Bowls, Bowls and Bowls

[moe 0]

I apologize for it being so long. If you want to get to the abbreviated version, just scroll all the way down.

Obviously we are rooting for Arkansas this Friday at 2:30 to beat LSU. Pig Sooie! With a LSU loss we directly go to ATL and face Georgia. If LSU does indeed win, how would it pan out? Let's take a look at the top 10:

1. USC

2. Texas

3. LSU

4. Penn State

5. Virginia Tech

6. Notre Dame

7. Ohio State

8. Oregon

9. Auburn

10. Miami

8 BCS bowl slots to fill

1. USC (Pac -10)

2. TX (Big-12)

3. LSU (SEC) -we'll assume they win

4. Penn State (Big 10)

5. V-Tech/Florida St. (ACC) -doesn't really matter who wins

6. WVU/USF (Big East) - doesn't really matter who wins

7. At large

8. At large

2 at large bowls to fill. 2 bowls with 4 teams having a legit shot to go: Notre Dame, Ohio State, Auburn, and Oregon. If Notre Dame wins against Stanford then one of the slots is already filled. So now we got Ohio State, Auburn, and Oregon going for the one and last spot. The obvious choice here would be OSU, but I don't know what the bowls have in mind for matchups. There is no way (in my mind at least) that Auburn is chosen over Ohio State and Oregon for this last at large bid.

If Notre Dame does win and we don't get in the BCS mix, we need to root for the Fiesta to give the last BCS at large to Oregon. This in turn matches up with Ohio State in Orlando. I think we could all agree we want to play Ohio State in the Capital One Bowl rather than Wisconsin.

But what if Notre Dame loses? Long shot I know, but just play along with me. The BCS states:"All other Division I-A teams that have won at least nine regular season games (not including wins in exempt games) and are ranked among the top 12 in the final BCS Standings are eligible for selection as an at-large team"

Notre Dame should be ranked 7 or 8 in tomorrow's BCS rankings. The question is, if Notre Dame loses to Stanford would they drop below number 12? If they don't drop below, I still see the Fiesta taking the Irish...I know I would. The computer polls already don't like the Irish and is the big reason they are already not ranked higher. But if they do drop below then this is where things start to get interesting - OSU, Auburn, and Oregon for 2 spots. I cannot see the Orange or the Fiesta passing us up. I realize this is a long shot with ND losing first, ND dropping below number 12 secondly and thirdly our team being chosen over Oregon.

But in a nutshell this is who we need to root for:

1. Arkansas to beat LSU - Go to SECCG

2. Stanford to beat ND - then root for the computer polls to drop ND lower

if number 1 & 2 fail then all we got left to do is:

3. Root for the Fiesta reps to pick Oregon over Ohio State - So we get Ohio State in the Capital One Bowl

[moe 0]

New BCS standings:

1 USC

2 Texas

3 Penn State

4 LSU

5 Virginia Tech

6 Ohio State

7 Oregon

8 Notre Dame

9 Miami

10 Auburn

Yea like I said last night, the computers absolutely hate Notre Dame. If Notre Dame does indeed lose to Stanford there is no doubt in my mind they drop below #12.

So let's hope ND loses at 8:00 on Saturday.

[tgr4lfe 220]

Stanford is not a bad team, they are decent. They have beaten all the lower rung teams in the Weak 10. They played UCLA close. ND is by no means out of the woods. If they can play some D against ND and get to Quinn they can beat ND. No way the BCS powers that be will put Oregon over Ohio St or Penn St. in the Fiesta against ND if they do beat Stanford. I wouldn't be suprised to see Penn St get the nod to the Fiesta Bowl against ND, unless as Big 10 champ they are locked into something else. If all does not go our way to go to the SECGG I see it this way.

Rose Bowl - USC v. Texas

Fiesta Bowl - Ohio St v. ND

Orange Bowl - Va Tech/FSU v. Penn St

Sugar Bowl - LSU/UGA v. West Virginia/USF

Looking at the ESPN projections of Pat Forde and Ivan Maisel, they have both have us against Wisconsin, with OSU going to the Fiesta. If FSU were to upset Va Tech then what would happen.....FSU v. Penn St in Orange??? Where does Va Tech go then...get nod over Wisconsin for rematch with AU???

ESPN Bowl Projections

edit in. CBS Sportsline has AU v. Ohio St in the Capital One. They have Oregon playing ND in the Fiesta. I don't know...will be interesting to see how they match folks up.

[Aufan59 65]

Root against ND.

Root for whatever team helps us in the SEC West Standings.

Seems like a typical Saturday to me.

[JxnTider 0]

Root against ND.

Root for whatever team helps us in the SEC West Standings.

Seems like a typical Saturday to me. 

200437[/snapback]

humh, Alabama in the Cotton versus Texas Tech.. I don't know if i like that pairing. They have a pretty good offense. Mainly a passing attack, but like we saw saturday, if we play a conservative man to man, we can get beat. Humh... i don't think they have a good defense, but i haven't really kept up.

Could get interesting.

[saniflush 0]

Root against ND.

Root for whatever team helps us in the SEC West Standings.

Seems like a typical Saturday to me. 

200437[/snapback]

humh, Alabama in the Cotton versus Texas Tech.. I don't know if i like that pairing. They have a pretty good offense. Mainly a passing attack, but like we saw saturday, if we play a conservative man to man, we can get beat. Humh... i don't think they have a good defense, but i haven't really kept up.

Could get interesting.

200594[/snapback]

I think if your D shows up, Alabama could handle them. They have scored a lot of points throughout the year but as Texas showed when faced with a good defense they don't have anything. IMO.

[ValleyTiger 2,894]

Assuming that LSU wins Friday, what if UGA won the SECCG and FSU pulled off the huge upset? I know the automatic goes to UGA, but would the voters give the nod for the at large to since we did beat UGA.

Here's to forcing our way in by winning the SECCG!