, maybe not. After all, the Seminoles might find their way back into the Top 5 before the season is over. And if they do, anything's possible, right?

Most definitely. My only concern is that it's not going to be easy for Florida State to crawl its way back to the Top 5 once again. In fact, it's going to be quite difficult.

For starters, the road ahead is equal parts tough and not tough for the Seminoles. That doesn't make much sense, I know, but it's true.

The tough part will be the next three games. After opening with three straight at home, Jimbo Fisher's club must not play three straight road games, the first of which is against the No. 21 Clemson Tigers in Death Valley. After that, it's on to Wake Forrest and Duke, contests that the Seminoles must not drop.

After that is the not so tough part, as the only ranked opponent Florida State plays the rest of the way is No. 15 Florida, which might not be ranked by the time November 26 rolls around.

Toughness and non-toughness aside, Florida State is going to have to win all of its remaining games to mount a charge at the Top 5, as the only two-loss teams that get the benefit of the doubt are teams from the SEC.

It can be done, but only if a spot opens up for the Seminoles. I for one have a feeling that the top four teams in the poll now (Oklahoma, LSU, Alabama and Boise State) are not going anywhere, which would leave one spot open for an array of one loss teams that would all love to have it.

If it came to that, Florida State would have the edge because its one loss came to the top team in the country (see Stanford last year). This is assuming there's not going to be five undefeated teams this season. And there won't be, of course.

So long story short, Florida State will make it back into the Top 5 before the season's out if everything goes according to plan.

There's just one problem: Nothing ever goes according to plan. You and I both know it's true.

As such, I fear that Florida State missed its shot.

Nuts...