Bowl Predictions 2012: Which Dark Horses Still Have a Shot at a BCS Bowl?

This week, everyone seems to be focused on the “Game of the Century” between No. 1 LSU and No. 2 Alabama, and that’s quite understandable, given the fact that it’s probably the biggest regular season college football game we’ve seen this millennium.

While the Tigers and the Tide both look like they’re headed for BCS bowl games no matter who wins on Saturday, there will still be eight spots left up for grabs when the time comes to start sending out invitations.

While top-ranked teams like Oklahoma State, Boise State, Oklahoma and Stanford will all probably be in the mix for a BCS bowl at the end of season, there are plenty of other off-the-radar teams outside of the Top 10 that still have a shot to make it to a BCS bowl as well.

In the Big Ten, Nebraska looks like the front-runner after dismantling Michigan State last Saturday, but there are also five other teams that will be fighting to get to Indianapolis—Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State and Wisconsin.

In the ACC, there are a few teams that are still alive, but the division races look like they will come down to Wake Forest and Clemson in the Atlantic division, and Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech in the Coastal division.

In the Pac-12, all anybody wants to talk about is Stanford and Oregon, but you’ve also got a dangerous Arizona State team sitting down in the South division that could cause some problems for the North winner in the first conference championship game.

In the Big East, No. 24 West Virginia is the only team with a BCS ranking, but you can’t count out a team like Cincinnati, which is now 6-1 and has an offense that resembles the one we saw during the Brian Kelly era.

Outside of the BCS power conferences, Boise State isn’t the only team with a shot to get to a BCS bowl game this year.

No. 13 Houston has been slowly climbing the BCS standings these past few weeks, while the Cougars have been steamrolling over lackluster opponents throughout the season.

If they can get a few top teams in front of them to fall, the Cougars have got a great shot to be this year’s version of the 2007 Hawaii team that rode a great offense all the way to the Sugar Bowl.

It should be interesting to see how it all plays out over the final five weeks, but don’t be surprised if you end up seeing more than a few teams that are currently ranked outside of the Top 10 make a serious push at a BCS bowl during the stretch run of the season.