CHART: Florida State's Drop In BCS Ranking Was Not Unexpected

Oregon jumped past Florida State and into the all-important second spot of the BCS rankings with their win over UCLA. The shift at the top of the BCS rankings came despite Florida State blowing out North Carolina State, but it was also a move that was not surprising (cont. below)...

Even though Florida State was ranked second last week, they held just a slim lead over Oregon. With Oregon playing a top-ten team, the only thing that would have kept them from leap-frogging Florida State was either a loss to UCLA or the coaches poll and the Harris poll moving Florida State up to the second spot in their polls. While FSU did narrow the gap in both polls, Oregon still maintains a comfortable lead over Florida State in the human polls.

While Oregon now has the inside track to the BCS Championship game, the big shake-up at the top of the BCS ranking came from Missouri's loss to South Carolina. That loss removes the possibility of Missouri crashing the party with a win over Alabama in the SEC Championship game.

The other important scenario this week is that Fresno State is now ranked 16th and if the season ended today, they would receive an automatic bid into a BCS bowl game. Northern Illinois, ranked 17th, would also receive an automatic bid if they move into the top-16.