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Florida State plays in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Atlantic Coast Conference isn’t very good, therefore FSU isn’t worthy of jumping Oregon or Alabama in the rankings.

Blah, blah, blah.

Earlier in the season, Alabama waltzed into one of the toughest environments in sports and beat the third-ranked team in the country by 37 points. Thirty-seven. It was complete domination where they turned the fourth quarter into garbage time against the No. 3 team in the nation.

Actually, it was Florida State that did that, not Alabama. ‘Bama’s best win so far is a seven-point barnburner at Texas A&M. The Aggies were ranked No. 6 at the time of that game, not No. 3. And the Aggies have lost to Auburn at home since then as well, whereas Clemson is still blowing the doors off every opponent they’ve played since getting blasted by FSU.

(Also read: Finally, FSU isn’t hiding behind bloated rankings – they’re the real deal)

Or take the Oregon Ducks, who just destroyed its archrival 41-14. In fact, that blowout probably would have been a shutout if not for two out-of-character interceptions by Oregon’s quarterback, because the opponent scored its only two touchdowns off a short field created by those turnovers.

Oops, that was Florida State, too, not Oregon. The Ducks will finally play a top-10 opponent for the first time this week when they travel to Stanford on Thursday night. FSU has already demolished two such foes.

See what happens when you suspend the ACC-is-weak bias? You just might change your mind.

My point is this – I don’t care what Alabama and Oregon have done in the past few years, and I don’t care what Florida State has failed to do over the last decade. The best team in the country should be ranked No. 1. Alabama may very well be the best team in the country at the end of this regular season, but no team has been more impressive than FSU.

I don’t care that Oregon projects to have a tougher schedule than FSU down the road. Right now, the Ducks haven’t played as tough a slate, and the rankings should reflect that.

Also, consider this: In three games against ranked opponents, FSU has outscored that trio 155-28. Oregon has played two ranked opponents and beaten them 87-38. Alabama has beaten its two ranked foes 74-42.

Stat of the week (version Miami fans may not like): FSU's 11 for 15 3rd-down conversion rate was best by Canes opponent since at least 1995. — Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) November 3, 2013

So if you want style points, FSU has plenty of those, too.

The rest of the Seminoles’ schedule looks pitiful, sure, unless you consider the ACC Championship, which could be a rematch of last night’s FSU-Miami game. I project the Hurricanes to drop to No. 13 or 14 in today’s BCS rankings. If the ‘Canes win out and clinch a Coastal Division championship, it would likely be another opportunity for Florida State to knock off a top-10 opponent and sweep the series against a big-time rival.

I can’t really understand why anyone would argue against putting that team in the national championship, because you can be damn sure they’d be there if their name were “Alabama” or “Oregon.”

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