Oh Quack
With Oregon’s loss Thursday night to Arizona, the BCS is now down to LSU and the Big XII. With The Ownedhio State University and West Virginia hoping for an SEC championship game “upset”. Let’s talk about it, shall we?
LSU
LSU, of course, controls their own destiny to New Orleans. Just win, and you’re in as they say. If they lose, that opens up the door for a lot of other teams. Though, it would be best for LSU to face Georgia in Atlanta rather than Tennessee for rankings based reasons.
Big XII Champion
Whoever that may be. Kansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri currently occupy 3, 4, and 5 in the BCS standings. Oregon’s loss will drop them from the 2 spot and, in all likelihood these three will simply slide up by one.
This weekend Kansas faces Iowa State, Missouri takes on Kansas State, and Oklahoma battles Texas Tech. Presuming they all win that sets up a Thanksgiving Saturday match-up for the Big XII North between Kansas and Missouri (despite Abe Simpson’s objections). Which in turn would setup a 2 vs. 3 match-up in the Big XII championship between Oklahoma and Kansas/Mizzou.
If this all plays out as expected, your 2007 Big XII champion should head to the Big Easy. Should LSU fall, this champion.bigxii should also move all the way to number one.
West Virginia
When the ‘Neers lost to USF, what eight years ago it seems, the loss didn’t seem so bad. USF climbed to number two, and West Virginia kept winning. And, for the most part, winning with authority. Then USF dropped three games and all the way out of the polls. SMQ, as should most college football fans, puts a fair amount of weight on the nature of a loss. For instance, at the time Florida’s loss to LSU was actually a strength when compared with the other two-loss teams of the day. Accordingly, the value of WVU’s loss to USF has fallen just as dramatically as the Bulls’ ranking.
But at the (as of this writing) 6th spot in the BCS they have the most to gain from an LSU stumble. Early losses aren’t as bad as late losses.
Ohio State
Barring a strange set of circumstances OSU is essentially eliminated. What they need:
Oklahoma to lose at least one more game, and then win the Big XII. Thus eliminating Kansas/Missouri. Or you could reverse it, but hoping for two teams to lose winnable games is a lot longer of a shot than just one.
And also have LSU lose to Tennessee in the SEC Championship game. Whilst also having Georgia stumble along the way.
If any of that were to occur, WVU and OSU would back-door their way into the 1 and 2 spots. Basically, have both the 1 and 2 spots come open. Trying to get to #2 involves a lot more “what if”.
Arizona State, Georgia, Virginia Tech
While the possibility exists that any of these teams could potentially, maybe, could reach the BCS Title game; they need as much help (or more) as Ohio State.
Oregon
Out. Way out. Done. Kaput. Finito.
And that rounds out the current BCS top-10. Outside of those teams no one has a chance. So, pending this weekend’s action, I’m looking at LSU vs Oklahoma for the MNC.
