Stanford Stays At No. 5 in BCS; Oregon Drops To No. 3 Leading Into Showdown

Oct 26, 2013; Corvallis, OR, USA; Stanford Cardinal head coach David Shaw during the 2nd half against the Oregon State Beavers at Reser Stadium. Stanford defeated Oregon State 20-12. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports

The Stanford Cardinal, idle this week, remained at No. 5 in the latest Bowl Championship Series standings, released Sunday night on ESPN.

Oregon, meanwhile, was also idle but fell one spot to No. 3, after Florida State hammered previously unbeaten Miami Saturday night 41-14 in Tallahassee, Fla., to move up to the No. 2 position.

The Cardinal (7-1) host the Ducks (8-0) in a huge Pac-12 North Division showdown Thursday night.

Stanford remains the top-ranked one-loss team in the nation. Clemson (8-1) is seventh, with Missouri, Auburn, Oklahoma and Miami ranked eighth through 11th.

Undefeated Alabama (8-0) is still at the top of the standings, with Ohio State (9-0) checking in at No. 4. Baylor (7-0) is sixth.

The other two undefeated teams hail from outside the confines of conferences with automatic BCS bids. Northern Illinois (8-0) was a BCS qualifier last season, but is currently 18th.

Fresno State, out of the Mountain West Conference, is also 8-0 and at No. 16 in the standings would receive a bid to a BCS bowl. Teams from non-automatic qualifying conferences must be ranked in the top 16 of the standings and be ahead of the qualifier from a conference with an automatic bid.

The Bulldogs are four spots ahead of Louisville (7-1), the top-ranked team in the American Athletic Conference.

Two other Pac-12 teams are in the standings. UCLA (6-2) is No. 19 and Arizona State (6-2) jumped into the standings for the first time this season at No. 22.

It’s expected that a road win at Stanford would be enough to bump Oregon back into the No. 2 spot next week. Florida State goes on the road to play Wake Forest (4-5) on Saturday, a game that can’t do a lot to enhance the Seminoles’ computer ranking.

The Cardinal, on the other hand, will still need some help in the chase for a berth in the final BCS National Championship in January. Stanford’s BCS average is .793, significantly behind Ohio State’s .872.

As for the teams ranked ahead of Stanford, here are their remaining schedules:

• Alabama: vs. LSU Saturday, at Mississippi State Nov. 16, vs. Chattanooga Nov. 23, at Auburn Nov. 30.
• Florida State: at Wake Forest Saturday, vs. Syracuse Nov. 16, vs. Idaho Nov. 23, at Florida Nov. 30.
• Oregon: at Stanford Thursday, vs. Utah Nov. 16, at Arizona Nov. 23, vs. Oregon State Nov. 29.
• Ohio State: at Illinois Nov. 16, vs. Indiana Nov. 23, at Michigan Nov. 30.

All four of the above teams are also in position to play in their respective conference championship games on the first Saturday in December.