Florida State edged out Oregon for the No. 2 spot behind Alabama in the season’s first edition of BCS standings, which were released Sunday evening.
Oregon is ranked No. 2 in all the major polls, but Florida State, which beat Clemson on Saturday, benefited from its high ranking by the BCS computers to earn a .935 BCS score, barely better than the Ducks’ .932 average. Florida State is ranked No. 1 by the BCS computers while Oregon is No. 4.
Alabama is comfortably atop the initial BCS standings with a .984 average.
The top three have a significant lead over No. 4 Ohio State, which has a BCS average score of .855. The Buckeyes are followed by No. 5 Missouri.
Stanford is No. 6 in the BCS, making it the highest-ranked one-loss team at this early stage.
Miami-Fla., Baylor, Clemson and Texas Tech round out the BCS top 10.
The two teams atop the BCS standings at the end of the season will meet in the national championship game. This is the last season for the BCS. Next season, a four-team playoff will determine the national champion, with the four participating teams to be selected by a committee.
The BCS standings are based on three criteria: the USA Today coaches poll, the Harris poll and the BCS computers, each of which counts one-third. The AP poll is not part of the formula.
The highest ranked BCS team that is not from an automatic-qualifying conference is Fresno State at No. 17, one spot ahead of Northern Illinois, which earned a berth in the Orange Bowl last season.