BCS Rankings 2011: Boise State, Stanford and Wisconsin All Set to Get Shafted

The unveiling of the initial, official BCS rankings of the 2011 college football season is just a week away and, as always, there's sure to be plenty of controversy to come from it. Six weeks of play have come and gone, leaving 13 teams across the country with nary a blemish on their win-loss records.

And, unless at least 11 of those teams go down once or twice before all is said and done, there will be some rather unhappy campers crying foul for a playoff.

At this, Boise State, Stanford and Wisconsin appear to be the most vulnerable of the eight untainted teams currently in the Top 10. Two of those eight are guaranteed to tumble sooner or later, with No. 1 LSU and No. 2 Alabama set to face off on Nov. 5, and No. 3 Oklahoma and No. 6 Oklahoma State scheduled to do the same on Dec. 3.

Unfortunately for the Broncos, the Cardinal and the Badgers, if two out of those four finish the regular season undefeated, then the BCS National Championship will almost certainly come down to yet another battle between the Big 12 and the SEC, with the all-important computer rankings serving as the most obvious culprits.

The BCS determines its own rankings using a three-component, multi-step process in which each team's rankings in the USA Today Coaches Poll, the Harris Interactive Poll and among six computers—those of Jeff Sagarin, Anderson & Hester, Richard Billingsley, Colley Matrix, Kenneth Massey and Dr. Peter Wolf—are essentially averaged out to determine the Top 25 (for a full breakdown, check out the official BCS website).

The computers, in particular, tend to pay particularly close attention to a given team's "strength of schedule," a facet in which Boise State, Stanford and Wisconsin are each at a significant disadvantage. The Broncos, currently ranked sixth in the Coaches Poll, looked strong against a Georgia team that has since tumbled out of the Top 25.

Thanks to a down season by TCU and a weak crop of competitors in the Mountain West Conference, Kellen Moore and his "Smurf Turfers" aren't likely to face another ranked opponent all season.

As such, detractors will necessarily find fault in each and everyone of the Broncos' big blowout wins this season, with even a win over the SEC's big, bad Bulldogs in Atlanta ripe to be picked apart by pundits and computers alike.

Any shot that the fifth-ranked Cardinal have at the crystal football will come down to Nov. 12 in Palo Alto, when No. 9 Oregon comes to town. Andrew Luck will have to put forth his Heisman best to top the Ducks, who've been off and running ever since their season-opening loss to LSU.

If Stanford can defend its home turf, it'll have a hold on the national spotlight for the following two weeks, against old rivals Cal and Notre Dame, before taking on another Top 25 team, most likely No. 20 Arizona State, in the inaugural Pac-12 Championship Game.

As for No. 4 Wisconsin, the Badgers may be penalized for the overall weakness of the Big Ten (read: Ohio State's eyesore of a season). Their blowout win over No. 14 Nebraska still looks pretty good after the Cornhuskers came back against the Buckeyes at home.

Dates against No. 23 Michigan State and No. 16 Illinois should help to shore up 'Sconsin's resume before a likely showdown with No. 10 Michigan in the Big Ten Championship Game.

The Badgers will find themselves and their BCS title hopes in double jeopardy, though, if the Spartans or the Huskers come out on top in the "Legends" division. A second win over either one of those teams would essentially deflate the value of two of Wisconsin's wins on the season, thereby weakening its standing in the "eyes" of the almighty computers.

Hence, Russell Wilson and company will be rooting hard for the Wolverines from here on out, hoping to find Shoelace leading the Maize and Blue to Indianapolis.

Even if all goes according to plan for these three teams—even if Boise State, Stanford and/or Wisconsin run the table—they'll still need Oklahoma and Oklahoma State to lose once apiece and the two top cops in the SEC to run over a road bump or two before season's end just to sneak into the BCS title conversation.

In other words, the odds are stacked pretty high against the expected champions of the Mountain West, the Pac-12 and the Big Ten.

Then again, anything can (and does) happen in college football. Ultimately, we'll just have to wait and see how things shake out next Sunday, when the first BCS rankings are unveiled.