BCS Rankings Week 8: Boise State and Teams That Could Sneak into Title Game

Boise State gets the shaft just about every season by the BCS Rankings, but 2011 could be a different story. This could finally be the year we see a Chris Petersen-led Broncos team in the BCS National Championship game.

Boise State

Oklahoma losing at home to Texas Tech last weekend got the ball rolling for the Broncos, and this weekend helped out even more. Not only did No. 5 Clemson get trounced at Georgia Tech 31-17, but No. 8 Kansas State got destroyed by Oklahoma at home.

That leaves the big boys (LSU, Alabama and Oklahoma State) as teams that Boise State needs to jump by the end of the season. LSU and Alabama meet up this Saturday so the loser will take a few steps back in the rankings, leaving Oklahoma State with a possible opportunity to play in the title game.

I’ve been praising the Cowboys' chances of making the title game because they play Oklahoma at home at the end of the season, but we haven’t seen the Cowboys play under loads of pressure in head coach Mike Gundy’s history with the club, not like this anyway.

There are going to be some tough challenges for the Cowboys down the road, and we are going to learn a lot more about how Gundy and his team handle the situations that lie ahead.

The Cowboys' remaining home games are against Kansas State and Oklahoma while their road tests are Texas Tech and Iowa State.

All of these games bring different sets of challenges. Of course you've got your high ranked teams in Oklahoma and Kansas State, but the road tests will be challenging as well.

Texas Tech just got slaughtered 41-7 by Iowa State after handing Oklahoma their first home loss of the season. You never know what will happen on the road in college football.

With Boise State hanging just inside the top five of the rankings, we must always watch out for the leap from bigger programs, even if they have one loss.

Oregon, LSU or Alabama and Oklahoma

This leaves teams like Oregon, the loser of LSU-Alabama and possibly even Oklahoma as teams that are still alive with one loss.

Oregon and the loser of LSU-Alabama seem like the easiest suitors to jump Boise State in the rankings. The loser of the SEC matchup, depending on how they lose the game, wouldn’t fall too far in the standings because the loss would come against a highly ranked team.

Same can be said about Oregon, especially if LSU wins. Oregon will be pulling for Alabama to lose, that way they can say they deserve the opportunity for a rematch because they fell to the Tigers in the first game of the season on a neutral field.

If Alabama wins, LSU has the argument that they beat Oregon, so that’s why they deserve the chance over the Ducks.

Stanford

Stanford is the final team that has the best chance to reach the top two of the BCS Rankings. Their schedule has been pretty weak up to last night at USC, and you better believe that the Ducks are going to bring their A-game to Stanford Stadium on Nov. 12.

The winner of Stanford-Oregon will have the edge in being able to sneak into the BCS Championship game.

You don’t have to love the BCS Rankings, but controversy brings conversation. We always get a conversation going when dealing with the computers. I’m sure we’ll get one this year.