The release of the first BCS standings didn’t cause a huge deal of surprise, as Alabama lead the top 25 obviously. Florida State being above Oregon might be surprising to some, but considering their strength of schedule and most recent win over Clemson, it pretty much makes sense to make them the strongest of the undefeated teams behind Alabama, while Ohio State and Missouri trail behind, not looking likely to finish among the top 2.

It’s interesting to see Stanford, with one loss against Utah, getting ranked higher than Miami, Baylor, Texas Tech, Fresno State and Northern Illinois who are all undefeated, but just not getting enough love from the computers, who all but one ranked Stanford at sixth or higher.

BCS		Harris Poll			USA Today			Computer Rankings
RK	TEAM	AVG	2012	RK	PTS	%	RK	PTS	%	AVG	A&H	RB	CM	KM	JS	PW	%
1	Alabama	.9841	2	1	2615	.9962	1	1544	.9961	2	2	1	3	3	2	1	.960
2	Florida State	.9348	12	3	2401	.9147	3	1410	.9097	1	1	5	2	1	1	2	.980
3	Oregon	.9320	4	2	2520	.9600	2	1482	.9561	4	4	2	4	4	4	4	.880
4	Ohio State	.8553	NR	4	2321	.8842	4	1382	.8916	5	5	3	5	8	8	7	.790
5	Missouri	.8219	NR	6	2026	.7718	7	1184	.7639	3	3	6	1	2	3	3	.930
6	Stanford	.7414	6	8	1952	.7436	8	1117	.7206	6	6	4	6	6	15	10	.760
7	Miami (FL)	.7200	NR	7	2008	.7650	6	1186	.7652	10	8	21	12	9	12	8	.630
8	Baylor	.7120	NR	5	2038	.7764	5	1255	.8097	12	9	11	11	15	14	13	.550
9	Clemson	.6249	14	10	1616	.6156	10	913	.5890	9	10	7	8	10	13	9	.670
10	Texas Tech	.6220	NR	9	1662	.6331	9	981	.6329	11	11	14	10	12	10	11	.600
11	Auburn	.5058	NR	15	1105	.4210	17	537	.3465	7	7	17	7	5	9	6	.750
12	UCLA	.4807	17	11	1323	.5040	11	710	.4581	14	15	16	19	13	11	12	.480
13	LSU	.4552	8	12	1212	.4617	13	688	.4439	15	14	9	17	11	19	16	.460
14	Virginia Tech	.4408	NR	19	841	.3204	19	499	.3219	8	13	NR	9	7	7	5	.680
15	Oklahoma	.4204	11	14	1110	.4229	12	695	.4484	16	12	8	15	19	20	19	.390
16	Texas A&M	.3666	9	13	1177	.4484	15	622	.4013	18	22	18	22	16	22	17	.250
17	Fresno State	.3379	NR	18	920	.3505	18	532	.3432	17	16	NR	14	NR	16	14	.320
18	Northern Illinois	.3032	15	21	518	.1973	22	298	.1923	13	19	10	13	14	5	15	.520
19	Oklahoma State	.2687	NR	17	951	.3623	13	688	.4439	28	25	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	.000
20	Louisville	.2556	21	16	1046	.3985	16	571	.3684	28	NR	15	NR	NR	NR	NR	.000
21	South Carolina	.2161	10	20	673	.2564	20	468	.3019	26	24	19	NR	22	NR	23	.090
22	Michigan	.1637	18	22	415	.1581	23	268	.1729	21	17	20	16	NR	NR	25	.160
23	UCF	.1394	NR	25	238	.0907	25	151	.0974	19	23	13	23	NR	17	18	.230
24	Nebraska	.1354	16	23	414	.1577	21	385	.2484	28	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	.000
25	Oregon State	.1042	13	NR	168	.0640	NR	91	.0587	20	NR	22	24	18	6	21	.190

Despite Florida State being ranked above Oregon in the BCS standings, the human polls are still keeping the Ducks at number 2. The non-human rankings simply prefer Florida State beating two ranked teams this season so far, opposed to Oregon taking down only Washington.

However, if Oregon and Florida State both win out, Oregon will be ranked higher. They have to play Stanford and UCLA in the next two weeks, and with the margin between them and the Seminoles being so small, wins against the Bruins and the Cardinal, who are both in the top 12, will put them as the runners-up to Alabama, unless the Crimson Tide lose on the way, although both LSU (13) and Auburn (11) aren’t that likely to beat them.

Speaking of LSU: The Tigers are the highest ranked two-loss team, but it’s surprising to see them above a 6-1 Virginia Tech. The Hokies, need you forgot, have lost their only game to Alabama, but their problem is the voters, who keep giving the SEC the benefit of the doubt, even while they pick up losses against non-ranked teams like Ole Miss and Georgia.

As for a bit of history, Alabama have been ranked either No. 1 or 2 for 13 of the last 16 weeks of the BCS standings. Florida State, to some surprise, haven’t been this highly ranked since 2000 and not in the top three since 2003.

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