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| Monday, November 20 FSU in national championship picture Associated Press | |||
| Florida State jumped ahead of Miami into second place in the
Bowl Championship Series standings, moving the Seminoles a giant
step closer to playing in a national title game in the Orange Bowl.
The Seminoles (11-1), who completed their season with a 30-7
victory over then-No. 4 Florida on Saturday night, have a .51-point
lead over Miami (9-1) but were well behind first-place Oklahoma in
the standings released Monday.
The Hurricanes (9-1), who beat Florida State earlier this
season, also won convincingly, defeating unranked Syracuse 26-0.
But the eight computer rankings used in the standings to determine
who plays in a title game were more impressed with the Seminoles'
win.
"This is the way it is. I either make it or I don't," Florida
State coach Bobby Bowden said.
For three weeks, Oklahoma, Miami and Florida State have been
ranked 1-2-3 in The Associated Press media poll and ESPN/USA Today
coaches' poll.
If Miami fails to get into the BCS title game, the Hurricanes
can still become national champions in the AP media poll, in which
sports writers and broadcasters vote independently of the BCS. The
coaches' poll would automatically crown the winner of the Orange
Bowl.
Though he'd be disappointed if the Hurricanes didn't play in the
Orange Bowl on Jan. 3, Miami coach Butch Davis said: "We beat the
No. 1 and No. 2 teams (at the time) and two or three others who are
bowl eligible. If we end up going 11-1, we'll have beaten someone
very good in a BCS game. And you never know how they (writers) can
vote."
If Oklahoma (10-0) wins its final two games, against Oklahoma
State on Saturday and Kansas State in the Big 12 title game on Dec.
2, Miami would have little chance to overtake Florida State in the
final BCS standings Dec. 3. Miami closes its season on Saturday
against Boston College.
"On its own, it doesn't look like there's anything Miami can do
to pass Florida State, maybe," said Jerry Palm of Chicago, who
operates a Web site that closely monitors the BCS standings.
"Miami's best chance is to either have Oklahoma lose, or have
Oklahoma do well enough to regain some No. 1's it lost to Florida
State in the computer this week."
Asked if there was a certain score by which Miami could beat
Boston College to pass Florida State, Palm said: "There's no
answer to how much is enough. They could win by 80 and that
possibly wouldn't be enough."
The BCS standings are based on a formula that incorporates the
AP poll plus the coaches' poll, eight computer rankings, schedule
strength and number of losses.
Oklahoma totaled 2.95 points this week -- 1 point for poll
average, 1.43 for computer-rank average, 0.52 for
strength-of-schedule and zero for losses. The Sooners beat Texas
Tech 27-13 on Saturday.
Florida State had 5.55 points -- 3 for poll average, 1.43 for
computer-rank average, 0.12 for strength-of-schedule and 1 for
losses.
Miami had 6.06 points -- 2 for poll average, 2.86 for
computer-rank average, 0.20 for strength-of-schedule and 1 for
losses. If Miami beats Boston College and doesn't play in the
Orange Bowl, the Hurricanes could end up in the Fiesta Bowl in a
possible matchup against Notre Dame.
Washington (10-1), meanwhile, moved up to fourth place with
10.46 points. If Oklahoma and Miami both lose, then the Rose
Bowl-bound Huskies could move into the Orange Bowl picture. Miami's
only loss was to the Huskies, 34-29, in September.
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.
Four conference champions have clinched BCS berths as automatic
qualifiers: Florida State (ACC), Miami (Big East), Purdue (Big Ten)
and Washington (Pac-10). The other automatic qualifiers are the
winners of the Big 12 (Oklahoma vs. Kansas State) and SEC (Florida
vs. Auburn ) title games on Dec. 2. Teams under consideration for
the two at-large bids are Notre Dame (8-2), Oregon State (10-1) and
Virginia Tech (9-1). | ALSO SEE
Miami drops below FSU in BCSGoing Bowling is never easy Huskies not out of BCS race yet Notre Dame has BCS on its mind ESPN.com's bowl projections | ||
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