BCS rankings Week 11

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Florida and Alabama, headed for a Southeastern Conference title game meeting on Dec. 5 in Atlanta, are first and second in Sunday’s Bowl Championship Series standings.

But the real news is how one Texas school went down and one Texas school went up.

Texas ceded the No. 2 spot to Alabama this week, dropping to third, while Texas Christian moved up two positions to No. 4.

That’s really not important as long as Texas keeps winning, because Florida and Alabama have to play.

These are, though, high times for TCU, which jumped Cincinnati this week in the standings and moved into the No.4 hole vacated by Iowa, which lost at home to Northwestern.

The BCS title-game on Jan. 7 in the Rose Bowl appears headed on a track that will pit the Florida-Alabama winner against Texas.

Those three schools have clearly separated from the BCS standings field.

Florida is first with a BCS average of .9842, followed by Alabama at .9516 and Texas at .9234.

Texas Christian is fourth at .8620, followed by Cincinnati, Boise State, Georgia Tech, Louisiana State, USC and Iowa.

Iowa’s loss cost the Hawkeyes a six-position BCS drop while USC’s rebound victory against Arizona State bumped the Trojans three spots to No. 9.

TCU’s schedule strength should be enough to hold off Boise State for the automatic BCS bid that would go to the highest top-12 ranked undefeated champion of a conference without an automatic berth.

Boise State, at 13-0, would receive strong consideration for one of four BCS at-large spots.

Those prospects improved now that Notre Dame, with three losses, has been virtually eliminated.

Whether TCU, with a few breaks, can become the “non-automatic qualifier” to earn a trip to the title game remains to be seen.

For the Frogs, it still seems like a long leap from four to two.

TCU has an impressive non-conference resume having scored wins at Virginia and Clemson, with another chance to bolster its case this week at home against BCS No. 16 Utah. TCU ends its Mountain West season against Wyoming and New Mexico.

The top 12:

1. Florida, .9842

2. Alabama, .9516

3. Texas, .9234

4. Texas Christian, .8620

5. Cincinnati, .8580

6. Boise State, .8126

7. Georgia Tech, .7552

8. LSU, .6138

9. USC, .5922

10. Iowa, .5745

11. Ohio State, .5733

12. Pittsburgh, .5628

You can find the full list here.

-- Chris Dufresne