The results of this poll are excellent news if you are a Longhorn fan. Even the most optimistic projections I was reading online were projecting a 224 basis point lead of UT over VT. This 524 basis point lead was unexpected and is excellent news. If you check out cnnsi, they have quoted Jerry Palm as saying that the lead is going to be too large for Va Tech to overcome if UT wins out.
Notre Dame is a special exception. They are guaranteed a BCS bowl with 9 wins. They'll get into the BCS that way.
Whoops, forgot about that rule. They should have a pretty good shot then. Their remaining schedule looks like this: October 22 BYU November 5 No. 17 Tennessee November 12 Navy November 19 Syracuse November 26 at Stanford The only game I can see them losing is Tennessee. And as a Vols fan I can say that the chances of them losing is extremely slim. Tennessee has looked bad against Florida and Georgia, REAL bad. I'm sure Charlie will carve them up. Looks like one of those open bids will go to ND.
That's only half of it if i recall. They still have to fufill all the other criteria. Also, I think a mid-major has to qualify for the Notre Dame rule to apply.
It's pretty easy to see why Tech is where they are at. They started around 21 I believe. They finished in the high teens last year after they stomped the #4 team in the country last season. Many believe Cal got robbed from the rose bowl last year and tech killed that team. Are they BCS worthy? Time will tell but I'm not sure why you guys are surprised to see where they're at. Who did Utah play last season? Nobody and they finished the year in the BCS. If you have 0 losses you will most likely be highly ranked in the BCS. No surprise... Wasn't TCU high in the BCS rankings for a while a few years back? who did they play???? If Tech sucks which is seems to be a popular belief on this board. Than come next week after UT beats them by 50 points. Tech will be lucky to be in the top 20. its the first BCS rankings?! why all the fuss? Let the season play itself out....... an undefeated team ranked in the top 10 in both polls is ranked high in the BCS??? Wow you dont say.
Here's the requirements for Notre Dame in the BCS: The pool of eligible teams includes: 1. The teams ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the final BCS Standings. These two teams will play in the BCS bowl hosting the national championship game. 2. To the extent that such teams do not qualify to play in the national championship game, the conference champions of the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pacific-10 and Southeastern Conferences. These teams are guaranteed berths. 3. To the extent that any such team does not qualify to play in the national championship game, any Division I-A independent or team from Conference USA, the Mid-American, Mountain West , Sun Belt or Western Athletic Conference, will earn a guaranteed slot in one of the BCS bowl games should that team be ranked sixth or higher in the final BCS Standings. Should the number of teams meeting this criterion exceed the number of available slots in the BCS bowls after placement of teams in the national championship game and the six conference champions that are annually guaranteed berths, then the BCS bowls will fill any available slots by choosing from among all such teams that have met this criterion. 4. All other Division I-A teams that have won at least nine regular season games (not including wins in exempt games) and are ranked among the top 12 in the final BCS Standings are eligible for selection as an at-large team. The final BCS Standings will be released on Sunday, December 4. The conferences whose champions have a guaranteed annual berth in one of the BCS bowls are subject to review and possible loss of that guaranteed annual berth should the conference champion not have an average ranking of 12 or higher over a four-year period. and Automatic Qualification for At-Large Selection 1. If both the number one and number two teams in the BCS standings are from independent institutions, Conference USA, the Mid-American, Mountain West, Sun Belt, or Western Athletic Conferences, those two teams shall play in the national championship game regardless of conference affiliation, and will fill both at-large slots. If one of the top two ranked teams is from an independent institution, Conference USA, the Mid-American, Mountain West, Sun Belt, or Western Athletic Conference, that team shall play in the national championship game and fill one of the at-large slots and one at-large slot will remain available. 2. Any team from an independent institution Conference, USA, the Mid-American, Mountain West, Sun Belt, or Western Athletic Conference that is ranked three through six shall qualify for automatic selection. a. If one or more teams other than Notre Dame qualify for automatic selection under this provision, Notre Dame shall also qualify provided it is ranked in the top ten or has won at least nine games. b. If more than one at-large team qualifies for automatic selection under this provision and there are insufficient at-large slots available to accommodate all of them, the BCS bowls will select from those that qualify. 3. After application of the previous provisions, if any at-large slots remain unfilled and the team ranked either three or four is from the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pacific-10, or Southeastern Conference but is not its representative, that team shall automatically fill one at-large slot and shall be selected to play in one of the BCS bowls. If both the third and fourth ranked teams meet these criteria, then only the third ranked team shall qualify automatically. The third and fourth ranked teams cannot both qualify automatically under this provision. 4. If any at-large slots remain unfilled after application of all previous provisions, then the BCS bowls shall fill such slot(s) by selecting from among the pool of all eligible at-large teams.
