So the real question is who will the LSU/Alabama winner demolish in the BCS Championship game. Ain't gonna be Boise. I think Stanford will lose to Oregon. If Oklahoma State doesn't win out, I say Clemson.
Heck Yes! Longest home winning streak snapped! That should put them in the top 25 now... After the embarrassing loss in 2008 this one feels pretty good.... Jump around! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwQbPgouUYo
Highly unlikely. While a one-loss SEC team may remain ahead of undefeated Clemson/Stanford/Boise in the human polls, I have trouble believing the computers would be anywhere near as kind. I could see a one-loss LSU/Alabama leapfrogging Boise, but if we're talking about an undefeated Clemson team, there's no way. They would be 2-0 against the SEC w/ wins over Auburn and South Carolina, and have victories over Virginia Tech (twice), FSU, & GT.
We had a pretty exciting slate of games today, which was nice. Let's face it. For the most part, this college football season has been one full of blowouts and ranked teams waltzing to victory.
To me, the most fun BCS Championship would be LSU/Alabama against Stanford... the power defenses of the SEC against Andrew Luck. I want to see Luck on that kind of stage. After tonight, I think if Stanford wins out and OSU drops a game somewhere, they're in. For Stanford to win out, we're talking about (in coming weeks) a win at USC, home wins over Oregon and Notre Dame, and a Pac-12 title over Arizona State. That would put them over Clemson and Boise with ease, as well as a 1-loss SEC or Big 12 team.
Yep, if OSU loses, Stanford controls their own destiny. Against LSU or Alabama, the key would be how well they can run the ball. Most people don't realize they aren't a pass-happy team but instead rely on balance to force defenses into submission. Nobody has slowed their ground game and Luck hasn't faced a real pass-rush all year. I think he would rise to the occasion but Stanford would still lose. The only team left that can beat them is Oregon and I believe they have a very good chance if both Darron Thomas and LaMichael James are 100% healthy. IMO, Oregon has been unfairly ignored since their opening lose to LSU.
Coaches Poll: 1. LSU (41) 2. Alabama (18) 3. Stanford 4. Oklahoma State 5. Boise State 6. Clemson 7. Oregon 8. Arkansas 9. Oklahoma 10. Michigan State 11. Wisconsin 12. Kansas State 13. Nebraska 14. South Carolina 15. Virginia Tech 16. Texas A&M 17. Michigan 18. Houston 19. Penn State 20. Arizona State 21. Georgia 22. Texas Tech 23. Cincinnati 24. West Virginia 25. Southern Mississippi Dropped out No. 19 Georgia Tech (6-2, lost to Miami, Fla., 24-7), No. 21 Illinois (6-2, lost to Purdue 21-14), No. 23 Auburn (5-3, lost to then-No. 2 LSU 45-10), No. 24 Washington (5-2, lost to then-No. 5 Stanford 65-21). Others receiving votes Texas (4-2) 49; Georgia Tech (6-2) 39; TCU (5-2) 33; Baylor (4-2) 29; Illinois (6-2) 22; Washington (5-2) 20; Iowa (5-2) 14; Syracuse (5-2) 10; Brigham Young (6-2) 9; Southern Methodist (5-2) 7; Wake Forest (5-2) 6; Notre Dame (4-3) 5; Auburn (5-3) 3; Rutgers (5-2) 2; Florida (4-3) 1; Miami (Fla.) (4-3) 1.
Yeah, their power game is something else. That's part of why I love watching Stanford play so much. In addition to Luck's brilliance, it really is a true pro-style offense. I think Oregon is undervalued too, but with the game in Palo Alto, I give the slight edge to Stanford. My only concern with the Cardinal is that they really do have a gauntlet of sorts over the next 6 weeks, with USC, Oregon, ND, Arizona State... even Cal has a pulse. I hope they don't show up flat in one of those weeks like OU did last night.
