AP Poll College Football 2011: 7 Teams Capable of Making a BCS Run

With the college football season just a little over two weeks away, the teams that make up the Football Bowl Subdivision are practicing and installing the final schemes of their playbooks as they have dreams of making a run at a BCS bowl game.

But in reality, the numbers of teams that even have a chance of sniffing a berth in the BCS are just a few select programs from the automatic qualifying conferences along with a few BCS outsiders that seem to always make their way in at the end of the year.

So with fan bases across the nation dreaming of a magical season on campus, the following seven teams have the best shot of making it to the Louisiana Superdome in January to capture the crystal football.

Alabama Crimson Tide

Returning Players: 14

Even after a season that would be great for most programs, the Crimson Tide’s 10-3 mark from the 2010 season was a bit of a disappoint with close losses to South Carolina, LSU and the instate rival Auburn in the season ending Iron Bowl.

Alabama’s road to yet another SEC Championship game is slightly easier than the path the team traveled in 2010 as the team will have to travel to hostile Gainesville but host their biggest threats in divisional play as Arkansas and LSU come to Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Boise State Broncos

Returning Players: 14

The Broncos may have a new home in the Mountain West Conference this season after departing the Western Athletic Conference but Boise State returns this season loaded and ready to make through the BCS glass ceiling for all of the non-AQ teams in college football.

The biggest obstacle the Broncos must hurdle this season is the first game on the schedule as the team travels to Atlanta for another opening week blockbuster game with the Georgia Bulldogs of the SEC. If Boise State can survive getting bit by Uga, the Broncos will only need to defeat fellow BCS buster TCU in mid November if they want to crash the BCS party.

Florida State Seminoles

Returning Starters: 17

With the success Florida State experienced in 2010, you would think the Seminoles jumped in a garnet and gold time machine to the early 1990s with Coach Jimbo Fisher putting the program back on the national radar in his first year as head coach.

While FSU enjoyed a great deal of success on the field last season, the black eye to take away from the campaign is the beat down that was given by the Oklahoma Sooners which come to Tallahassee this year being the make or break game for 2011.

Oklahoma Sooners

Returning Starters: 14

As the odds on favorite to win their first national championship since 2000, the Oklahoma Sooners will have all the eyes in addition to pressure and expectations on their squad as the team is loaded for 2011.

With the Big 12 in flux with teams either rebuilding or wanting to hit the bricks from the league, the Sooners’ biggest challenge that stands in their way is a trip to Stillwater, OK where the Brandon Weeden and the Cowboys will have the firepower to keep up with their in-state rivals.

Oregon Ducks

Returning Starters: 12

After the first undefeated season in addition to the one of the most explosive offenses in college football history, the Oregon Ducks have the resources to return to the National Championship game after coming three points short to the Cameron Newton-led Auburn Tigers this past January.

Instead of picking a game that would prevent Chip Kelly’s squad from making a return BCS trip, the defense unit, while only returning five players to their side of the ball, will hopefully force stops during the year so the offense will not have to be involved in shootouts every week of the season.

TCU Horned Frogs

Returning Starters: Five

Even with the aforementioned number of starters returning for TCU, Gary Patterson and the Horned Frogs have enough in place to still make some noise on the national scene in its final season as a member of the Mountain West before joining the Big East.

A favorable schedule will help with new sophomore quarterback Casey Pachall taking over for now Cincinnati Bengal Andy Dalton. TCU will make their first trip to the blue turf in Boise on November 12^th for the first and only time as a conference opponent along with the first meeting since their 2010 Fiesta Bowl loss to the Broncos.

Wisconsin Badgers

Returning Starters: 11

As the landscape of college football conferences continue to have problems counting the number of members in their leagues, the Big Ten will now have 12 teams with the addition of Nebraska from the Big 12 conference.

With the Ohio State scandal leaving the Buckeyes in a unexpected transition year, the Wisconsin Badgers can take this time to be opportunistic in taking the first Leaders division title in the newly expanded league with their strong running game led by Montee Ball and James White.