Less than a year removed from one of their worst seasons in recent history, the Florida Gators are on track to play for a national title.
The first release of the BCS rankings, which factor in a variety of polls and computerized formulas to determine the championship matchup, placed Alabama at No. 1 and Florida at No. 2 on Sunday night.
“It’s still early, but we’re undefeated,” Gators quarterback Jeff Driskel said Saturday when asked if his team was a deserving candidate for the BCS Championship Game. “We’ve got a long way to go but couldn’t be any better as of right now.”
Driskel is smart to temper his enthusiasm in October. There is a month and a half remaining in the regular season, plus a potential conference championship game. Furthermore, there are 10 undefeated teams in the top 25 of the BCS.
If the Gators and Crimson Tide stay undefeated, they will face each other in the SEC Championship Game in December, which probably would knock the loser out of contention.
Florida is coming off a 31-17 win at Vanderbilt that pushed the Gators to 6-0, matching Alabama’s record. The next three teams in the BCS — Oregon, Kansas State and Notre Dame — also are 6-0.
The SEC has four of the top seven thanks to No. 6 LSU and No. 7 South Carolina, both 6-1. Florida can virtually eliminate the Gamecocks in Saturday’s game at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Since the BCS was implemented in 1998, only one team has reached the championship game with two losses.
Florida’s game against South Carolina also will shape the SEC Eastern Division race. The Gators (5-0 in the SEC) stand alone in first place, with South Carolina (4-1) and Georgia (3-1) still contending. Georgia is 11th in the BCS.
Oregon State is No. 8 at 5-0, followed by No. 9 Oklahoma and No. 10 Southern California with one loss each.
No. 14 Florida State (6-1) is the highest-ranked ACC team, and Clemson is No. 19.
The Gators’ rise is one of the most surprising, given that they barely avoided a losing season by beating Ohio State in the Gator Bowl. Florida finished 7-6, its worst record since 1987.
Will Muschamp, in his second year as head coach, is encouraged by the quick progress but is cautious about celebrating it.
“I’m very pleased with where we are,” he said after Florida beat Vanderbilt. “Have we arrived? Absolutely not. I mean, we have some serious issues we need to work out within our team. … The good thing about our guys is they will work.”
The announcement of the BCS rankings was trivial in Gainesville the past two years as the team floundered. The last time computations mattered to Florida was in 2009, when the Gators were in line for a spot in the national championship game before losing in the SEC title contest to Alabama.
In 2006 and ’08, Florida ended the regular season No. 2 in the BCS. It won the national championship each of those years.
UF’s status in this season’s BCS has a lot to do with its strength of schedule. The Gators earned their 6-0 record against four teams that were ranked at the time or currently are ranked.
Beyond that, Florida still has three regular-season games left against teams presently in the top 14 of the BCS, giving it the opportunity to defend its position without worrying about the quality of its wins. Teams that continue to win, but do so against lightweights, are at risk of slipping.
The Gators are No. 3 in the Harris poll and fourth in the USA Today coaches’ poll. Both are pieces of the BCS math. Florida also is No. 3 in the latest Associated Press poll, though that is not part of the BCS.
The BCS uses six computer rankings, determined by mathematical equations. Florida is first in the Anderson & Hester ratings. Among the others, two have Alabama in the top spot, two have Notre Dame and one has Kansas State.
The SEC and Big 12 dominated the overall rankings and took up 14 of the top 25 spots. From the SEC, Mississippi State is No. 12 and Texas A&M is No. 18.
The BCS Championship game rotates among four cities, including Miami Gardens, where the Gators won their 2008 title. This season’s game will be at Sun Life Stadium on Jan. 7.
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