Fla. St. Moves Up in BCS Standings

Tuesday, November 21st 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Florida State jumped ahead of Miami into second place in the Bowl Championship Series standings, moving the Seminoles a giant step closer to playing in a national title game in the Orange Bowl.

The Seminoles (11-1), who completed their season with a 30-7 victory over then-No. 4 Florida on Saturday night, have a .51-point lead over Miami (9-1) but were well behind first-place Oklahoma in the standings released Monday.

The Hurricanes (9-1), who beat Florida State earlier this season, also won convincingly, defeating unranked Syracuse 26-0. But the eight computer rankings used in the standings to determine who plays in a title game were more impressed with the Seminoles' win.

``This is the way it is. I either make it or I don't,'' Florida State coach Bobby Bowden said.

For three weeks, Oklahoma, Miami, and Florida State have been ranked 1-2-3 in The Associated Press media poll and USA Today/ESPN coaches' poll.

If Miami fails to get into the BCS title game, the Hurricanes can still become national champions in the AP media poll, in which sports writers and broadcasters vote independently of the BCS. The coaches' poll would automatically crown the winner of the Orange Bowl.

Though he'd be disappointed if the Hurricanes didn't play in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 3, Miami coach Butch Davis said: ``We beat the No. 1 and No. 2 teams (at the time) and two or three others who are bowl eligible. If we end up going 11-1, we'll have beaten someone very good in a BCS game. And you never know how they (writers) can vote.''

If Oklahoma (10-0) wins its final two games, against Oklahoma State on Saturday and Kansas State in the Big 12 title game on Dec. 2, Miami would have little chance to overtake Florida State in the final BCS standings Dec. 3. Miami closes its season on Saturday against Boston College.

``On its own, it doesn't look like there's anything Miami can do to pass Florida State, maybe,'' said Jerry Palm of Chicago, who operates a Web site that closely monitors the BCS standings. ``Miami's best chance is to either have Oklahoma lose, or have Oklahoma do well enough to regain some No. 1's it lost to Florida State in the computer this week.''

Asked if there was a certain score by which Miami could beat Boston College to pass Florida State, Palm said: ``There's no answer to how much is enough. They could win by 80 and that possibly wouldn't be enough.''

The BCS standings are based on a formula that incorporates the AP poll plus the coaches' poll, eight computer rankings, schedule strength, and number of losses.

Oklahoma totaled 2.95 points this week â€” 1 point for poll average, 1.43 for computer-rank average, 0.52 for strength-of-schedule and zero for losses. The Sooners beat Texas Tech 27-13 on Saturday.

Florida State had 5.55 points â€” 3 for poll average, 1.43 for computer-rank average, 0.12 for strength-of-schedule and 1 for losses.

Miami had 6.06 points â€” 2 for poll average, 2.86 for computer-rank average, 0.20 for strength-of-schedule and 1 for losses. If Miami beats Boston College and doesn't play in the Orange Bowl, the Hurricanes could end up in the Fiesta Bowl in a possible matchup against Notre Dame.

Washington (10-1), meanwhile, moved up to fourth place with 10.46 points. If Oklahoma and Miami both lose, then the Rose Bowl-bound Huskies could move into the Orange Bowl picture. Miami's only loss was to the Huskies, 34-29, in September.

The BCS was created two years ago to come up with a national title game without instituting a playoff. After the top two teams are decided, the remaining BCS games â€” the Rose, Sugar and Fiesta bowls â€” select from the remaining pool of qualified teams.

Four conference champions have clinched BCS berths as automatic qualifiers: Florida State (ACC), Miami (Big East), Purdue (Big Ten) and Washington (Pac-10). The other automatic qualifiers are the winners of the Big 12 (Oklahoma vs. Kansas State) and SEC (Florida vs. Auburn ) title games on Dec. 2. Teams under consideration for the two at-large bids are Notre Dame (8-2), Oregon State (10-1) and Virginia Tech (9-1).