Bowl Projections: West Virginia Now a Virtual Lock for Orange Bowl

Want to hear a funny joke?

The Big East champion gets to play in a BCS bowl.

Ah yes, when it comes to trolling and loling, there's nothing like taking a few jabs at the Big East. If you're just now tuning in to the situation, take my word for it that the Big East deserves it.

But when it comes to actually figuring out which team is actually going to earn the Big East's BCS bid, that's where we have to get serious.

As of right now, Cincinnati, Louisville and West Virginia are all in the mix to earn the Big East's automatic BCS bid. Things will be determined this weekend, as Cincinnati and West Virginia both have final games to wrap up.

If Cincinnati beats UConn and West Virginia beats South Florida, then the Mountaineers are going to get the BCS berth. The key factor was for them to be the highest-ranked Big East team in the BCS rankings, and it turns out that they are the only Big East team ranked in the BCS rankings.

The actual number matters very little, but for what it's worth the Mountaineers are No. 23.

I'm going to go out on a limb right now and guess that West Virginia is going to get the bid. The Bulls have lost six of seven games, and in all likelihood won't pose much of a problem when they take on the Mountaineers on Thursday night. The Bearcats should do their part by beating the Huskies, who have had all sorts of trouble on the road this season.

If things actually pan out this way, the question will then become which bowl will get to host the Mountaineers. My best guess is that it will be the Orange Bowl.

The reason I say this is because the Orange Bowl gets last dibs at the various at-large teams, and it's not likely that any of the other bowls are going to be quick to select the Big East champ. The idea is to create a matchup that will sell, and there are teams that are better suited to the task than West Virginia.

The Mountaineers would be squaring off against the ACC champ in the Orange Bowl. Given the way the two teams have looked recently, I'm thinking Virginia Tech will handle Clemson in the conference championship game to earn the ACC title.

If that happens, we're looking at a matchup between Virginia Tech and West Virginia.

Pretty simple, right?

That's another joke.

Week 14 BCS Rankings

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