I was thinkg about that as well - would it actually be in UT's best interest to NOT blow out Tech? That would keep tech higher in the rankings, thus helping UT's SOS. But if UT stomped Tech, instead of saying "well UT is that good" (which may be the case), most would just say that TT is overrated. Interesting..
SOS will not matter this year unless UT does NOT blow out all of it's opponents. UT is closer to USC than to VT. This is important because it almost guarantees that as long as the human polls (2/3 of the BCS) remain the same, UT is in the title game. If UT has some hiccups along the way (a la Kansas last year) the polls will most likely reflect that with UT becoming closer to VT than to USC which means SOS will THEN come into play. Bottom line: if UT wins convincingly the rest of the way, UT is in the Rose Bowl.
Why? They're both undefeated, and Tech has been beating the pants off of people(Besides Nebraska). I applaud UCLA for scheduling OU, but that is obviously not a quality win this year. Texas Tech isn't the pretender that many see it as. They have an unstoppable offense and a vastly improved defense...They will end the regular season with no more than one loss.
Thanks to Sports Center is was. I don't really get the logic behind it, USC barely wins at #9 ND who already lost to unranked Michigan St. at home before that. UT goes to #3 Ohio State and beats them. tOSU the lost to #16 Penn St.
what drugs are you shooting up man? seriously have you looked at texas tech's schedule. they beat the pants off SAM HOUSTON STATE, INDIANA STATE, and FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL...all of which are notorious football powerhouses. their win over nebraska was solid but nebraska is an average team. i know they are 5-1 but they aren't exactly dominating. and they didn't exactly beat the pants off of kansas who is 0-3 in conf and 3-3 overall.
Whoa, chill out man. I would absolutely put money on Tech beating any non-USC team in the Pac-10. Manny said he would be livid if he were a UCLA fan, and I just don't think he should be. Tech's a very volatile team...could beat anyone on any given day.
I think it is all but locked USC and UT are in if they win out. I don't think either team could "win ugly" enough to change that. VT looks pretty locked in if one of the other two lose. I don't even think Georgia winning out could jump them. SEC champ could be screwed again. Two years in a row the best team in the top heavyest conference may miss out the NC game even with an undefeated season. What an abysmal system to determine a champion. A lot of you guys are way overconfident about all the teams prospects, this is college football where a better team on a bad day frequently lose to a worse team on a good day. USC could lose (they have played with fire multiple weeks), UT could have a bad week and lose. I think both teams are good bets to run the table, but far less than sure things. Also, I expect all SEC teams to have at least 1 loss before New Years, and most likely (60+%) chance VT loses as well. Too many teams on their schedules with close enough if not equal talent to slip up against. I'd say so long as UT doesn't lose to Tech and USC to UCLA (potentially leading to other conference champs) both have close to a 50/50 shot for the NC game, even losing once. If both Texas and SC lose 1 time I'd say either could the the top BCS 1-loss team and have a good shot at the NT, it would depend which loss affected voters more. I would not be that surprised if a 1-loss Texas team was ranked ahead on the polls over a 1 loss SC team because SC's #1 ranking is less a product of a series of dominating wins this season and more a product of how can you not rank them #1 after what 50+ weeks of no losses. How the losses happened and and what point in the season would make the difference. As for ND. I expect them to lose 1 more. 50/50 versus Tenn, and read it right here they could lose to BYU or Stanford. ND isn't so dominant (USC, UT, maybe VT) they will likely win on a bad day against a slightly below average division I opponent, particularly on the road (this week is at home, but emotionally they may not be ready). ND's only gimmies IMO based on overriding talent discrepencies are Navy and Cuse.
