BCS Rankings Predictions: Alabama and LSU Will Dominate Initial Rankings

The initial BCS rankings are slated to be released during Week 8 of the college football season. That most likely means we will start having a clearer picture of the BCS bowl and national championship pretenders and contenders in just over a week from today.

With the BCS changes from 2004 on, the human polls (AP and Coaches) have a heavier weight than the six computer rankings that encompass the BCS rankings system.

This usually means that the teams atop the polls after the first seven weeks are generally who we will see be atop the initial BCS rankings.

With that noted, it’s pretty obvious that we are going to have Alabama and LSU atop the first BCS rankings of 2011.

They were the top two teams in the Week 6 AP poll and the No. 2 and No. 3 teams in the Week 7 USA Today poll. The only possible team that could possibly jump either one is Oklahoma, which is currently sitting at the No. 1 position in the Coaches’ poll after winning a great Red River Rivalry game.

I have a feeling that the two SEC teams are going to dominate the poll up until Nov. 5 of this year.

That will be the biggest day of college football yet this season, barring a drastic and shocking loss by either Alabama or LSU. The two teams are set to meet in Tuscaloosa for a showdown that will determine the fate of the national championship game and BCS bowls.

After the winner of that game is decided, it opens up the top of the BCS to other teams like Oklahoma, Wisconsin and even Boise State.

These teams have been soundly winning but their schedules are much easier than the SEC teams have seen. We need to wait for one of those teams to lose in order to see another program on top.