The Fighting Irish Stay on Top of the BCS Rankings
As the college football season comes to an end, Bowl Championship Series rankings become more and more crucial. Rankings now determine who’s going to the big game and who’s going bowling.
In this week’s rankings the undefeated Notre Dame Fighting Irish earned the No. 1 spot. The Irish are 12-0 with arguably one of the toughest schedules in the nation, which consists of nine bowl-eligible teams.
Notre Dame is lead by Heisman hopeful Manti Te’o. Te’o leads Football Bowl Subdivision linebackers with seven interceptions for the season. Notre Dame does not have to play in a conference title game, so they have a spot in the National Championship game.
The No. 2 spot in this week’s BCS polls goes to the Alabama Crimson Tide. After a devastating loss to Texas A&M, Alabama never thought they’d see a chance to play in the National Championship, but with losses from Kansas State and Oregon, it is now a possibility.
Alabama will face No. 3 Georgia this weekend in the Southeastern Conference title game. The winner of this game will clinch the other spot in the National Championship game and face Notre Dame. These two teams will be facing each other for the first time this season.
Florida, another SEC school, takes the No. 4 spot. They are coming off a victory against in-state rival No. 13 Florida State, 37-26. Florida just fell short of Georgia in winning the SEC East. Florida will likely play in a BCS game, since the loser in the SEC title game would have two losses.
No. 5 Oregon rounds out the top five BCS teams. Oregon is also coming off a win against its in-state rival, No. 15 Oregon State. Oregon is hoping to receive a BCS bowl game bid after a loss to Stanford that crushed its national title hopes.
Kansas State, LSU, Stanford, Texas A&M and South Carolina round out the top 10 in the BCS rankings. Kansas State, who was No. 1 until a loss to Baylor, will likely play in a BCS bowl game if the Wildcats beat Texas this weekend.
With Alabama, Georgia and Florida ahead of the Tigers, LSU will not be playing in a BCS bowl this year. However, the Tigers will still be playing in a top tier bowl game.
Stanford has a good shot at representing the Pac-12 Conference in a BCS game. The Aggies and Gamecocks will not play in BCS bowl games because of the two team per conference limit.
Oklahoma, Nebraska, Florida State, Clemson and Oregon State round out the 11-15 spots in the BCS rankings. Florida State and Nebraska are still BCS hopefuls.
Oklahoma will hope for a Kansas State loss to Texas to be in the talk for a BCS game. Clemson and Oregon State will most likely not get a spot in a BCS game.
UCLA, Kent State, Texas, Michigan and Boise State are the No. 16-20 teams in the BCS. None of these teams will be likely to pick up a bid for a BCS game but all teams will play in a bowl game.
Northern Illinois, Northwestern, Oklahoma State, Utah State and San Jose State are the last teams in the BCS rankings. These teams will not be playing for a BCS game but will still be playing in a bowl game.
Louisville, who is not in the BCS top 25, will most likely earn an at-large bid to a BCS game because the Cardinals won the Big East. Louisville will likely play in the Orange Bowl, who gets the last pick and is left with the Big East champion.
The Ohio State Buckeyes finished with a perfect 12-0 record but are not listed in BCS rankings due to the bowl ban. This will be the last year the Buckeyes will have to sit out after the regular season.
With the bowl games approaching soon; some teams’ futures are very predictable, and others, not so much.
