2010 NCAA Football Surprises: Teams Primed To Crash the BCS
An SEC team has won the national championship in the last four years. As other conferences have seemed to fall by the wayside, NCAA football has become less interesting and more predictable.
Until this season. Florida already has two losses and an underwhelming LSU team is the only remaining undefeated SEC team. With that, I introduce to you the top teams primed to crash the BCS.
Michigan State Spartans
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At the beginning of this season, the Spartans were unranked. To make it clear, they did not receive one single vote from any writer in America in the preseason AP poll. After Week 1, they had a whopping two voting points (for reference, Alabama, the top-ranked team in the country, had 1,484 voting points).
But after handily knocking off Wisconsin last week, and then blowing out Michigan on the road on Saturday, the Spartans proved they are for real. With Florida, Miami, and Arizona all losing this weekend, Michigan State will certainly jump into the Top 15, and have a good chance to run the table.
Their only tough game remaining is a road game at Iowa in three weeks, but they don't have a ranked team besides that left on their schedule. They've scored at least 30 points in every game, and with Coach Mark D'Antonio recovering from health problems, it seems as if the team has come to rally around one cause.
The running game is extremely dangerous (led by the two-headed monster of Edwin Baker and Le'Veon Bell), and junior quarterback Kirk Cousins has been excellent all year. This team is on a roll right now, and the folks in Lansing may have something besides the basketball team to cheer about.
Utah Utes
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Another team not ranked coming into the season, and another team showing up week after week.
Currently ranked 10th in the country, Utah's signature win so far has been over then No. 15 Pitt at home. But despite not playing great competition so far, they've put up at least 56 points in three straight weeks, and their defense is allowing just 15.6 points per game.
Their schedule gets really tough starting in three weeks with a road game at Air Force, followed by a home game at TCU and back-to-back road games at Notre Dame and San Diego State before they come home for the finale against BYU.
With that tough of a schedule left, it'd be tough to see Utah running the table, but Utah is already ranked in the Top 10. Throw in that they've outscored their opponents, 101-7 in the second quarter, and Utah has been basically blowing everybody out of the stadium so far.
Syracuse Orange
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I could cop out and pick West Virginia here, but they wouldn't exactly be crashing the party. Syracuse, however, would be a total shock to everyone.
A couple things: the winner of the Big East gets a BCS Bowl game, and there's not one team currently ranked in the Top 25 from the Big East.
Syracuse is now 4-1, with their only loss coming at an underrated Washington team the second week of September. They won their Big East home opener against a tough USF team, and will need that momentum as they face the toughest stretch of their schedule the next two weeks: a home game against Pitt, followed by a road game at West Virginia.
While I still think West Virginia is the favorite to win the Big East, Syracuse is beginning to turn a lot of heads, and in a division without a dominant team, Syracuse may be able to ride their current three-game winning streak to a couple big wins.
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Nevada Wolf Pack
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Nevada, the home of the now wildly popular Pistol offense, had not been ranked since the 1940's before this season. Now? They're 6-0, about to enter the Top 20 after another dominating victory, and have three big games left in their season.
Two of them SHOULD be wins (at Hawaii next week, and at Fresno State in November). But their major test will come in their second-to-last game at home against Boise State. Realistically, Nevada should be undefeated when they play Boise, who should also be undefeated. If Nevada finds a way to beat the Broncos, it's going to be mighty tough not to give them a BCS game.
QB Colin Kaepernick may be the most exciting player in college football that nobody's heard of, and the offense is averaging a ridiculous 526.5 YPG. Even more startling is that over 300 YPG comes from the ground game, lead by Kaepernick and RB Vai Taua. This team is incredibly efficient, and is a tough out against anybody.
Air Force Falcons
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Air Force, similar to Nevada, is led by a vaunted rushing attack. The difference here is that unlike Nevada, Air Force does have a blemish on their schedule, a valiant three-point loss at Oklahoma. Air Force focuses more on the run than Nevada, racking up 373.6 YPG on the ground game in their triple-option offense. With it is a three-headed rushing attack (RB Jared Tew, RB Asher Clark, and QB Tim Jefferson).
So how will a one-loss team from the Mountain West crash the BCS? With upcoming games against TCU (on the road) and home against Utah, Air Force will have a chance for two wins over Top 10 teams, coupled with a very close loss (that impressed A LOT of voters) on the road at Oklahoma.
Oklahoma State Cowboys
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Everyone knows about T. Boone Pickens, and the hundreds of millions he's invested into Oklahoma State athletics, especially the football team. It looks like that investment is finally paying off. The Cowboys are 5-0, including a win over a very feisty Texas A&M team (the same A&M team who nearly knocked off Arkansas on Saturday).
It's a down year in the Big 12, and the Cowboys three toughest games remaining are all at home: against Nebraska, Baylor, and Oklahoma to finish the season. With that said, Oklahoma State definitely has its flaws, their defense is allowing over 400 yards per game and 29.2 PPG. But with a high-powered offense, Oklahoma State will always be able to stay in games.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
