Should Undefeated Houston End Up in a BCS Bowl?

The Houston Cougars are currently undefeated.  Assuming they win all their remaining games, should they go to a Bowl Championship Series bowl?

As things stand, not at this time.  Houston is ranked No. 13 in the BCS; it would need to advance several places higher to be guaranteed a BCS berth.  

They will gain a couple of places because the teams ahead of them are playing each other, or playing in other tough leagues.  However, they'd also need to make up some ground in the computer rankings with quality wins.  And that might not happen...the only thing close to a quality win they have is a potential Conference USA championship matchup with Southern Mississippi, who's No. 25 in the BCS Standings.  The only thing close to a quality win Houston has already is over 4-4 UCLA.

Let's look at how Houston stacks up against other potential at-large candidates.

Houston would probably get the nod over a second-place Big Ten or ACC team, but neither of those seems a likely prospect.

The second-place SEC team is guaranteed a Sugar Bowl berth under almost any circumstance.

Two of the remaining at-large berths will most likely to go to the second-place teams in the Pac-12 and Big XII.  Even though Oregon will have two losses if it gets unlucky against Stanford, they will probably still get an at-large berth in the Fiesta Bowl (note if Oregon beats Stanford and wins the Pac-12, Stanford will likely get an at-large berth).  

The second-place Big XII school will be Oklahoma or Kansas State, probably also with two losses.  If the computers hurt either of those two teams, there's a chance (not a good one) that Houston could leap-frog them.  Houston could also leap-frog them if either of them picks up a third loss.

The likely fourth at-large team is the top non-BCS conference school, Boise State. If Boise State falls to TCU or someone else, and Houston is ranked higher than them, they almost certainly will qualify for a BCS bowl.  I, however, see Boise State losing as an unlikely prospect. 

But if the BCS has any modicum of self-preservation, it should let Houston in if they beat SMU, Tulsa and Southern Miss to run the table. If it doesn't, there could potentially be not two, not three, but four unbeaten teams.  

That would be the winner of the BCS championship game, Stanford if it goes to and wins the Rose Bowl, Boise State if it wins one of the other BCS Bowls, and Houston if it wins the Liberty Bowl.  

So the BCS should let Houston in, and in addition pair them against either Boise State or someone much better than them who can assure their defeat and keep the status quo.