BCS Standings, Week 13: There’s The SEC West, And Then Everybody Else

LSU sweeps all the first-place votes in the Week 13 BlogPoll, topping all 72 ballots and ranking ahead of No. 2 Alabama by more than a point per blog. But it’s the SEC West’s separation from the field, from No. 3 Arkansas to No. 4 Stanford and No. 5 Oklahoma State, that’s the really interesting aspect of this week’s voting.

Arkansas is closer to the points per blog of a unanimous No. 4 than a strong No. 3, but the Razorbacks are closer to the Crimson Tide than to the Cardinal, taking a massive 1.94 points per blog advantage on Stanford. Clearly, the BlogPoll voters have a definite idea of what team is the third-best in the nation.

If you think using the BCS standings is an awful way to decide who plays for the national championship, you have no idea. There’s something far worse: Using the BCS Standings to decide who plays for the conference championship.

Here are the complete Week 13 BCS standings.

In this week’s BCS rankings, it’s the SEC West and everyone else. Thanks to a wild series of events on Friday and Saturday, the top-three spots belong to the SEC this week, with LSU leading the way again. And if the rankings hold, we’re on a collision course with a rematch in the BCS Championship.

Alabama is at No. 2 this week after Oklahoma State fell on Friday night. Lurking just behind the Crimson Tide is Arkansas, who has quietly crept up the BCS Standings throughout the year.

The Week 13 Harris Interactive poll makes it a clean sweep for the SEC West: LSU is No. 1, Alabama is No. 2, and Arkansas is No. 3. The rest of the country is left to hope the trio atop the SEC slips up.

Stanford and Virginia Tech fill out the top five. Oklahoma State, Houston, Boise State, Oregon, and Oklahoma complete the top 10.

What was true in the Week 13 USA Today coaches poll is even more so in the Week 13 AP Poll: the SEC West rules college football.

LSU is No. 1. Alabama is No. 2. Arkansas is No. 3. And the only reason a team might break that top three is because LSU and Arkansas play this week. It’s dominance that is nearly unprecedented: only one other time in the history of the AP Poll has one conference had the top three teams.

Want to be a high-ranking college football team this year? It turns out you needed to join the SEC West way back when. LSU, Alabama, and Arkansas lead the Week 13 USA Today coaches poll, and it’s not exactly a small gap between the division and No. 4.

Virginia Tech is No. 4, elevated from No. 7 in last week’s poll by a slew of upsets, but the Hokies are more than 100 points behind Arkansas, and regarded by very few as national championship contenders.