Who’s the favorite for the 2011 BCS National Title Game?

Yep, easy logic would land any marginally informed college football fan at the Alabama Crimson Tide.

A repeat doesn’t seem too unlikely seeing as freshman running back Trent Richardson, redshirt junior quarterback Greg McElroy, coach Nick Saban and yes, Heisman winner sophomore running back Mark Ingram all return.

But of the entirety of the rest of the Football Bowl Subdivision, who would be be next in line?

Well I’m here to tell you that you shouldn’t count out Boise State.

Yes, the very same Boise State of the Western Athletic Conference,  Fiesta Bowl Statue of Liberty and Battle of BCS-Buster fame. In years past, the best the Broncos could possibly hope for was a BCS bowl bid, but this year might just be a little different. First let’s look at the Broncos non-conference opponents:

vs. Virginia Tech (Sept. 6th)
vs. Wyoming (Sept. 18th)
vs. Oregon State (Sept. 25)
vs. Toledo (Oct. 9)

Then they’ll have an eight-game Western Athletic Conference schedule, during which they went 8-0 last season. Not too tough a schedule, right?

Now think about where they might start the season in the polls… In all likelyhood top-10 if not top-five on the strength of their Fiesta Bowl victory over TCU at the end of last season and the fact that they’re returning almost all of their starters from last year, including quarterback Kellen Moore.

So a couple losses combined with moving slowly up the rankings with wins over very beatable teams, plus the always friendly computer rankings for an unbeaten team, and what might we have? An undefeated Boise State team playing for the BCS National Championship Game.

Yes you heard me right. The Boise State Broncos could very easily make their way to the National Title Game next year, and all they would really need is to go undefeated and have three or four teams lose ahead of them. If the past few seasons are any indication, more than three or four preseason top-five teams are going to lose at least once before the season is up meaning that Boise has a legitimate shot.

Forecasters and gamblers alike also like this proposition, as Boise State has been installed as the second favorite to win the BCS national title, at 12/1 odds according to bodog.com.

Could this finally be the year? Its still far far away, but this just gets you to thinking….

Recently, it has come to light that many of the BCS conference are looking to expand and realign.

The consequences of this move could have ripple effects around the college football landscape and have immediate and large effects on the Bowl Championship Series.

During the past few seasons, the Atlantic Coast Conference, Southeastern Conference and Big 12 Conference have all been able to hold conference championship game because they all have 12 member schools. By the rules set out by the BCS, only conferences with 12 teams are allowed to hold conference championship games.

Teams from conferences that don’t have 12 teams have cried foul about the rule, saying that the ability of schools of these three conferences to hold a championship game and give one team another quality win gave those three conferences a better shot at securing a BCS National Title game bid, because of the effect of a final-week game on the human and computer elements of the BCS rankings.

And sure enough, this season saw the winner of the SEC Championship Game and the Big 12 Championship Game get bids to the national title game, a circumstance that was almost preordained before the season even started.

Now it has been revealed that the Big 10 and Pac 10 are both looking into securing enough teams to hold their own conference championship game. The reasons behind the expansion reach further than simply a boost in the BCS, as both are looking at gaining an upper hand in television rights negotiations, but the fact remains the same. Five conferences with 12 teams, and therefore five conference championship games would have a major impact on the BCS.

No longer would the Big 10 have the convience of waiting for good teams to loose and submit Ohio State to the BCS National Title game for all those years in the mid 2000’s. No longer would the Pac-10 be robbed of the chance to submit USC to the National Title game because they played a 6-6 UCLA on their final weekend, and not a 9-3 California or 8-4 Oregon State.

The Big 12 and SEC would no longer hold an upper hand on the final weekend, and the computers and even the human elements would have to notice. And this would change things drastically.

And with the current revolt in Congress and the Senate against the BCS, this move towards change could only further confuse what could be a huge opportunity for big change in the college football landscape and the way that the Football Bowl Subdivision crowns its champion.

Every year, we here at BCS Know How publish postseason BCS rankings, what the BCS would look like if it were to come out after the conclusion of all of the bowl games.

All we try to do is to look at what the BCS would think of the teams after all is said and done.

Thankfully, most of the components of the BCS feel the same way – that postseason rankings are appropriate, we just compile those statistics into a new BCS ranking.

