BCS Rankings 2011: Stanford Cardinal Will Face Uphill Climb in BCS Rankings

When you take a look at the top 10 teams in the AP poll, it's clear that the one team getting the benefit of the doubt more than any other is the No. 7 Stanford Cardinal.

The reason for this is simple. Despite the fact everyone agrees the Cardinal is good, we really don't know how good they are. The level of competition in their schedule to this point has been a little lacking, to say the least. Andrew Luck and friends could be as good as their ranking suggests, or they could be overachievers who have feasted on a weak schedule.

Nevertheless, the voters are going to be kind to Stanford until further notice. The question next Sunday will be whether or not the BCS computers will extend Stanford the same courtesy.

In all likelihood, this is not going to be the case. The Cardinal may be No. 7 in the AP poll, but it wouldn't be at all surprising to see them end up at No. 8, No. 9 or maybe even out of the top 10 altogether when the first BCS rankings are released a week from today.

Hey, that's just how the BCS cookie tends to crumble. It is often times quite annoying, and the system's motives can be hard to explain.

Regardless of where Stanford ends up, it will be treading water for at least a couple weeks. The Cardinal's schedule has not been tough, and it won't get much tougher in the next four weeks. As such, the Cardinal will only move up in the BCS rankings if losses open up space for them.

Because Stanford has national title aspirations, this is going to be a frustrating process. For all we know, Stanford is just as good as LSU, Alabama or Oklahoma. But even if a couple losses create space for Stanford, it's going to be virtually impossible for Stanford to get as high as No. 1 or No. 2.

Needless to say, the key date for Stanford will be November 12th. That will be when the Cardinal hosts the Oregon Ducks, who are currently No. 9 in the AP poll. If Stanford is to have a case for the national title game, Oregon must come into Palo Alto with just the one loss to LSU. If Stanford wins, it will have a trophy win that few other teams will be able to match.

But even that won't be enough to put Stanford in national title consideration. It's almost a given at this point that LSU or Alabama will be representing the SEC in the national title game, and Oklahoma is going to be there too if the Sooners go undefeated. Wisconsin is also a candidate to go undefeated, and the Badgers will be in better standing than Stanford if both teams finish with perfect records.

So if Stanford is to see its national title dreams come to fruition, all sorts of things need to go right.

On the bright side, the Rose Bowl is not a bad consolation prize.