Oct 05 2008
BCS Game Projections for Oct. 5
Of last week’s Associated Press Top 10, only #10 South Florida lost. LSU, ranked third, was off. The other eight teams won and most of them won easily. Not much movement was needed, however, to change this week’s BCS projections. I’ll begin with the automatic bids.
Big 12–#1 Oklahoma (5-0): The Sooners opened conference play yesterday with a 49-17 trouncing of Baylor (2-3). Oklahoma travels to neutral Dallas to play #5 Texas Saturday in what is easily the biggest game of the day.
Southeastern–#2 Alabama (6-0): At least the Crimson Tide won. Defeating Kentucky (4-1), 17-14, at home cost Alabama some first-place votes in the AP poll but the Tide remains second. Alabama is off this week before hosting Mississippi (3-3) Oct. 18.
Automatic At-Large–#3 Missouri (5-0): The Tigers won in Lincoln for the first time since 1978, crushing host Nebraska (3-2), 52-17. Coupled with LSU’s bye, Missouri was able to leapfrog LSU into third place. Since the top two teams are conference leaders, Missouri claims an automatic BCS berth. Missouri hosts #17 Oklahoma State (5-0) Saturday.
Big 10–#6 Penn State (6-0): The Nittany Lions traveled to West Layafette, Indiana yesterday and dispatched Purdue, 20-6. PSU plays at Wisconsin (3-2) this week. The Badgers were in the top 10 last week but consecutive losses to Michigan (2-3) and #12 Ohio State have left them at 0-2 in conference play. Wisconsin must win every Big 10 game the rest of the way and get help to win the conference title they were favored before the year to claim. PSU should expect Wisconsin’s best effort.
Pacific-10–#8 USC (3-1): Apparently, Oregon (3-2) was worthy of the Trojans’ attention for most of three quarters. USC trailed, 10-3, in the second period before smashing the Ducks, 44-10. The Trojans tallied 41 unanswered points. USC hosts reeling Arizona State (2-3) Saturday. The Sun Devils were in the top 15 before losing their last three contests.
Mountain West–#9 Brigham Young (5-0): The Cougars handled Utah State (1-4), 34-14, Friday. BYU hosts New Mexico (3-3) Saturday. The Cougars must travel to Texas Christian (5-1) five days later but can’t look past a Lobo squad that beat Arizona (4-1) last month.
Atlantic Coast–#18 Virginia Tech (5-1): The Hokies beat Western Kentucky, 27-13 (2-4), yesterday. VT is off this week before playing at Boston College (4-1) Oct. 18. The Hokies do not play #20 Wake Forest (3-1) during the regular season although the teams could meet in the ACC Championship Game Dec. 6.
Big East–#19 South Florida (5-1): The Bulls suffered a surprising home loss to Pittsburgh (4-1), 26-21, Thursday and slipped nine places. Thanks in part to Connecticut’s (5-1) 38-12 defeat against North Carolina (4-1), the Bulls remain the top-ranked team in a struggling conference. USF is off this week and will host Syracuse (1-4) Oct. 18.
There are six teams in the at-large pool seeking two available spots this week:
#4 LSU (4-0, SEC)
#5 Texas (5-0, Big 12)
#7 Texas Tech (5-0, Big 12)
#10 Georgia (4-1, SEC)
#11 Florida (4-1, SEC)
#12 Ohio State (5-1, Big 10)
The BCS Championship game pits Oklahoma against Alabama. The Fiesta Bowl, not allowed to choose Texas or Texas Tech because Missouri is guaranteed the Big 12’s second BCS bid, decides to take the Tigers as a replacement for Oklahoma. Missouri has quarterback Chase Daniel and a great story but Tiger fans are not known to travel as well as Longhorn fans.
The Sugar Bowl would happily choose LSU to replace Alabama, leaving Georgia and Florida ineligible. The Fiesta Bowl would then pick Ohio State to face Missouri. The Sugar Bowl next chooses USF to face Virginia Tech, leaving BYU for the Orange Bowl. The BCS game projections for Oct. 5 are as follows:
BCS Championship: Oklahoma vs. Alabama
Rose: USC vs. Penn State
Orange: BYU vs. Virginia Tech
Sugar: LSU vs. South Florida
Fiesta: Missouri vs. Ohio State
Thanks for the kind words. Have a great day!