While the clear dominance of Alabama in every possible college football ranking system, the big change in the second edition of the BCS Standings in the 2013 season is Oregon leapfrogging Florida State to the number two spot thanks to a win the computers loved over UCLA, while three new teams – Michigan, Notre Dame and Wisconsin make it into the top 25.

Right now, the national title case seems to be Alabama and who else. Right now, without any losses, it looks like Oregon will have the edge over Florida State and Ohio State, who need a loss for both teams ahead of them in order to find themselves in the top 2. Stanford, who are facing Oregon next, moved up one spot to number 5, and are the highest ranked one-loss team at the moment.

BCS		Harris Poll			USA Today			Computer Rankings

RK	TEAM	AVG	PVS	RK	PTS	%	RK	PTS	%	AVG	A&H	RB	CM	KM	JS	PW	%
1	Alabama	.9937	1	1	2590	.9962	1	1542	.9948	1	1	1	2	1	2	1	.990
2	Oregon	.9517	3	2	2492	.9585	2	1483	.9568	2	3	2	1	2	4	3	.940
3	Florida State	.9211	2	3	2386	.9177	3	1419	.9155	3	2	5	4	3	1	2	.930
4	Ohio State	.8840	4	4	2301	.8850	4	1375	.8871	4	4	3	3	8	5	4	.880
5	Stanford	.7918	6	6	2035	.7827	7	1182	.7626	5	6	4	5	4	6	6	.830
6	Baylor	.7645	8	5	2130	.8192	5	1293	.8342	10	10	11	7	12	9	10	.640
7	Miami (FL)	.7560	7	7	1977	.7604	6	1190	.7677	6	5	15	6	7	8	9	.740
8	Clemson	.6687	9	8	1767	.6796	8	1064	.6865	10	11	7	11	10	11	8	.640
9	Missouri	.6096	5	9	1510	.5808	10	834	.5381	8	9	9	8	5	10	7	.710
10	Oklahoma	.6064	15	10	1475	.5673	9	933	.6019	9	7	6	9	11	13	12	.650
11	Auburn	.6025	11	11	1453	.5588	11	804	.5187	7	8	18	10	6	7	5	.730
12	Texas A&M	.4812	16	13	1364	.5246	14	758	.4890	14	16	19	13	13	18	14	.430
13	LSU	.4630	13	12	1408	.5415	13	802	.5174	16	20	10	23	15	20	16	.330
14	South Carolina	.4486	21	17	1043	.4012	16	627	.4045	12	12	8	18	9	16	13	.540
15	Texas Tech	.3749	10	14	1093	.4204	15	673	.4342	17	18	14	16	22	22	21	.270
16	Fresno State	.3669	17	18	965	.3712	18	542	.3497	15	13	25	14	NR	14	11	.380
17	Northern Illinois	.3335	18	20	650	.2500	20	373	.2406	13	17	12	12	14	3	15	.510
18	Oklahoma State	.3113	19	15	1081	.4158	12	803	.5181	29	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	.000
19	Louisville	.2599	20	16	1056	.4062	17	579	.3735	29	NR	17	NR	NR	NR	NR	.000
20	UCLA	.2338	12	19	683	.2627	19	432	.2787	21	25	20	NR	19	23	20	.160
21	Michigan	.1875	22	21	528	.2031	21	309	.1994	21	14	22	17	24	NR	25	.160
22	Michigan State	.1811	NR	23	391	.1504	24	237	.1529	18	23	NR	15	18	17	22	.240
23	UCF	.1789	23	22	502	.1931	22	300	.1935	23	NR	16	25	NR	21	17	.150
24	Wisconsin	.0993	NR	24	350	.1346	23	253	.1632	29	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	.000
25	Notre Dame	.0928	NR	NR	91	.0350	25	83	.0535	19	21	13	21	20	25	23	.190

The other interesting factor to watch are the non-AQ teams of Northern Illinois (moving up a spot to 17th) and Fresno State (moving up a spot to 16th). If an AQ-conference champion is 16th or lower, one of these teams will be guaranteed a BCS spot as long as they’re in the top 16. If one of them ends up being in the top 12, and remaining undefeated until the end of the season just might do the trick, they’ll be guaranteed a spot anyway. This will hurt the chances of teams like Clemson and Notre Dame finding themselves in a BCS game thanks to an at-large spot.

Florida State do have Miami (7th) and Florida left to play, but if both they and the Ducks remain undefeated until the end of the season, it’s hard seeing the Seminoles making it above the third spot. Their schedule is slightly easier in the eyes of the computers, and the pollsters have shown more than once they simply prefer Oregon in the championship game playing Alabama than anyone else, despite some thinking the Seminoles might be a better match.

The chances of Alabama and Oregon not making it? The last time that the no.1 and no.2 teams in the second edition of the BCS standings didn’t make the national champions game was in 2008. Four times, however, teams ranked no.1 and no.2 at this stage have gone on to face each other in the BCS championship game: USC vs Oklahoma in 2004, USC vs Texas in 2005 and LSU vs Alabama in 2011.

As for Alabama’s dominance? They’ve now been ranked No. 4 or higher for 18 consecutive weeks. For Baylor, Fresno State and Central Florida, these are the highest rankings ever.

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