Ohio State is fourth in the initial release of the 2013 Bowl Championship Series standings.
That the unbeaten Buckeyes have more work to do at this point in time and figure to need some help to reach the BCS Championship Game for the first time since the 2007 season does not come as a big surprise.
They are looking up at No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Florida State and No. 3 Oregon.
Missouri, a surprising 7-0 after former Ohio Mr. Football Maty Mauk helped the Tigers beat Florida 36-17 on Saturday, is ranked fifth with Stanford sixth, Miami (Fla.) seventh, Baylor eighth, Clemson ninth and Texas Tech 10th.
Michigan (22) and Nebraska (24) give the Big Ten three teams in the BCS top 25.
The Buckeyes are fourth in both the USA Today Coaches' and Harris Interactive polls but lose significant ground to the top three in the computer rankings.
Ohio State's computer average rank is fifth behind No. 1 Florida State, No. 2 Alabama, No. 3 Missouri and No. 4 Oregon.
One of the computers ranks the Buckeyes third but two of the six have them eighth and another seventh. They are fifth in the other two. The highest and lowest scores are eliminated when determining the overall computer average.
Missouri is sixth in the Harris poll and ranked seventh by the coaches but ahead of Ohio State in five of the six computer rankings.
The bright side for the Buckeyes (and everyone but the Seminoles and Crimson Tide)? Only twice since the advent of the BCS in 1998 have the teams that topped the first BCS standings of the year been there at the end as well. That was in 2005 (USC and Texas) and 2011 (LSU and Alabama).
Ohio State was sixth in the first BCS standings of 2002 but ended the regular season No. 2 then beat No. 1 Miami (Fla.) in the Fiesta Bowl to win the national championship.
