BCS Rankings 2011: Can Stanford Cardinal and Wisconsin Badgers Access the Top 3?

BCS rankings of 2011 are now officially out.  There’s no big surprise for the top three spots as LSU, Alabama and Oklahoma are comfortably sitting atop the rankings. 

Oklahoma State University is sitting just behind not too far away from the Top 3. However, two of these four teams will have a loss indicated in their record before the end of the season. Indeed, LSU will travel to Alabama on November 5th for a highly anticipated game.

Toward the end of the year, on December 3rd, Oklahoma will visit Oklahoma State.  Therefore, which other team can still access the top-three?

Illinois, Georgia Tech and Michigan are out of the equation since they lost past Saturday. However, we still have a few candidates with undefeated records.  

Stanford Cardinal (No. 8)

Stanford’s football team is flying under the radar. Everyone is talking about Andrew Luck.

Will the winless Indianapolis Colts draft him or will the Miami Dolphins be the lucky team? However, some people don’t even know that he is currently playing with Stanford Cardinal.

In fact, this Stanford Cardinal football team is still undefeated.  They are also ranked No. 5 in terms of points for and points against.

However, their schedule has been fairly easy.

If Stanford wants to have a shot to the top-three, they need to cheer for the Oregon Ducks until November 12th.  If Oregon wins all their games except the game vs. Stanford, it would be very beneficial for Andrew Luck and his crew.

People should start talking more about them toward the end of the season.

Indeed, they will play against Oregon, California and Notre Dame and these games will receive national recognition. I like the chances of Stanford to remain undefeated. They have three big games left (Washington, Oregon and Notre Dame) and all these games will be played home.

In brief, Stanford needs to beat Oregon and Oregon need to win all the other games in order for Andrew Luck to get a shot at the title.  However, with Andrew Luck under center, they have a solid chance.

Wisconsin Badgers (No. 6)

The Wisconsin Badgers have won the first six games of the year for the first time since 2004. In this span, they outscored their opponents by an impressive margin of 244 points. They scored 50 points or more in three contests and are now rolling on a 14-game winning streak at home.

Statistics don’t lie and the Wisconsin Badgers have impressive numbers. They are No. 1 in points for (50.2) and No. 3 in points against (9.7). Their schedule wasn’t the toughest, but they still had to face a highly ranked team in Nebraska. They crushed them by the score of 48-17.

However, the Badgers have played only one game on the road and it was against a below average opponent (Northern Illinois).  Even more, this game wasn’t a real road game since it was played at a neutral location.

We will soon know if this team can play on the road. Indeed, they face Michigan State and Ohio State on the road in the next two weeks. They will also travel to Illinois later this year.

If the Wisconsin Badgers stay undefeated, I love their chances to finish in the top-three of the BCS rankings.

They have two games remaining against actual ranked opponents and they are clearly the best team in the Big Ten.  Penn State is in front of them, but it shouldn’t be a big challenge for them. The Badgers can control their destiny.

Clemson Tigers (No. 7)

Clemson Tigers don’t have impressive numbers.  They are No. 21 for points for and No. 42 relatively to the points against.

The accomplishments of the Tigers are impressive though. They won against then No. 21 Auburn, No. 11 Florida State and No. 11 Virginia Tech (rankings are relative to actual rankings on game date).

The remaining schedule of the Tigers won’t be easy. Even though they only have five games remaining, they need to face two ranked teams, Georgia Tech and South Carolina, on the road.

The only threat remaining in the ACC was Georgia Tech. However, they lost to Virginia this week. Still, if they can win this key game on the road, Clemson could finish undefeated. However, they will have to put convincing wins against Georgia Tech and South Carolina.

To access the top-three, the Tigers would need either Wisconsin or Stanford to lose a game.

Kansas State Wildcats (No. 11)

Kansas State Wildcats' football team is undefeated and maybe even lucky to be undefeated. They had a pretty easy schedule and won five games by one touchdown or less.

Staying undefeated is almost an impossible mission for the Wildcats. Their next four games are against Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and Texas, two of which will be on the road.

They are ranked No. 58 for their offensive production and their defense isn’t really impressive. There are just too many better teams in the Big 12 for the Wildcats to stay undefeated and have a shot at the top-three positions.

Boise State Broncos (No. 5)

Boise State Broncos team will likely stay undefeated since they have a soft schedule remaining. However, the problem is that the beginning of their schedule was also easy.

Sadly for Boise State, they might go undefeated for a second year and will miss the BCS main action.

Don’t blame them, blame their division. They could score as high as they want in every category, their chances are very low.