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Florida and Miami Bookend BCS Top 10

Miami's tough strength of schedule -- formerly no. 1 -- evaporated along with Oklahoma. But still! Top ten!

By Janie Campbell

| Monday, Oct 19, 2009 | Updated 11:04 AM EST

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"Thank goodness it's not the AP that counts, coach!"

The first BCS rankings of the season were released yesterday, and the top three were pretty much as expected: Florida, Alabama, and Texas.

The rest? Well, let’s just say conventional wisdom has been lulled to sleep by sluggish and non-descript one-point wins over Northern Iowa, and there should be plenty of chaos left to reconfigure half the top ten before the season’s out:

1. Florida

2. Alabama

3. Texas

4. Boise State

5. Cincinnati

6. Iowa

7. Southern California

8. Texas Christian

9. Louisiana State

10. Miami

There might not be enough of that chaos to change the top three: If they win out, Texas will play the winner of a Florida-Alabama SEC title game, and everyone else would just like a good bowl game, please, and to-go box for whatever shreds of dignity they retain at season’s end.

But there are no guarantees, and three consecutive BCS titles for a team with at least one loss (LSU won the 2007 title with a 12-2 record).

Florida (6-0) has served up an offense so flat AP voters cast Alabama in the lead instead, but the Gators still firmly grasp the BCS top rung. If we learned anything from the tricky win over Arkansas, though, it's that "Petrino Magic" should be a silky smooth Kenny Rogers song and this Gators team needs to pay attention in conference play or else.

Alabama’s wins over three ranked teams (Virginia Tech, Ole Miss, and South Carolina) have proved the 7-0 Tide tough to beat. Of course, should they win out and make the SEC title game, Tuscaloosa will just automatically award itself the national championship and count it in dog years, so it's not like this matters to them.

Texas, like Florida, has struggled on offense and didn’t look good playing a hobbled Oklahoma team close. They have Missouri and no. 15 Oklahoma State on the radar, and, since odds are good Florida and Alabama will reach Atlanta unscathed before crashing into each other in gloriously eliminating fashion, a target on their backs.

With seven more weeks of BCS jigglin' to go, Cincinnati’s the best (and most adorable) bet to hit that if no.s 7-10 win out. Boise State has only Idaho left to contribute to its Sagarin rating; Iowa is essentially boring opponents to death with its special brand of beating middling teams by small amounts of points (best Iowa fake announcers gag of the year explains everything: Iowa needs 11 points to win any game); and USC's triumphs over Ohio State, California and Notre Dame are essentially good for nothing where strength of schedule is concerned.

But if the undefeated teams start dropping? Miami, at number 10, could find itself in the conversation by virtue of losing early in the season and losing to a decent team. The Canes are rolling downhill through their remaining schedule toward a possible BCS bowl berth after going 19-20 over the previous 39 games. Turning a corner? Miami’s jumping out of a dark alley.

Which is just how we like them, if we can’t have them directly knocking off any of the top 9 and making this more interesting.

Janie Campbell suspects mascot-induced terror accounts for half of TCU's points and UM needs to take care of Clemson Saturday. Her work has appeared in irreverent sports sites around the Internet.

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