For the first time in years, it looks like the SEC won’t have a dog in the fight in the BCS National Championship Game. After then #4 Auburn beat #1 Alabama as the last possible second on Saturday, Florida State moved up to the #1 spot and Ohio State moved to #2 in the BCS standings that were released Sunday evening. Unless Ohio State loses to Michigan State in the Big Ten Championship Game on Saturday, this will be the first time that the BCS-CG hasn’t had an SEC representative since 2005.
The BCS standings over the past few weeks have seen a lot of switcheroos at the #2 and #3 spots, and because of FSU’s strength of schedule, it looked like the Seminoles would get stuck on the outside looking in at times. That all changed after Alabama lost to Auburn, though. As long as FSU beats Duke in the ACC Championship Game on Saturday, they will be sitting pretty for the BCS Championship Game that will be played on January 6, 2014.
In an interview FSU head coach Jimbo Fisher gave to ESPN, it doesn’t sound like his team is too concerned with looking ahead, though–as with the rest of the season, the Seminoles take things one game at a time and whatever happens, happens. “We’ve been able to focus, not pay attention to the outside things and worry about anything,” Fisher said. “We can’t worry about where we’re ranked and what goes on. We’ve just got to worry about preparing and playing, and that’s all we tell our guys, and hopefully we can do that at least one more week right here.”
Check out the updated BCS standings below.
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Even though things aren’t looking good for the SEC as far as the BCS-CG is concerned right now, the Buckeyes will certainly have their hands full with #10 Michigan State on Saturday. Considering that Ohio State barely–and we mean barely–scraped by an unranked Michigan on Saturday, their berth in the BCS-CG isn’t nearly as secure as FSU’s.
Things will get even more interesting for Ohio State thanks to the brawl that led to two of their players being ejected during the Michigan game. One of the players, Marcus Hall, left the field with two middle fingers raised in the air. Head coach Urban Meyer says he won’t suspend either of his ejected players for the Big Ten Championship Game, but the Big Ten will have the final say in the matter. Considering Hall’s extreme behavior, it is hard to imagine that the Big Ten won’t slap him on the wrist and suspend him for at least part of the game.
[Images via BCS Football and YouTube]