Bowl Projections: Oklahoma and More Teams Ready to Squeeze out at-Large Bids

LSU and Alabama may have already locked up their spots in the BCS National Championship Game, but there's still plenty left to be sorted out among the rest of the rankings to see who will play in the Rose, Fiesta, Orange and Sugar bowls.

For these three teams, winning on Championship Saturday would not only ensure themselves spots in the BCS, but also give their opponents free passes into the madness, thereby leaving other at-large teams on the outside of the party looking in.

Oklahoma

Despite losses to Texas Tech and Baylor, Oklahoma still has a shot at winning the Big 12 and earning an automatic bid into the Fiesta Bowl. The Sooners need only beat Oklahoma State on Saturday to do just that while also extending their streak of victories in the Bedlam Series to nine games.

Of course, beating a high-caliber Cowboys team won't be easy, but if any program is capable of sending fans in Stillwater screaming with disappointment, it's OU.

Even so, a loss to the Sooners would hardly be damning for the Pokes. If anything, OK State's current perch at No. 3 in the BCS all but guarantees that they'll sneak into a big-money bowl, whether Mike Gundy's guys pull out a victory or not.

Such would leave the Sooner State with both of the Big 12's bids, effectively eliminating Kansas State from contention.

Georgia

Thanks to a sterling resume and strong numbers across the board, LSU can book its bus tickets to New Orleans for the BCS title game right now, regardless of whether the team loses to Georgia in the SEC Championship Game on Saturday.

If anything, a loss by the Tigers would be a boon to the SEC, as it would allow the conference to skirt the usual two-team-per-league restriction by sending LSU and 'Bama to the national title game and the Bulldogs to the Orange Bowl or the Fiesta Bowl with the SEC's automatic bid.

UGA wouldn't be allowed to play in the Sugar Bowl by virtue of the BCS' strange rules, but a spot in either of the other two for which it would be eligible would grant Mark Richt a nice respite from the hot seat while helping the nation's top college football conference to hoard the beaucoup bucks even more.

Clemson

Most signs point to Virginia Tech topping Clemson in the ACC Championship. The Hokies have been playing as well as any team outside the SEC of late while the Tigers have plummeted from national title contention with losses in three of their last four games—road blowouts all.

But before we hand a spot in the Orange Bowl to VA Tech, remember that this same Clemson team dominated Frank Beamer's boys in Blacksburg back in October, 23-3.

Should that same script play out again, Dabo Swinney's squad would weasel its way to Miami while the Hokies, currently at No. 5 in the BCS, would still be in position to snag an at-large bid into the mix.

Rank	Team	BCS Average
1	LSU	1.000
2	Alabama	.955
3	Oklahoma State	.871
4	Stanford	.856
5	Virginia Tech	.781
6	Houston	.740
7	Boise State	.703
8	Arkansas	.700
9	Oregon	.686
10	Oklahoma	.671
11	Kansas State	.570
12	South Carolina	.568
13	Michigan State	.537
14	Georgia	.535
15	Wisconsin	.458
16	Michigan	.431
17	Baylor	.391
18	TCU	.331
19	Nebraska	.258
20	Clemson	.198
21	Penn State	.138
22	Texas	.133
23	West Virginia	.124
24	Southern Miss	.072
25	Missouri	.059