BCS Rankings Week 10: Who Will Rise or Fall By Season's End?
The BCS rankings came out on Sunday night with the Oregon Ducks taking over the top spot from Cam Newton's Auburn Tigers which of course has led to endless discussions of whether certain teams belong where they are.
The only thing that matters, however, is the end of the season rankings—not the Week 10 rankings.
With most teams lined up with anywhere from three to five games left to play, there is still a huge amount of room for movement—especially with a wealth of difficult conference games left to play and conference championships looming.
So, here are 10 teams who will rise or fall the most with the onset of the final few weeks of college football left ahead.
Random Teams Rise/Fall
1 of 11
No. 11 Ohio State: Rise
No. 15 Arizona: Fall
No. 16 Iowa: Fall
No. 19 South Carolina: Rise then Fall
No. 21 Baylor: Rise then Fall
No. 23 Nevada: Fall
NR Oregon State: Rise
NR Florida--Rise
No.10 LSU Tigers: Fall
2 of 11
Everyone knows that an organization, or offense for that matter, thrives with two leaders. Go ahead, name a ship that sets sail with fewer than two captains or a company without two CEOs—that is why we have two presidents right?
Ok, so it's easier to run an offense with two quarterbacks than it is to have two leaders elsewhere, but it isn't a top 10 formula unless one is a guy named Tim who everybody south of the Mason-Dixon Line can't get enough of.
LSU finally faltered last week against Auburn, and now they have to face off against a rested Alabama team.
It doesn't look good for LSU's BCS hopes, folks.
Remaining Schedule: Vs. No. 5 Alabama, Vs. UL-Monroe, Vs. Mississippi, @ No. 18 Arkansas
No. 9 Wisconsin Badgers: Rise
3 of 11
The Badgers are throwing a monkey wrench in a Big Ten that has been as consistent as a Jim Tressel sweatervest over the past decade.
Ohio State has won seven of the last nine Big Ten titles, and Wisconsin is poised to stop that stretch.
Remaining Schedule: Vs. Indiana, @ Michigan, Vs. Northwestern
As long as this team stays focused on the game directly in front of them and doesn't start to look ahead, they should have the season under wraps.
The only game that seems to be one that could slip them up is next week's against Michigan, with the Wolverines playing good, but not great football this year.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
No. 8 Oklahoma Sooners: Rise
4 of 11
Oklahoma has been wavering between looking great and looking pedestrian all year. Now they just need to get back on track.
Last week, after a loss to Missouri that devastated their National Title hopes, it looked like they were struggling quite often. But then they came right back and throttled Colorado.
They now have two games to get into a stride before they finish the year against two ranked teams.
Right now, Baylor is leading the Big 12 South. As long as they don't look past Baylor to the game against Oklahoma State, they should be able to finish off the season and represent the South in the Big 12 title game.
Remaining Schedule: @ Texas A&M, Vs. Texas Tech, @ No. 21 Baylor, @ No. 17 Oklahoma State
No. 7 Nebraska Cornhuskers: Fall
5 of 11
For the first six weeks of the season, Nebraska was inexplicably ranked too high.
They lost to a downright bad Texas team and had boasted wins over Western Kentucky, Idaho, Washington, South Dakota State and Kansas State. They then reeled off wins against ranked Oklahoma State and Missouri.
Now I have no clue what to think of the Cornhuskers.
They seem to be a team ripe for an upset, as they face teams which don't seem to be large threats in their march toward the Big 12 Championship Game.
Remaining Schedule: @Iowa St., Vs. Kansas, @Texas A&M, Vs. Colorado.
No. 6 Alabama Crimson Tide: Rise
6 of 11
After looking unstoppable for the first five weeks of the season and racking up wins over Penn State, Arkansas and Florida, Alabama was dealt a devastating blow after losing to South Carolina three weeks ago.