After Anderson and Hester finally released their postseason rankings yesterday, we can finally reveal the top 12 in the BCS Know How Postseason BCS Rankings.

For the formula, we replace the Harris Interactive Poll with the Associated Press as the Harris does not reveal postseason rankings.

Not surprisingly, the BCS National Champion Alabama Crimson Tide claimed a unanimous No. 1 vote throughout the BCS components.

Florida comes in close behind, reaffirming the belief that the SEC held the two best teams in the nation this year.

BCS darling Boise State and BCS runners-up Texas are a close No. 3 and 4, while No. 5 Rose Bowl champion Ohio State is well off the pace.

TCU, Iowa and Cincinnati round out the top eight, all bunched closely together. The Bearcats and Horned Frogs had been third and fourth in the final BCS rankings, but losses in BCS bowls hurt their cases at better final rankings positioning.

If you want to take a closer look at all of the final rankings, you can take a look at BCS Know How’s Postseason Rankings worksheet right HERE.

BCS Rankings

Valiant as it was, Texas’s comeback despite the game-ending injury to Colt McCoy was too little, too late, as the Alabama Crimson Tide captured the BCS National Championship 37-21 Thursday night.

McCoy and the Longhorns got a quick start after a Crimson Tide fake punt was intercepted, but on the very first series of the biggest game of his life, McCoy injured his throwing shoulder and was done for the game.

His backup Garrett Gilbert came in and looked shaky to put it lightly.

After scoring the first six points of the game, the Longhorns gave up 24 unanswered to finish the half, one of the scores coming on a 49-yard rush from Trent Richardson, who was featured heavily after Heisman Trophy recipient Mark Ingram came out of the game with an injury of his own.

However, a post-halftime revival and Jordan Shipley nearly brought the Longhorns all the way back, as Gilbert broke loose in the second half, throwing for two touchdowns, both to the Longhorn receiving star.

After bringing the game to within a field goal at 24-21, Gilbert showed his youth as he was sacked and fumbled the ball near the goal line.

Unlike McCoy, Ingram was able to return, and his one-yard touchdown run sealed the victory for the Tide late the fourth quarter.

Ingram broke the recent trend of Heisman winners coming up short in the national title game as he rushed for 116 yards and two touchdowns despite his injury. Richardson also contributed a 100-yard performance with two scores, as the Longhorn defense had no answer for the Tide’s strong rushing attack.

Alabama’s victory also gives the SEC four straight BCS national champions, a streak that looks more and more impressive as now three different schools have won the four titles: LSU, Florida (twice) and now ‘Bama.

And who said the non-BCS bowls were boring?

After nearly three weeks of exciting action, the non-BCS bowl season is complete, 29 games in all, each with a story of their own.

It all started with the New Mexico Bowl, which took two overtimes to complete as Wyoming edged Fresno State 35-28. And in a moment of pure symmetry, 18 days late in the final non-BCS bowl game, the GMAC Bowl was another two overtime thriller, as Central Michigan stole the victory away from Troy 44-41.

Here’s a final run down of all of the non-BCS bowls and their final scores. Winners in RED.

December 19: New Mexico Bowl (Wyoming 35 vs. Fresno State 28)

December 19: St. Petersburg Bowl (Rutgers 45 vs. UCF 24)

December 20 New Orleans Bowl (Middle Tennessee State 42 vs. Southern Miss 32)

December 22: Las Vegas Bowl (BYU 44 vs. Oregon State 20)

December 23: Poinsettia Bowl (Utah 37 vs. California 27)

December 24: Hawaii Bowl (SMU 45 vs. Nevada 10)

December 26: Little Caesars Pizza Bowl  (Ohio 17 vs. Marshall 21)

December 26: Car Care Bowl (North Carolina 17 vs. Pittsburgh 19)

December 26: Emerald Bowl (Boston College 13 vs. Southern California 24)

December 27: Music City Bowl (Clemson 21 vs. Kentucky 13)

December 28: Independence Bowl (Texas A&M 20 vs. Georgia 44)

December 29: EagleBank Bowl (UCLA 30 vs. Temple 21)

December 29: Champs Sports Bowl (Miami (FL) 14 vs. Wisconsin 20)

December 30: Humanitarian Bowl (Idaho 43 vs. Bowling Green 42)

December 30: Holiday Bowl (Nebraska 33 vs. Arizona 0)

