BCS Rankings 2011: Why Oklahoma State and Clemson Will Play in Title Game

After the first BCS standings were released last week, there are two teams that sit in the Top 10 that are serious BCS title game contenders.  

Those two teams are the Clemson Tigers and the Oklahoma State Cowboys.  

Both teams sit in the Top 5 in the computer rankings portion of the BCS standings, as Oklahoma State is No. 1 and Clemson starts at No. 5.  

However, both teams sit on the outside of the top five in both the USA Today coaches and the Harris polls, as Oklahoma State sits at No. 6 and Clemson is at No. 8.  

Yet if you look at the teams ahead of Clemson and Oklahoma State, you’ll find ways that both teams can leap over teams like Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Alabama and LSU.  

Alabama and LSU will knock one of themselves out of the race for the BCS title game as they play each other November 5th. The winner becomes the favorite to play in the title game, but each of them have games they could lose, thus knocking them out of the top spot after their game on the fifth.  

Oklahoma will get knocked out of its spot by the team that is chasing them: Oklahoma State. 

Their encounter in Stillwater on December 3rd will not only determine who is the Big 12 champion, but also which one of those teams plays in New Orleans on January 9th for the national title.  

Now, that Oklahoma State is in our title game, let's get the Clemson Tigers' path to New Orleans mapped out.  

Clemson, as we all know, is the surprise team of this 2011 college football season. No one expected them to beat Auburn, Florida State and Virginia Tech in consecutive weeks, and now no one is expecting this Tigers team to make the national title game.

But as we mapped out Oklahoma State’s path to the title game, you can see the losses by Alabama and LSU will help get Clemson to the Superdome.  

However, the one team that could put a block on Clemson is the Wisconsin Badgers. 

But after this week, Clemson will not have to worry about Wisconsin, as the Badgers will lose to Michigan State in East Lansing.  

WIth Wisconsin out of the way, Clemson will use its five wins over ranked opponents during its regular season to propel it over teams like Stanford and Boise State in the coaches and Harris polls.  

So there you have it, the road map to New Orleans in the Superdome for the BCS National Championship game. 

Twitter: @tjmcaloon