Nick Saban's crew got the team's National Title hopes back on track with consecutive wins over Mississippi and Tennessee and were helped out this week from losses by previously unbeaten Missouri and Michigan State.
Remaining Schedule: @ No. 10 LSU, Vs. No. 20 Miss St., Vs. Georgia State, Vs. No. 2 Auburn, SEC Championship (if qualified)
Look for the Alabama defense to further expose the weak LSU offense this weekend, which will be followed by a test at Mississippi State and finally a de facto SEC West Championship game in the final game of the regular season against Auburn—one which could easily end up being a No.1 versus No.2 matchup.
Alabama controls their own destiny and still looks to be the most complete team in the SEC. If they play their game the way they played against everybody except South Carolina, you should see them in the SEC Championship game with a case for the National Championship game by the season's end.
No. 5 Utah Utes: Fall
7 of 11
The Utes will meet up with TCU this Saturday in the first ever matchup between two top 10 teams in the Mountain West.
Unfortunately for Utah, TCU's formidable defense has given up only 16 points in the past five games. They're rolling, to say the least.
It seems that the upstart Utes will fall this weekend to a better TCU team, dashing their hopes of Ute-ing their way into a BCS bowl.
Remaining Schedule: Vs. No. 3 TCU, @SDSU, Vs. BYU
No. 4 Boise State Broncos: Fall
8 of 11
Boise State has to be more than perfect or get help from the teams above them in order for them to do anything but move backward.
Computers hate Broncos.
When they play against Nevada at the end of the month, they must absolutely throttle them in order to get enough human votes to keep them high in the polls in order to translate into BCS rankings.
And even then they have to hope for some more.
Remaining Schedule: Vs. Hawaii, @Idaho, Vs. Fresno St., @ No.23 Nevada, Vs. Utah St.
I completely expect Boise to finish without a blemish on their record, but unless BCS chaos ensues, they'll probably end up with another consolation non-AQ at-large BCS bowl game.
No. 3 TCU Horned Frogs: Nothing
9 of 11
With a win over Utah on Saturday, TCU will be set to finish the season ranked at least in the top five and probably even top three.
They will have throttled a conference, albeit a weak one (still one that is tougher than the WAC), and they racked up wins against good teams in Oregon State and Utah, along with bowl bound Air Force and San Diego State.
Their resume won't be able to get them into a National Title Game, however, but there will be plenty of conversation about it.
Remaining Schedule: @ No.5 Utah, Vs. San Diego State, @New Mexico
Let's just hope they don't try to shove TCU and Boise into another bowl game together in hopes that the BCS schools don't lose to a non-AQ school.
No. 2 Auburn Tigers: Fall
10 of 11
Cam Newton and the Auburn Tigers have had a dream season so far.
The Heisman candidate has led his team to victories over South Carolina, Arkansas and LSU, as they look to keep their run of SEC dominance alive for their last four games.
They have it easy the next two weeks, and then march into Tuscaloosa to take on No. 6 Alabama.
Remaining Schedule: Vs. Chattanooga, Vs. Georgia, @ No. 6 Alabama
It seems unlikely that Auburn will be able to get past both Alabama and the SEC East Champion.
No.1 Oregon Ducks: Nothing
11 of 11
The Ducks don't necessarily have an easy schedule in the final four weeks of the season, but it isn't that difficult either.
Their biggest test comes against No. 15 Arizona in three weeks.
It seems, however, that Oregon has way too much offensive firepower for any team in the nation to overcome right now. The fewest points they have scored this season is 43, andthey are looking like the teams that Pete Carroll put together at USC in the past decade with the numbers they are putting up.
The Civil War could end up being an interesting game, however, as Oregon denied Oregon State their first Rose Bowl bid in 44 years two years ago, so the Beavers are still out for revenge.
Remaining Schedule: Vs. Washington, @ Cal, Vs. No. 15 Arizona, @ Oregon State.
Look for Oregon to keep gunning the ball down the field and go quacking all the way to the BCS National Championship Game.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
