Bleacher Report's College Football Top25: Week 14

#4  Georgia  10-2  (345)
Previous:  7
Strength of Schedule: 16
Last Week:  Beat Georgia Tech 31-17
This Week:  End of regular season

So far, the scenario has played out just the way we thought it would: 

Tennessee won out, edging Georgia for the SEC East’s spot in the conference championship game.  Meanwhile, the Bulldogs continue to rise in the polls—and thanks to an LSU loss, are now the conference’s highest-ranked team. 

As a result, Uga is guaranteed a trip to the BCS, but as we predicted stands no chance of traveling to New Orleans. 

After all, you can’t be national champions without being division champions within your own conference…can you?

Here’s where the hypotheticals start to spiral out of control. 

What happens if West Virginia, Missouri, and LSU all lose?  Georgia is currently the highest-rated two-loss program, and has a better strength of schedule than every other Top 10 team save Virginia Tech. 

That indicates that the Mountaineers and Tigers would fall in line behind the Bulldogs should they lose on Saturday.

Tennessee—as the SEC Champion—would have to vault from 14th to 2nd in the BCS to overtake Georgia. Impossible. 

With a win over UCLA, USC could leapfrog Georgia.  But that too is unlikely, considering the Trojans’ relative schedule strength.

Is a win over Missouri enough to catapult Oklahoma from ninth to second? Doubtful.

As it stands, it seems safe to say that Georgia and Ohio State will both back into the BCS title game if Missouri, West Virginia, and LSU all lose this weekend.  The only thing that could prevent that outcome is if the human voters conscientiously cast ballots to avoid it.

#5  Kansas  11-1  (325)
Previous:  2
Strength of Schedule: 82
Last Week: Lost to Missouri 36-28
This Week: End of regular season

There have been several comments—both in this forum and others—regarding Ohio State’s needing to run the table in order to justify a national championship berth, given the Buckeyes’ strength of schedule. 

Well, the same can be said of the Jayhawks, who endured a rude awakening from their dream season last weekend. 

Central Michigan, SE Louisiana, Toledo, and Florida International aren’t going to cut it— especially for a program without the benefit of Ohio State’s name recognition.

But the Jayhawks do deserve a spot in the BCS, and will probably get a berth regardless of what happens in San Antonio. 

A Missouri win guarantees KU the Big 12’s second invitation. So as incongruous as it may feel, Kansas fans better root for the Tigers.

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