BCS Rankings: Whose Dreams Are Dead, Who Got New Life in Week 8?

Last weekend the initial BCS Standings were released, meaning this weekend and every remaining weekend after, some teams will see what little hope they had shattered.

On the other hand, some teams will find a way to keep hope alive, even though it looked like all hope was lost.

Let's take a look at some teams that saw their dreams die in Week 8 and some teams that have new life.

Alive: Virginia Tech

Just a few weeks ago, after the Hokies lost to Clemson at home, everyone wrote frank Beamer and Virginia Tech off for the season.

Since then, they rebounded to defeat Miami and Wake Forest and today took care of Boston College.

Quarterback Logan Thomas has played much better since the loss and the Hokies now lead the ACC Coastal Division.

Alive: LSU

Saturday was set up to be a classic trap game for LSU. It would have been real easy to overlook Auburn, with the big game vs. Alabama looming.

That didn't happen though as LSU was ready and punished Auburn, keeping their chances for a BCS Championship alive.

Dead: Georgia Tech

Just a couple weeks ago, it looked like Georgia Tech and Clemson would be on a collision course with a whole lot at stake in the ACC.

Clemson has held up their end of the deal. The Yellow Jackets have not.

After losing their first game of the season last week at Virginia, Georgia Tech made it two in a row after a 24-7 loss at Miami.

Virginia Tech now holds the keys to the ACC Coastal Division.

Dead: Auburn

The time was coming soon. Though auburn competed very well for most of the season, it's time to rebuild for the Tigers after getting thumped on Saturday by LSU.

Auburn is already a young team, but Gene Chizik may make an attempt to get even younger the rest of the way as he may opt to get a long look at some players.

Alive: Arkansas

The Razorbacks are still holding out for a chance to sneak into the BCS with a comeback win against Mississippi.

Arkansas used a big third quarter and rallied from 17-0 in the second half to keep hope alive.

A loss to Mississippi—who set an SEC record for futility by losing their 10th consecutive conference game—would have all but rendered the rest of the Arkansas season pointless.

Alive: Stanford

Much was made when the BCS Standings came out of the fact that Stanford hasn't really played a tough opponent to date.

The got their toughest of the season on Saturday in No. 25 Washington and Andrew Luck and company handled handled the Huskies with ease.

Their chance to take a run at playing for the BCS Championship is still very much alive.

Dead: West Virginia

If WVU's season wasn't dead in September after losing to LSU, it sure is now after being embarrassed by Syracuse on Friday night.

The Mountaineers can still rebound to win the Big East and head to a BCS Game, but to make any claim at all, they had to run the table in the conference.

Even if they win the Big East, West Virginia hasn't beaten a quality team in the regular season in two years. Most of that has to do with the conference being so bad, but the rest of the season there isn't a game on paper that should get WVU back in the conversation with the big boys.

Alive: Kansas State

The Wildcats have been the surprise of the 2011 season so far and kept hope alive in Week 8 by ripping apart in-state rival Kansas.

While beating the Jayhawks really isn't something to brag about, Kansas State remains unbeaten for another week.

Dead: Illinois

A couple weeks ago Illinois was sitting at 6-0, but we were just waiting for them to show their true colors.

In their last two games, they have been beaten by an Ohio State team that only completed one pass, and despite a valiant fourth quarter effort, Illinois was defeated 21-14 by Purdue on Saturday.

Now the Illinois season is all but dead, as they have zero chance of reaching the Big Ten Championship Game.

Alive: Clemson

Everyone keeps waiting for Tajh Boyd and the Tigers to fall, but Boyd won't let it happen and Clemson remained undefeated with a 59-38 win over North Carolina.

The defense gave up a lot of points for the second consecutive week, but the Clemson offense is so explosive that they can get by with that in ACC play.

Boyd threw five touchdown passes and Clemson is 8-0 for the first time in 11 years.