Who Will Play for the BCS Title?

Okay, the big games are over. What have we learned from this week's action?

1) We now know Penn State may have a nice team but will NOT play for a last National Championship for Joe Paterno.  Everybody outside of the Big 11 region has just breathed a HUGE sigh of relief.

2) USC may have a very good team, but the loss to Oregon State, a watered down PAC 10 schedule and the collective national yawn generated by the victory over Ohio State will relegate the Trojans to yet another Rose Bowl appearance.

3) Undefeated Utah should have lost to TCU, and nobody has even seen Boise State this year, so their collective chances for a berth in the NC game are slim and none and slim just died from anorexia. RIP.

So where does that leave us? Barring some major upsets in the stretch run, we have the contenders whittled down to the winners of the BIG 12 and SEC. By far the two best conferences this year, this is where the championship belongs. Here we go.

SEC

Florida and Alabama in the SEC have locked up positions in the title game. The winner is set to move on to play for another National Championship, which would be an unprecedented third straight for the conference.

Alabama is a very good team that seems to play to their competition. They have found a way to win their games. They are tough on defense and play just well enough on offense to get the job done.

They kind of remind me of Ohio State back in 2002, but with a conference championship game to win to get to the BCS title. That is the problem. They will have to play Florida to get there.

Florida lost at home to a mediocre Ole Miss team but has steamrolled its opponents since. They are playing well on both sides of the ball.

They have come out with an attitude and laid the wood to the competition. They also have this Tebow kid who you may have heard of. Pretty good player. Definitely someone to choose in a pick up game.

Big 12

Here is where it gets interesting. Undefeated Texas Tech currently leads the conferences' South division by way of its victories over Texas and Oklahoma State.

Win out and they only have to win the Big 12 championship game to make the NC game. Oklahoma and Texas are tied for second with one loss each. Texas holds the tie breaker by virtue of their head-to-head win against OU.

However, if the Sooners beat the Red Raiders in Norman where they are 57-2 under Stoops and all three teams win out, that would create a three-way tie for first place.

This would mean Oklahoma would still have to win in Stillwater in the last game of the season against a pretty good OSU team, which is not a given.

Since all would have beaten and lost to one another, a head-to-head tiebreaker would not apply. To determine who would play the North champion in the BIG 12 title game, we would be at the mercy of the polls. The highest ranking in the BCS determines the representative in this scenario.

Right now, Texas Tech is ranked the highest, followed by Texas, then Oklahoma at No. 6. However, since Tech would have lost last to OU, they would almost certainly be left out.

Texas would have the victory over Oklahoma, but OU's strength of schedule would probably get a big boost with the season-ending victories over the Red Raiders and Cowboys.

They also have better non-conference victories over good TCU and Cincinnati teams. Plus, they have the benefit of having lost earlier in the year and the impressive victories since that loss.

It will be a shame that any of these schools would get left out of a shot at the title, but that is the system we have and it ain't going to change any time soon.

So where does this leave us?

My best guess is with Oklahoma against Florida for all the marbles.

Hey, but don't get discouraged if you want a different matchup. I also thought McCain would somehow find a way to win the election. What do I know?