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Ohio State moves up to 3rd in BCS rankings, Stanford lurks behind

As reflected in the AP Poll, USA TODAY Coaches Poll, and Harris Poll Top 25s previously, Ohio State is now third in the swan song of the BCS standings with four weeks to go.

By Luke Zimmermann
Sandra Dukes-USA TODAY Sports

Though they still need to handle their business (and as reiterated ad nauseam get some help from the remaining opponents on either Alabama or Florida State's schedules), Ohio State finds themselves in uncharted territory in 2013.

Following the upset loss of Oregon on the road against Stanford this past Thursday night, the Buckeyes move to a season high ranking of 3rd in the final season of the BCS standings. Alabama and Florida State remain one and two for a second straight week. Though Baylor is fourth behind the Buckeyes in all both major polls and the Harris (which constitutes 1/3 of the BCS rankings), Stanford's computer average of 3 puts them ahead of the Bears and around .02 points behind the Buckeyes.

On Baylor's end, however, their schedule strength is about to see a sudden bump over the next several weeks. Texas Tech (who though no longer ranked have the talent to play with Baylor), 12th ranked Oklahoma State, former perennial in the BCS mix TCU, and 24th ranked Texas finish up Baylor's schedule. Only 18th ranked Oklahoma is in the same ballpark of opponents the Bears have faced so far. If Baylor survives the gauntlet, it's possible they wind up ahead of the Buckeyes in the human polls as well as the computers at season's end.

For Ohio State, however, they simply need to keep winning their games, preferably with enough cachet to continue garnering the third place subjective votes they've been getting. Michigan, who's done Ohio State no favors with their play in recent weeks and finds themselves underdogs to lowly Northwestern this week, probably won't be the schedule strength booster they were once presumed. A one-loss Michigan State could help, but depending on how the next four weeks play out, likely won't carry as much cumulative weight as the trio of Tech, Oklahoma State, and Texas.

If Urban Meyer's team completes a second straight undefeated regular season and so much as one of the two teams in front of them stumbles on the way to their respective league championships, Ohio State will have a very strong case to play for their second ever BCS crown. If the Buckeyes themselves trip up, well they won't have to worry about politicking, style points, or any of what we've come to expect this time of year during the last 15 years.

Here are the complete Week 12 BCS standings:

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 .9958 1 1 2625 1.0000 1 1546 .9974 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 .990
2 Florida State .9619 2 2 2514 .9577 2 1485 .9581 2 2 2 1 2 1 2 .970
3 Ohio State .8926 4 3 2373 .9040 3 1401 .9039 4 4 4 4 6 5 3 .870
4 Stanford .8689 5 5 2240 .8533 5 1307 .8432 3 5 3 3 3 3 4 .910
5 Baylor .8618 6 4 2304 .8777 4 1376 .8877 5 3 6 5 7 4 8 .820
6 Oregon .7665 3 6 1968 .7497 7 1162 .7497 6 6 5 8 5 7 6 .800
7 Auburn .7206 9 9 1843 .7021 9 1069 .6897 7 8 8 6 4 8 5 .770
8 Clemson .7200 7 7 1940 .7390 6 1164 .7510 9 9 7 9 10 13 9 .670
9 Missouri .7118 8 8 1855 .7067 8 1083 .6987 8 7 10 7 8 9 7 .730
10 South Carolina .5584 12 12 1417 .5398 12 830 .5355 10 10 9 12 13 10 12 .600
11 Texas A&M .5473 15 10 1582 .6027 11 898 .5794 13 15 16 13 12 17 14 .460
12 Oklahoma State .4671 14 11 1545 .5886 10 965 .6226 22 14 20 18 NR 22 25 .190
13 UCLA .4548 19 16 1026 .3909 15 641 .4135 11 13 13 17 11 11 11 .560
14 Fresno State .4317 16 13 1124 .4282 14 646 .4168 14 17 17 11 25 12 13 .450
15 Northern Illinois .3505 18 18 825 .3143 21 445 .2871 14 24 12 20 17 6 10 .450
16 Michigan State .3417 17 15 1090 .4152 16 620 .4000 21 18 21 15 22 23 22 .210
17 UCF .3411 21 19 791 .3013 19 468 .3019 16 16 11 14 19 16 16 .420
18 Oklahoma .2926 10 20 732 .2789 17 510 .3290 17 12 15 16 23 NR 23 .270
19 Arizona State .2833 22 22 475 .1810 22 262 .1690 12 11 23 10 9 18 15 .500
20 Louisville .2806 20 14 1104 .4206 13 653 .4213 28 NR 18 NR NR NR NR .000
21 LSU .2757 13 17 919 .3501 18 476 .3071 24 NR 19 NR 16 21 21 .170
22 Wisconsin .2612 24 21 674 .2568 20 460 .2968 18 22 22 NR 18 19 18 .230
23 Miami (FL) .1471 11 23 457 .1741 23 228 .1471 25 21 NR 21 21 NR 24 .120
24 Texas .1092 NR 24 247 .0941 24 176 .1135 25 20 14 24 24 24 NR .120
25 Georgia .0857 NR 25 102 .0389 NR 44 .0284 22 19 24 22 15 25 20 .190

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