BCS Rankings Week 8: 10 Teams Who Will Earn Their Way Back into AP, USAT Polls

The BCS rankings are here.

The all knowing computers have determined the best teams in our nation, something our feeble human minds were unable to figure out.

We are only half way through the season, though.

More football is to be played. More upsets will excite us and distract us for a few brief moments from the whirlwind of conference realignment.

Watch for these 10 teams to rise up and make some noise in the polls down the home stretch...

1. Notre Dame

After Notre Dame beats USC this week the Irish will be a ranked team. Notre Dame will stay that way through the end of the season.

The win against Michigan State on Sept. 17 is looking more impressive as the season goes on and the Irish offense that struggled early on has produced 107 points in the last two games.

Notre Dame will be a Top 25 team at season’s end.

2. Florida State

At 3-3 it doesn’t seem that the Seminoles are primed for a Top 25 finish in 2011.

What happened to this preseason Top 10 team?

Oklahoma happened.

The demoralized Seminoles have enough talent to have beaten Clemson and Wake Forest. Instead, they rode the momentum crash downward after losing to Oklahoma and lost their first two conference games.

All of that will change.

Florida State will win the next five games on its schedule going into the rivalry matchup with the Gators on Nov. 26.

3. Texas

The Longhorns are for real. If you picked Iowa State to beat Texas this year, shame on you.

Yes, Oklahoma senior and Oklahoma junior made the Texas Longhorns look like slow, overfed cows. The competition in the rest of the Big 12 is difficult this season and Texas has one of the most challenging schedules in the country.

Call it a hunch. Blame it on the Longhorn mascot at the junior high school I attended. But I like this team.

Texas will win its next three games and will return to the AP and USAT rankings.

Now I will not be so bold to say the Longhorns will remain ranked after the grueling final stretch with Kansas State, Texas A&M and Baylor.

4. SMU

Does anyone remember the last time SMU football was ranked in the Top 25?

Me either.

Expect to see the Mustangs crash the polls after a big win next week at Southern Miss. SMU will continue on a rise up the ladder through Nov. 19 in the biggest clash of the Titans that C-USA offers the 2011 season.

SMU at Houston will determine the eventual champion of the conference.

5. BYU

I am a BYU fan.

Guilty.

And yet, picking a team that lost to Utah 54-10 at home to finish ranked in the Top 25 does make logical sense. Trust me.

The struggling Cougar offense just put together its best performance of the season with 38 points at Oregon State. Jake Heaps, the over-hyped Sophomore quarterback is benched and will remain benched through season’s end.

Idaho State, Idaho, New Mexico State and Hawaii are nice doormat squads for replacement QB Riley Nelson to lead BYU’s offense through the home stretch.

The only true challenge left for Brigham Young is the Oct. 28 clash at TCU in Texas. BYU will win the game and start attracting attention from voters.

6. Wake Forest

Wake Forest was leading Virginia Tech 10-0 after the first quarter. And then the glass slipper fell right off the foot of this year’s surprising ACC team.

At North Carolina and Clemson with a home date with Notre Dame sandwiched between is, well, sucky.

If the Demon Deacons can come out of that rough three-game stretch winning two of the three games, watch for Wake Forest to break into the Top 25 for the first time in 2011.

7. South Florida

South Florida beat Notre Dame in Week 1. The Bulls looked like a Top 25 team.

Losing 44-17 at Pittsburgh, the Bulls did not look like a Top 25 team.

To get it back to good South Florida will have to fair much better through its next Big East away game stretch at Rutgers and Syracuse.

If this team can remember how to win on the road, it will be rewarded with Top 25 votes.

8. Rutgers

Rutgers is currently the 28^th ranked team in the USAT poll with 31 votes, behind Notre Dame’s 36.

If the Scarlet Knights take care of Louisville in Friday night’s away game they will crack into the Top 25.

Rutgers will not last long as a ranked team, though.

West Virginia, South Florida, Cincinnati and Connecticut are all too evenly matched with Rutgers for this year’s team to put together the type of winning streak needed to stay ranked.

9. USC

USC is a Top 25 caliber squad. Well, definitely a top 35 squad.

The problem is that the Trojans still have Notre Dame, Stanford, Washington and Oregon on the schedule.

If USC splits these four games 2-2, the Trojans will be ranked in the final AP poll.

That is a big if.

10. Southern Miss

The Golden Eagles will lose to SMU next week.

Look for Southern Miss to make a nice recovery and finish the season on a five-game win streak.

Chances are high that Southern Miss will be the third C-USA team ranked at the end of this season.