December 31: Armed Forces Bowl (Air Force 47 vs. Houston 20)

December 31: Sun Bowl (Oklahoma 31 vs. Stanford 27)

December 31: Texas Bowl (Missouri 13 vs. Navy 35)

December 31: Insight Bowl (Minnesota 13 vs. Iowa State 14)

December 31: Chick-fil-A Bowl (Virginia Tech 37 vs. Tennessee 14)

January 1: Outback Bowl (Northwestern 35 vs. Auburn 38)

January 1: Capital One (Penn State 19 vs. LSU 17)

January 1: Gator Bowl (Florida State 33 vs. West Virginia 21)

January 2: International Bowl (South Florida 27 vs. Northern Illinois 3)

January 2: Papajohns.com Bowl (Connecticut 20 vs. South Carolina 7)

January 2: Cotton Bowl (Oklahoma State 7 vs. Ole Miss 21)

January 2: Liberty Bowl (East Carolina 17 vs. Arkansas 20)

January 2: Alamo Bowl (Michigan State 31 vs. Texas Tech 41)

January 6: GMAC Bowl (Central Michigan 44 vs. Troy 41)

Ricky Stanzi limited his mistakes – and got help from his run game – and the Iowa defense contained the Georgia Tech triple-option as the Hawkeyes beat the Yellow Jackets 24-14 to capture the 2010 Orange Bowl.

Iowa raced out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter on the arm of the quarterback Stanzi, who was starting his first game after missing the later part of the Hawkeye’s regular season.

However, Stanzi’s rust did begin to show, as his lone mistake of the game, an interception, was returned for a touchdown late in the first quarter.

After a scoreless second quarter, Iowa tacked on another field goal in the third to extend their lead to ten.

In the fourth quarter the Yellow Jackets finally put together a scoring drive, as Georgia Tech’s quarterback Josh Nesbitt finally found a grove while running the triple option.

However, after stopping a fake field goal, leaving the Jackets down just 3, Georgia Tech was unable to capitalize, punting the ball and then allowing the Hawkeyes to drive right down the field and score the game-clinching touchdown.

Stanzi finished the game with 230 yards and two touchdowns, while the Hawkeye rushing offense went for a combined 178 yards and a touchdown led by Brandon Wegher.

Nesbitt and the triple option offense were shut down, the Hawkeye offense holding the Jackets to just 155 net yards on the night.

Iowa’s victory was the Big 10’s second in the BCS, helping to mend a broken image of the Big 10 being an inferior conference when it came to the BCS.

Boise State’s defense shut down Andy Dalton and the TCU Horned Frogs while the Broncos did just enough on offense to win their second Fiesta Bowl in four years, 17-10.

Going into the game, the key matchup everyone was watching was the vaunted TCU defense against a dynamic and explosive Boise State offense. Those two unit neutralized one another, and it was left up to the other side of the ball for both teams to decide this one.

The Horned Frog’s offense was no slouch this season, but the Broncos were able to hold TCU down just long enough to come out of Arizona with a win.

In this matchup of two undefeated non-BCS conference schools, both would have liked to have been included in the national title discussion, but the Fiesta Bowl was the best they could have hoped for.

In TCU’s first-ever BCS bowl, Gary Patterson’s squad looked uneven from the start, as Dalton was intercepted three times.

After the Broncos scored the game’s first ten points, Dalton finally led the Horned Frogs offense to some points, connecting with Curtis Clay for a 30-yard score.

The third quarter was uneventful, however the Horned Frogs did finally tie up the game after a short field goal near the end of the quarter was good.

The biggest play of the game came after the teams had traded punts and Boise seemed to be punting one more time after another failed drive.

But the Broncos rose to national prominence on the strength of the trick plays that got them the Fiesta Bowl crown in 2007, and they used those “gadget” plays one more time, this time on a fake punt.

After the Bronco punted completed a pass for the first down, it was only a matter of time before Broncos quarterback Kellen Moore led his team down the field, and finished the drive off by handing the ball to running back Doug Martin, who finished the drive with a TD run, giving the Broncos the game-winning score.

A late drive from Dalton and the Frogs came up empty after a tipped pass was intercepted for the third and final time by the Boise defense, capping the victory for the Broncos.

