BCS Rankings: Teams with Most to Gain from Clemson's Upset Loss

In the biggest upset of the day (though not the weekend), the Clemson Tigers went on the road to unranked NC State and got slaughtered, 37-13. It’s the second loss of the season for Clemson, which will plunge from its No. 7 BCS ranking.

Of all the teams jockeying for BCS bowl position, these three have to be the happiest to see a high-ranked competitor take a fall this late in the season:

Stanford Cardinal

The Cardinal’s home loss to Oregon had dropped them to No. 9 in the rankings, two spots in back of Clemson. With this Tiger loss, Stanford is guaranteed to move that much closer to the top of the BCS bowl heap.

Nobody is going to upset the Ducks before bowl season, so it’s unrealistic to believe that Stanford would get a title shot regardless of how many other teams are competing in that race. When it comes to picking at-large teams for the BCS bowls, though, the Cardinal will be in a stronger position now that they’ll move back ahead of Clemson in the rankings.

Houston Cougars

The last undefeated team aside from No.1 LSU gets a nice bonus to its BCS hopes with the defeat of the Tigers. Case Keenum and Houston kept rolling along this afternoon (37-7 over SMU) and will now be assured of a move into the top 10 in the BCS standings.

The Cougars should have climbed into the top 10 after last week’s Boise State debacle, but the Broncos only slipped to No. 10. Oklahoma State will drop by a similarly small margin this week, but Clemson is sure to fall far enough to open the door for a Houston trip to a BCS bowl.

Arkansas Razorbacks

No team had more reason to enjoy the weekend’s two major upsets more than the Arkansas Razorbacks. The BCS’ sixth-ranked team needs to maximize its standing heading into an unwinnable road date with No. 1 LSU next Friday.

A two-loss Razorback team will deserve a chance at a BCS bowl, and the best way for them to make that happen is to see other top-tier schools go down. The Razorbacks will now be in a position to compete with the loser of next week’s Oklahoma-Oklahoma State showdown for an at-large spot at the BCS table.