BCS Rankings: Recapping the Biggest Week 13 Risers and Fallers

Week 13 provided a ton of fireworks, and many teams made leaps and bounds. A few teams officially have a case to make as far as playing in a BCS Bowl, but there are still several teams that must win next weekend to secure those bids.

Which teams are rising to make those million dollar bowls and which teams are fading by the day?

Note: My first five are the risers and the final five are the fallers

Stanford Cardinal

With the win over Notre Dame they are a virtual lock to play in the BCS Fiesta Bowl. Plus, Andrew Luck had a solid game against the Irish and is nipping at Trent Richardson for the Heisman. David Shaw did a tremendous job in his first season and to have consecutive seasons with just one loss is impressive.

Georgia Bulldogs

Georgia has won 10 straight games and is arguably the hottest team in the country not locked into a BCS Bowl. They will get their chances to do so if they can knock off the top ranked team in the country.

The Bayou Bengals have been suffocating on defense, but the 'Dawgs have a legit defense of their own and they will be playing in nearly their own backyard.

Aaron Murray has been playing like a superstar lately (threw four more TDs versus GT), and that does not tell the true story of this team. UGA has one of the better offensive lines in the country, and Isiah Crowell and Richard Samuel IV did not even play against the Yellow Jackets.

Crowell will be 100 percent against LSU and hope is that Samuel will also return. The two have been a tremendous combo when healthy, and they have the making of giving LSU their best game all season (save 'Bama).

Wisconsin Badgers

The Badgers are literally on fire thanks to Montee Ball, who now has 34 total touchdowns on the season.

He is just five away from tying Barry Sanders' all-time record of 39 back in 1988-1989 for Oklahoma State.

Wisconsin still needs to beat Michigan State to play in the Rose Bowl against the winner of Oregon-UCLA (Ducks big), but the Badgers have been dominating teams in the Big Ten since their loss to Ohio State.

Throw in a lucky Hail Mary loss to Michigan State in the first time they played and the Badgers would be in discussion for the BCS title game.

Michigan State Spartans

Michigan State will face off against the scorching hot Badgers, but Sparty has a winning streak of their own. They have taken care of four Big Ten teams in a row and are poised to give Wisconsin everything they can handle.

The offense has been going bonkers on the scoreboard thanks to a defense that has been relentless.

Jerel Worthy is a man amongst boys, but the rest of the bunch is loaded with playmakers. Maybe they are not next-level players for Sundays, but defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi has them flying around the field making plays.

Houston Cougars

Don't look now, but the Houston Cougars are 12-0 and just one more win away from playing in the BCS. It would likely be the Sugar Bowl, but the Case Keenum and the boys must knock off Southern Miss first.

The weapons are endless on offense, but the defense has a few playmakers at linebacker and are a very opportunistic bunch this season.

Virginia Tech Hokies

The Hokies were questioned by most "experts" as to whether or not they were deserving of being ranked in the Top Five.

Well, David Wilson and Logan Thomas had something to say about that. Plus, the defense completely shutdown Virginia's offense, and it sent a message that the Hokies are for real this season. 

When we talk about "being for real," we do not mean legit title contenders, but more so a legit top 10 team that could play with any conference outside of the top two from the SEC (Georgia could get um). 

At the moment, Virginia Tech still has one game left, as they need to beat a Clemson team that clobbered them at Lane Stadium. Redemption and revenge will play a factor in this game, and Clemson has now been smoked two games in a row.

Arkansas Razorbacks

Tyler Wilson did not have much time to throw it against LSU because the offensive line was once again exposed against a stellar defense. 

LSU and Alabama have the two best defenses in the country, and though Arkansas won't drop too far down, they likely will not stay in the Top Five.

Their ranking is meaningless since they no longer will be playing in a BCS Bowl. There was hope had they knocked off LSU, but no conference can have three teams in the BCS unless, of course, the top two are in the BCS National Championship and neither of them win the conference title.

That could happen, but it would be Georgia playing in the Sugar Bowl since they won the SEC East.

A Capital One Bowl is in the near future against whoever loses the Big Ten Championship.

Penn State Nittany Lions

Penn State was hopeful coming into Camp Randall Stadium by perhaps knocking off the Wisconsin Badgers. Instead, they were thrashed 45-7 and allowed Montee Ball and Russell Wilson to walk all over them.

The defense allowed 450 yards, but the offense could only accumulate 233. That number is even down for their standards, and the passing game continues to be shaky.

They will either be playing in the Outback or Insight Bowl, depending on which one wants them (many speculate Outback doesn't want them, but that's just some opinions, not mine).

Clemson Tigers

Clemson once upon a time was steamrolling opponents in September, but here they are on the verge of falling out of the Top 25!

Tajh Boyd has now struggled miserably for two straight games. He threw for just 83 yards with a touchdown and a pick. It was apparent that the Tigers offensive line could not block South Carolina at any point of the game consistently on a drive, and it cost the team dearly.

Up next is the deadly hot Hokies, who have upped their record to 11-1. Clemson has fallen flat on their faces to 9-3. A loss to Virginia Tech would still give them a Chick-Fil-A Bowl appearance, and an upset victory, of course, would give them the BCS Orange Bowl.

Auburn Tigers

Well, Auburn took their whipping to Alabama in their backyard as most had expected. A 42-14 beatdown did allow us to learn a few things: Alabama is the best defensive team in the country, and Auburn can score, albeit only on defense or special teams.

I kid because I care, but the Tigers needs to certainly improve offensively by next season. The future looks bright if they can decide who is their quarterback (Kiehl Frazier looks like the guy).

Michael Dyer and Onterio McCalebb are two tremendous speedsters (Dyer is a NFL future star) that really carry this offense. Alabama's defense does not allow big plays, and Auburn relies on that with their star runners.

Once Alabama got up fairly big in the fourth quarter, they were able to pin their ears back even more. Auburn was held to 140 yards of offense, as only 62 of them came through the air. 

The Gator Bowl is a great possibility, though there are a few other options as well (Chick-Fil-A or Music City).

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Some thought the Yellow Jackets were going to pull off the upset (Corso, Herby). However, the game nearly got ugly in the second half, and they will drop way out of the Top 25.

Georgia did not have two of their best backs, but Aaron Murray carved up the secondary of the Jackets. It was one of their biggest weaknesses, and it certainly was exposed against the 'Dawgs.

The offense for GT at least did not struggle in terms of yardage, as they ran for 243 yards thanks to Roddy Jones, David Sims, quarterback Tevin Washington and Orwin Smith. They could not throw it with enough success when they needed, and the defense is simply not great enough to stop the upper echelon teams.

An 8-4 season and a likely Sun Bowl appearance (UCLA) is not all that bad, since many did not foresee this successful of a season for Paul Johnson after he lost a ton of talent on defense on top of his leader quarterback, Josh Nesbitt.