Florida State Jumps Back to No. 2 in BCS

After spending a week in the third spot of the BCS standings, the Florida State Seminoles reclaimed the No. 2 position after thumping the previously undefeated and seventh-ranked Miami Hurricanes by a score of 41-14 on Saturday.

The Noles’ impressive performance, coupled with the Oregon Ducks being on a bye week, gave Florida State enough points with the computers to leapfrog the Ducks, who fell to the No. 3 spot.

Meanwhile, the Alabama Crimson Tide – who also enjoyed a week off from competition – remained at the top spot as expected, and the Ohio State Buckeyes also stayed put at No. 4, despite a dominating 56-0 win over Big Ten rival Purdue this weekend.

While week 10 in college football provided few moves in the rankings, we could see a major shake-up following this weekend’s action. On Thursday, the Ducks and No. 5 Stanford Cardinal headline the biggest game of the week in Palo Alto – the winner of which is sure to make a significant one-week climb. Early lines have Oregon as a 10.5-point favorite and if the Ducks end up getting the win, they could snag the coveted No. 2 spot back from Florida State, even if the Noles take care of business against Wake Forest.

Then again, the Ducks could climb even higher if the Tide fall in one of their few tests of the year so far. Alabama takes on 13th-ranked LSU this weekend, which – although hasn’t been as strong as its teams of recent years – always seems to give Bama a good game. Unsurprisingly, odds makers like Alabama, but only by 11 points, so this will certainly be a game to keep an eye on as the Tide look to stay unbeaten and in the driver’s seat for a trip to the 2014 National Championship game.

If all four top teams stay undefeated until the end of the year, Alabama will undoubtedly get the nod as the nation’s No. 1 team, but whichever team lands the No. 2 spot will have to make a compelling case. Most would argue Oregon has the strongest schedule of the three, but style points will be a factor and if FSU and OSU continue to blow out opponents, they could win over pollsters and the computers. No matter how things play out, it should be fun to watch and bet on, so as always, so tuned for the latest news and odds.