Tim Tebow got everything he could from his final game as a Florida Gator, passing for nearly 500 yards and rushing for 50 more, as the Gators crushed the Cincinnati Bearcats 51-24 Friday night in the Sugar Bowl.

The strife of Urban Meyer’s health and Tim Tebow’s departure ruled the headlines during the days leading up to the game, and if the Sugar Bowl was Meyer and Tebow’s swan song, it was certainly a flawless one.

From kickoff it seemed as though the Bearcats were overmatched. Quarterback and team leader Tony Pike was pressured throughout the night, unable to hit his strong wide receiving core down field and flushed from the pocket all night.

In fact the Bearcats didn’t find the end zone until halfway through the third quarter as the vaunted SEC defense of the Florida Gators was just too much for the Bearcats.

Cincinnati had its own strife leading up to the game, as they lost their head coach of three seasons Brian Kelly to the Notre Dame job and were being coached by an interim head coach for the bowl game.

The player had shrugged the distractions off, but their lack of balance throughout the game showed a much different story.

Wide receiver Mardy Gilliard didn’t break 50 yards receiving and Tony Pike struggled until the Gators took their foot off the pedal in the third quarter, already up 34 points.

Pike was sacked on multiple occasions, and the Bearcat offense was only able to muster 249 net yards, with just 68 total yards coming on the ground.

The Bearcats finished the season at No. 3 in the BCS rankings, but certainly didn’t look like the same team that went undefeated through the Big East and nearly made their way to the National Title Game despite a suspect defense.

For Tebow and Meyer, the victory in a BCS bowl game isn’t quite what they hoped their final game together might hold, but for the Gator Nation, this victory in the Sugar Bowl is certainly sweet enough.

The Ohio State defense contained the explosive Oregon Duck offensive attack and Jeremiah Masoli, while Terrelle Pryor had a career day as the Buckeyes captured the Big 10’s first Rose Bowl win in a decade, 26-17.

Leading up to the matchup in the “Granddaddy of Them All” analysts wondered if the strong Big 10-style defense of the Buckeyes could handle the spread option of the Ducks, but from kickoff it was obvious that OSU coach Jim Tressell and the defense had come well prepared.

In fact, after a surprisingly spring Ohio State offense scored the first ten points of the game, it wasn’t until the second quarter that Masoli and the Ducks mustered enough offense for a touchdown.

Duck running back Kenjon Barner, not expected to feature highly in the Duck attack, was actually crucial to the Ducks early success, as he rushed for key first downs and got the Ducks into scoring range on both of their first-half scores.

Terrelle Pryor, the Buckeye’s leader on the field, had been a storyline heading into the game, as his torn PCL was a potential problem area for the mobile quarterback.

However, after coming up lame early in the game, Pryor settled down and shook off his injury, leading the Buckeyes to convincing scoring drives in all four quarters.

Pryor, who had struggled in his career in bowl games had a successful first half and the Buckeyes held a 16-10 edge going into the break.

The Ducks scored the first touchdown of the second half to take their only lead of the game on a Jeremiah Masoli rush from the one-yard line, but the Buckeyes answered quickly, posting a field goal to retake the lead, one which they wouldn’t give back.

After a series of turnovers and missed opportunities in the fourth quarter, Pryor led the Buckeyes down the field for a game-clinching touchdown pass, finding receiver DeVier Poseyin the front corner of the endzone to put the Buckeyes up 26-17 and capturing the Rose Bowl for the Buckeyes.

Pryor finished the game with 266 yards passing and two touchdowns to go along with his 72 yards rushing, possibly setting the stage for Pryor to finally find his grove next season.

Congratulations to Alabama Crimson Tide running back Mark Ingram, who is the 75th recipient of the Heisman Trophy as awarded Saturday night in New York City. Ingram edged Stanford running back by just 28 points, making his victory the closest in the 75 year history of the award.

Ingram finished his season with a strong game in the SEC Championship Game, which was likely just enough to secure the trophy for the sophomore running back.

Ingram is also the third straight sophomore to win the award, following quarterbacks Tim Tebow and Sam Bradford.

Quarterback Colt McCoy finished third, followed by Nebraska defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh. Tebow finished fifth.

Ingram’s next step will be the National Title game with his team, where he will meet McCoy in Pasadena for the BCS national title on January 7th.

Ingram is also Alabama’s first-ever Heisman award winner.

2009 Heisman Trophy Results