BCS Bowl Projections: Updating the Predictions After Boise State Loss

The Broncos may use excuses of how two of their best players did not play (Billy Winn & Doug Martin), but the bottom line was that TCU beat them fair and square when it mattered most. 

Boise State's BCS National Championship dreams were shattered after losing 36-35 to the Horned Frogs, but it looks as if their entire BCS hopes were also thrown out the door with this loss. 

It should be noted that the Broncos' remarkable 65-game home regular-season win streak was snapped. Kellen Moore has now lost three games in his career, two of them to Gary Patterson's boys from Fort Worth.

So what do the current up to date BCS projections look like? Well, let's take a dive into the latest and up to the minute projections.

BCS Rose Bowl: Wisconsin Badgers vs. Oregon Ducks

The Wisconsin Badgers are starting to catch fire at the right time, and it looks as if they will represent the Big Ten in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 2.

Some people may not agree that the Badgers are the best team in the Big Ten, but who is clearly better than them?

The Spartans should meet up with Wisconsin, which will be a redemption payback game for Russell Wilson and the Badgers. Most have to believe they will get that payback victory at Lucas Oil Stadium, barring any sort of major injury heading into the game.

The Badgers' opponent will likely be the Oregon Ducks, since they have the tiebreaker over Stanford and they should win at home in the first ever Pac-12 Championship. 

BCS Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma Sooners vs. Stanford Cardinal

The mighty Boomer Sooners could have an outside chance at playing in a much more important bowl game if they were to spoil their rival's chances of reaching the BCS National Championship Game. 

Even without one of the all-time greats in Ryan Broyles (knee), the Sooners offense ranks among the best in all of college football. Dominique Whaley (ankle) was thought to be a tough loss, but Oklahoma has a slew of different running backs that have toted the rock.

Landry Jones is really starting to turn into a special quarterback, and he has found Jaz Reynold and Kenny Stills early and often this season. Assuming the Sooners were to lose to Oklahoma State in Stillwater, they would still land in the Fiesta Bowl, since they would replace the Cowboys and the Big 12 in this bowl.

The Fiesta Bowl gets the first pick for at-large bid teams, and many had Boise State penciled in, but with their loss it opens the door for another team. 

Andrew Luck and the Cardinal would be tough to pass with the top pick in the BCS selection process. Luck against the Sooners was something we thought we were going to see in the Sun Bowl two seasons ago, but Luck sat out with an injury (finger).

The Sooners won that game, but without Broyles, the Sooners will have their work cut out for them against Stanford. The bottom line is that Landry Jones and Andrew Luck will have all of the NFL scouts drooling in Glendale.

BCS Sugar Bowl: Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Houston Cougars

Alabama continues to survive and advance in the SEC. Their offense has struggled at times, but their defense is just better than every team they play (save LSU, arguably, since they did lose).

Trent Richardson can grind it out in the passing game on top of toting the rock in the backfield. The biggest question could come if Oklahoma State were to lose, but for now the Tide will settle for a spot in the Sugar Bowl.

So, who will their opponents be? How about the record-setting machine himself, Case Keenum?

His Houston Cougars still need to run the table to have any serious chance of staying in the top 10, but they will presumably stay ahead of Virginia Tech (assuming they lose to Clemson in ACC Championship Game).

The BCS cannot have three SEC teams in the BCS, unless of course the top two teams happen to be playing each other for the National Championship. In these current updates I do not have LSU and Alabama getting their rematch. 

Lastly, if the Cougars can knock off a few solid teams in Tulsa, and eventually Southern Miss in the Conference USA Championship, they will be on their way to the program's first ever BCS appearance.

BCS Orange Bowl: Virginia Tech Hokies vs. West Virginia Mountaineers

How things have changed in just a few weeks. The Virginia Tech Hokies were not looking like contenders when they were throttled in Blacksburg by 20 points to Clemson, and West Virginia was coming off a miserable home loss to Louisville one weekend ago.

However, the Cincinnati Bearcats starting quarterback Zach Collaros suffered a lower right leg injury in their loss to West Virginia. 

Sophomore quarterback Munchie Legaux did his best job replacing Collaros, but it was not good enough in their 24-21 defeat. The Bearcats star quarterback's status is up in the air at the moment, but they must go on the road to a tough Rutgers team next weekend. A loss there, and all hell breaks loose.

A three-way tie could result in the BCS Standings, since Rutgers lost to West Virginia at home a few weeks ago.

Back to those Clemson Tigers though, because I guarantee you most "experts" will have the Tigers in their projections. Not me!

Clemson was fortunate to get by Wake Forest at home, and Tajh Boyd has seemingly struggled recently at hitting open receivers. The Hokies defense is only getting better with a healthy Jayron Hoseley, and I suspect Frank Beamer's squad will get back to the BCS by knocking off a good Clemson team.

BCS National Championship: LSU Tigers vs Oklahoma State Cowboys

I would be foolish to go against the LSU Tigers, since they have yet to lose a game. Let it be known that Arkansas and Georgia are two of the hottest teams in the country right now though.

If LSU were to lose, many would scratch their heads on who deserves to play in the BCS National Championship. There are way too many scenarios to go over, but let us just talk about the top two.

If Arkansas knocks off LSU, then it would become a three-way tiebreaker, in which it depends on where LSU is ranked in the BCS if they lose to Arkansas. Reading rule eight is what the SEC West may come down to, which would likely favor Alabama, but it depends on if LSU loses to Arkansas, and by how much.

If LSU stays ahead of Arkansas despite losing to them, they would get the edge over the Tide, since they beat them.

The other scenario, of course, is if Georgia were to beat the Bayou Bengals in the SEC Championship Game. LSU would likely drop way out of the top two, and then all of a sudden Alabama would likely play for the BCS National Championship, despite not even winning their division.

The Cowboys make life a lot easier on us, since they will be in if they run the table. The only madness we could see is if they were to lose to the Sooners in Bedlam.

Until all of that possible madness occurs, we should take a deep breath and enjoy each and every weekend leading up to the eventual BCS National Championship.