OSU also has some tough games left against Baylor, Tech, OU and KSU. Honestly, I'm not sure I see OSU winning out. Stanford may but need to see how they deal with being put in a corner first. Clemson is easily better than every team left on their schedule, but having to beat V-tech twice in the ACC Champ could be tricky. My whole desire is for the end of the BCS that would only ever happen if a bunch of teams end up undefeated, namely from the Pac 12 and Big Ten or if a non-BCS team makes to the title game and loses. Basically, now that OU and Wisconsin lost, I want everyone else to lose but Boise so it will be LSU vs. Boise MNC game.
AP: Code: Rank Team Record Votes Previous 1 LSU (49) 8-0 1,489 1 2 Alabama (10) 8-0 1,448 2 3 Oklahoma State 7-0 1,326 6 4 Stanford 7-0 1,318 7 5 Boise State (1) 7-0 1,269 5 6 Clemson 8-0 1,225 8 7 Oregon 6-1 1,136 9 8 Arkansas 6-1 1,003 10 9 Michigan State 6-1 964 15 10 Kansas State 7-0 945 12 11 Oklahoma 6-1 912 3 12 Wisconsin 6-1 887 4 13 Nebraska 6-1 756 13 14 South Carolina 6-1 675 14 15 Virginia Tech 7-1 673 16 16 Texas A&M 5-2 614 17 17 Michigan 6-1 508 18 18 Houston 7-0 400 21 19 Texas Tech 5-2 350 NR 20 USC 6-1 340 NR 21 Penn State 7-1 312 NR 22 Georgia 5-2 290 24 23 Arizona State 5-2 239 24 24 Cincinnati 6-1 71 NR 25 West Virginia 5-2 64 11 Others Receiving Votes: Auburn(5-3) 62; Southern Mississippi(6-1) 48; Baylor(4-2) 47; Washington(5-2) 32; Georgia Tech(6-2) 30; Texas(4-2) 26; Syracuse(5-2) 24; Miami (Fla.)(4-3) 6; TCU(5-2) 4; Rutgers(5-2) 3; Illinois(6-2) 2; Brigham Young(6-2) 2
If ESPN took any longer... Holy smokes BCS: 25. West Virginia 24. Texas 23. Auburn 22. Georgia 21. Arizona St. 20. Texas Tech 19. Penn St 18. Michigan 17. Houston 16. Texas A&M 15. Wisconsin 14. Nebraska 13. South Carolina 12. Virginia Tech 11. Michigan St. 10. Arkansas 9. Oklahoma 8. Kansas St. 7. Oregon 6. Stanford 5. Clemson 4. Boise St. 3. Oklahoma St. 2. Alabama 1. LSU
I really don't have a problem with how people might rank Stanford above OSU. There's something to be said about a stud QB, a good Oline,a good complimentary offense, and solid defense (though I have doubts about they will match up against truly fast teams on offense like Oregon and even USC) But the reason people are using to undermine what OSU has done and to suggest why they don't deserve their rankings shows why the national media just looks at the general stats, and even the analysts who are paid to go beyond the boxscore refuse to ignore how our defense gets the job done at the right moments and FORCES TO's . They just look at total yards and stuff, but if they would just dig a little deeper into our game tapes through the first 4 games and against KU that we had 2nd/3rd/walk ons play major minutes. We have a potential 1st team all league in Jamie Blatnick, our D and Richetti Jones has NFL potential too. Our DTs and MLB are questionable, no doubt. But we have a two stud LBs in Shaun Lewis and Alex Elkins , and their backups are quality too. Our secondary was voted as top 1/2 in the conference , and they have speed/quickness, coverage ability in space and man to man , and good hitting ability. So overall, if you watch our tapes, you can't ignore the overall athleticism and speed. Plus, if you look at more specific and detailed stats that take into account efficiency and throw away garbage time, our defense ranks up their. Our offense scores so fast and so often, often times our defense is forced to play twice as much time as the other team's defense, not to mention for the majority of the year so far in most of our games, like I said, our backups (and their backups)-most of them freshman and sophomores- have played major minutes Am I saying OSU's defense is great or "good?" To be honest, unless you watch the Big 12 regularly you won't realize how hard it is to stop teams from racking up yards . The X factor is how often you stop them from scoring or converting crucial plays and force TOs- the ULTIMATE handicap
