Florida's big win over Florida State in Tallahassee didn't do much to impact the Gators' standing in the three major human polls in the college football rankings. Florida is No. 5 in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll and the AP Poll, up one spot in each, and still No. 5 in the Harris Poll, unable to move up after securing its fourth win over a team in last week's BCS top 12.
But that should be enough to keep the Gators ahead of Oregon and maybe even vault them past Georgia in this week's BCS standings.
Here's part of what I wrote last week:
Florida's chances of guaranteeing itself a BCS bowl game depend on the Coaches Poll and Harris Poll, because the BCS computers love the Gators' record against their rigorous schedule, and Oregon being ahead of Florida in both polls is a bad sign for now. But if the Gators can beat Florida State on Saturday in Tallahassee, there's a good chance that Florida will vault past the Ducks, putting themselves in position for an automatic BCS bowl appearance.
As it turned out, Florida was ahead of Oregon last Sunday anyway, and the Gators' strength in the computers compared to every other one-loss team was so profound as to open the door for the Gators sneaking into the top three.
The Gators likely did enough against Florida State to make that leap, as the vote totals show them eating into the lead held by Oregon in both the Coaches Poll Oregon: 1,277 points; Florida: 1,265) and the Harris Poll (Oregon: 2,507; Florida 2,435).
There is no practical difference for the Gators between being No. 3 or No. 4 this week in the BCS standings, as there's no scenario that would drop them below No. 4 in next week's final BCS standings and out of the top four; that provision is what will earn Florida an automatic BCS bowl berth, almost certainly in the Sugar Bowl.
But, hell, I'd like to be ranked ahead of a Georgia team that beat us for a week.