Friday, August 25, 2006

Time for tailgating

It's time to start tailgating, practicing crowd chants, and drunken revelry. That's right, college football is back!

The rules are different this year for determining BCS slots. Instead of eight slots, there are now 10 slots available to teams. A mid-major team can now qualify by being in the top 12 or by being in the top 16 and finishing higher than a BCS league champ (that means, you, 2005 Seminoles!) Notre Dame can qualify by being in the top 8 which, with 2 or 3 losses, isn’t going to happen. Good.

Who will win their respective conferences?

Big 10 – Michigan
Big 12 – Texas over Iowa State
Big East – West Virginia
ACC – Miami over Clemson
SEC – Florida over Auburn
Pac 10 - Cal
Mtn. West – TCU
Sun Belt – Arkansas State
MAC - Toledo
WAC – Boise State
C-USA – Southern MS

The whole description is here. Read it if you need to get some sleep.

At least one mid-major will make it. I’d bet it would be TCU, which will get some momentum by outgunning Texas Tech and rolling onward from that point. The Mountain West is the best non-BCS conference, and has even been better than other conferences in recent years, so it will get a BCS nod for the second time in three years (Utah went to the Fiesta in 2005). I don't think Boise State has the schedule to get up into the top 12, but if enough major teams falter, it could vault up. I'm betting not.

Beyond that, I’d say that USC, LSU, and Iowa get the other at-large BCS bids in addition to TCU and the conference champs Michigan, Texas, West Virginia, Miami, Florida, and Cal.

Sugar Bowl – USC v. LSU
Orange – Miami v. TCU
Fiesta – Texas v. Iowa
Rose – Cal v. Michigan

The BCS Championship will be held a few days after the other bowl games. It won’t have two of the winners from these games, but will have the #1 and #2 ranked teams playing on January 8. Frankly, in going so late, they may as well throw in the towel and make it a playoff, but that’s not happening for a while.

It hurts to write the following sentence:

Florida defeats West Virginia in the BCS Championship in Glendale, AZ.

And yes, I’m also hoping this is a reverse jinx.

Woof, woof.

4 comments:

Jeff Briscoe said...

Wow. I'll have to digest this and post my own pics. I hope you're right about Florida. I feel good about Leak being a 4th year senior personally. Surprisingly, he takes a lot of heat down here and many think the new #1 QB recruit in the state they landed will run the spread-option better. Maybe. But I think Leak will do better with Meyer's system this year.

What scares me most for Florida is the schedule: Auburn, Alabama, and LSU - and that's just who they play in the SEC West. Then you mix in UGA, UT, USC, and FSU - I'm not sure they can go undefeated which is probably what it would take since the Big 12, Pac 10, and Big East are so much weaker, IMHO. Those conf champs could all be undefeated. But I like your optimism and am considering it! :)

APOSEC72 said...

Jeez, do not want to turn verification back on, but I may have to.

If Florida can make it through that schedule, they should play in Glendale.

Tennessee and UGA are down, and who knows what might happen with AUburn in the wake of its grade scandal. USC might be down too, but still good enough to compete for a BCS berth.

It might be set up for them to hit teams at the right time, and roll through the schedule.

Jeff Briscoe said...

Agreed. But with no playoff system, can't you just see them missing out on the title game with 1 loss while the winners of the weak Big 12 or Pac 10 go undefeated?

Regardless, I am so ready for college football. Sunshine Network has been showing classic games involving the Florida teams for a few weeks now to build up to opening weekend.

APOSEC72 said...

Actually, I think this may be the year where no team goes undefeated and two 1-loss teams meet.