This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Florida State and Ohio State are in position to play for the BCS national championship, though Auburn and Missouri are close enough behind in the BCS standings to put pressure on the Buckeyes.

The Seminoles grabbed the top spot in the BCS standings released Sunday after Alabama relinquished it for the first time this season.

The Crimson Tide's wild 34-28 loss at Auburn dropped Alabama to fourth. Ohio State is second and Auburn is third. Missouri is fifth. Auburn and Missouri play in the Southeastern Conference championship game Saturday in Atlanta. The winner should get a boost in the standings, but it might not be enough to catch the unbeaten Buckeyes.

Ohio State (12-0) faces Michigan State, 10th in the latest standings, in the Big Ten championship game Saturday in Indianapolis.

Florida State is first in both the USA Today coaches' poll and Harris poll, and rated No. 1 in the compilation of six computer rankings used in the BCS standings.

The Seminoles' .9948 BCS average makes them a lock to get to the title game in Pasadena, Calif., on Jan. 6 if they can beat Duke in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game Saturday.

The Buckeyes (.9503) are second in the polls and second in the computers. Auburn (.9233) is third in each. Missouri (.8428) is fifth in each. But each of those SEC Tigers is 11-1. Ohio State is riding a 24-game winning streak.

An unbeaten team from a BCS automatic-qualifying conference (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, SEC and Big East, now American Athletic Conference) has never been shut out of national championship game in favor of a team with a loss. —

BCS Standings

Avg Pv

1. Florida St. .9948 2

2. Ohio St. .9503 3

3. Auburn .9233 4

4. Alabama .8539 1

5. Missouri .8428 5

6. Oklahoma St. .7629 7

7. Stanford .7069 8

8. South Carolina .7037 10

9. Baylor .6623 9

10. Michigan St. .6529 11

11. Arizona St. .5833 12

12. Oregon .5321 13

13. Clemson .5201 6

14. N. Illinois .4812 14

15. LSU .4213 17

16. UCF .3858 19

17. Oklahoma .3808 18

18. UCLA .3506 22

19. Louisville .2630 20

20. Duke .2252 24

21. Wisconsin .1988 15

22. Georgia .1143 NR

23. Fresno St. .1006 16

24. Texas A&M .0995 21

25. Texas .0666 NR