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| Monday, November 13 Miami, Florida State still trail Oklahoma Associated Press | |||
| No debate this week. Miami moved ahead of Florida State into
second place in the Bowl Championship Series standings.
"Good," Miami coach Butch Davis said Monday. "The world is as
it should be."
Oklahoma (9-0), with its come-from-behind 35-31 victory over
Texas A&M, remained first in the standings that determine who plays
in a national title game, while Florida State (10-1) fell to third
after a less-than-dominating 35-6 win over Wake Forest (1-8).
Miami (8-1), with its 35-7 victory over Pittsburgh (5-4), moved
ahead of Florida State by .48 points, thanks to the Seminoles' drop
in the strength-of-schedule category and the Hurricanes'
improvement in the computer ratings. The Seminoles had a .39-point
edge last week.
For two weeks, Oklahoma, Miami and Florida State were 1-2-3 in
the AP media poll and the ESPN/USA Today coaches' polls. Last week,
there was much debate over why the Seminoles were ahead of the
Hurricanes in the BCS standings, despite Florida State's 27-24 loss
to Miami on Oct. 7.
More changes are coming next week after Florida (9-1), fourth in
the BCS standings, plays at Florida State Saturday.
Florida State coach Bobby Bowden is just going with the flow
until the final standings.
"We've still got our work cut out for us, but most of the teams
left have games to play as well," Bowden said. "Like I said, I'll
be a fan of the BCS until it lets us down, and then I'll have to
rethink my allegiance."
The teams that finish 1-2 in the final BCS standings released
Dec. 3 will play in a national title game in the Orange Bowl on
Jan. 3. The standings are based on a formula that incorporates the
AP poll plus the coaches' poll, eight computer rankings, schedule
strength and number of losses.
"When Florida State jumped by us, there was really nothing we
could do," Davis said. "We'll just try to win games and hope the
rest takes care of itself."
Oklahoma totaled 2.52 points this week -- 1 point for poll
average, 1 for computer rank average, 0.52 for strength-of-schedule
and zero for losses. The Sooners have games remaining against Texas
Tech and Oklahoma State before a probable Big 12 title game against
Kansas State.
Miami had 6.34 points -- 2 for poll average; 3.14 for computer
rank average; 0.20 for strength-of-schedule and 1 for losses. Miami
has games remaining against Syracuse and Boston College.
Florida State had 6.82 points -- 3 for poll average; 2.14 for
computer rank average; 0.68 for strength-of-schedule and 1 for
losses.
Florida had 9.62 points and would move into title contention
with a win over Florida State.
Florida State's schedule strength dropped 10 places -- from
seventh to 17th toughest -- following the Wake Forest game. Miami's
schedule strength improved from sixth to fifth. The Hurricanes
picked up .44 points in the strength-of-schedule category.
In the eight computer rankings, the Hurricanes had an average of
3.14, better than the 3.57 from last week; the Seminoles' average
rating was 2.14, the same as last week. Miami gained .43 points
here.
The BCS was created two years ago to come up with a national
title game without instituting a playoff. After the top two teams
are decided, the remaining BCS games -- the Rose, Sugar and Fiesta
bowls -- select from the remaining pool of qualified teams.
Champions of six conferences -- the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big
12, Pac-10 and SEC -- qualify for a BCS game, and two at-large teams
are selected to fill out the field. | ALSO SEE
Complete BCS standingsBCS bowl breakdown | ||
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Lee Corso on how he would rank the nation's top college football teams.