BCS Rankings: How Oregon vs. Stanford Will Shake Up the BCS

Since the "Game of the Century" has already been taken, I guess we'll have to settle for calling Saturday's game between the Oregon Ducks and Stanford Cardinal as the "Game of the Week."

It's more than that, of course, but LSU vs. Alabama taught us that too much hyperbole is a bad thing. Lest we get our hopes too high, let's keep things simple.

Regardless of how we want to approach this game, it goes without saying that it looms large in the BCS picture.

Stanford is undefeated and currently No. 4 in the BCS standings. The Ducks are No. 7, and the computers actually like them more than Stanford.

No matter who wins this game, there is going to be a profound effect on the BCS standings, not to mention the national title chase. Just so we're all clear, why don't we discuss what will happen depending on the outcome?

If Stanford Wins

If nothing else, you have to give Stanford the edge in this game because it is good at home. The USC game taught us that they're human, but they're still plenty good enough to beat Oregon.

If Stanford does beat Oregon, its national title hopes are going to get a huge, and I mean huge boost. A win is going to convince the voters that Stanford is for real, and some might even determine that the Cardinal is better than Oklahoma State.

But that's just a guess. What I do know is that a win over Oregon is going to resonate well with the computers which think Stanford is actually the No. 8 team in the country. The computers have Oregon as the No. 7 team in the country, which is a little perplexing.

Once the Cardinal get much-needed love from the BCS computers, they are going to move to No. 3, ahead of Alabama. Make no mistake about that.

From there, all Stanford has to do is win out. If one or both of the teams ahead of them lose, the Cardinal will be playing for the BCS championship.

That simple.

If Oregon Wins

This will be very interesting. Oregon already has a case to be the top-ranked one-loss team in the country, but my guess is that a win over Stanford would seal the deal.

Working in Oregon's favor is the fact that the voters already have it ahead of Oklahoma. The Ducks are No. 6 in the polls and the Sooners are No. 7.

The reason they're flip-flopped in the BCS standings is because the computers have Oklahoma at No. 5, as opposed to No. 7 for Oregon.

But if Oregon wins on Saturday night, even the computers won't be blind to the fact that the Ducks beat an undefeated team on its own turf. That will likely lead them to be even more unimpressed by the Pac-12, but it will also lead them to give Oregon a little push.

Combine that with a similar push from the voter, and the Ducks could very well become the highest-ranked one-loss team in the country. At that point, a spot in the national title game would be a realistic possibility.

They'll need help, but the Ducks could very well make two straight appearances in the BCS title game.

Conclusion

This is a pretty important game. You should watch it.

That is all.

BCS Standings for Week 11

Rank	Team	BCS Average
1	LSU	.9931
2	Oklahoma State	.9447
3	Alabama	.8836
4	Stanford	.8749
5	Boise State	.8473
6	Oklahoma	.7978
7	Oregon	.7708
8	Arkansas	.7452
9	Clemson	.6435
10	Virginia Tech	.5913
11	Houston	.551
12	Penn State	.484
13	South Carolina	.453
14	Kansas State	.381
15	Georgia	.370
16	Texas	.366
17	Michigan State	.337
18	Wisconsin	.305
19	Nebraska	.279
20	Auburn	.210
21	Georgia Tech	.209
22	Southern Mississippi	.204
23	Cincinnati	.187
24	Michigan	.177
25	Baylor	.071