Projected 2010 BCS Bowls

	Rose Bowl Pasadena, California. January 1st
	Ohio State Buckeyes
vs.
	Oregon Ducks
	Comment: Oregon made this matchup official on Thursday by clinching the Pac-10 Championship by defeated Oregon State. Ohio State clinched a spot in the Rose Bowl weeks ago, and now will prepare for the talented Duck attack
	Sugar Bowl New Orleans, Louisiana. January 1st
	Florida Gators
vs.
	TCU Horned Frogs
	Comment: TCU is assured a BCS bowl with their final BCS ranking as the highest ranked non-BCS school. Florida, after losing the SEC Championship Game will likely still receive a BCS bowl bid, and the Sugar Bowl will be happy to take a replacement SEC team after losing Alabama to the National Championship Game.
	Fiesta Bowl Glendale, Arizona. January 4th
	Boise State Broncos
vs.
	Iowa Hawkeyes
	Comment: Boise State continues to be the most attractive candidate for a BCS at-large selection that hasn’t already been assumed, and the Fiesta Bowl, after losing Big 12 Champ Texas to the National Title game, will want an attractive game. Boise State put together one of the greatest games in college football history at the Fiesta Bowl just a few years ago, and the Fiesta Bowl remembers it and will want more excitement. The Hawkeyes are the next most attractive candidates for at-large selection, and will likely land here.
	Orange Bowl Miami, Florida. January 5th
	Cincinnati Bearcats
vs.
	Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
	Comment: Both teams need late comeback victories to clinch their respective conference championships, but pulled out victories late. The ACC and Big East Champs have met here many times before, and could easily be doing it again this year. Georgia Tech is assured of this bid as the ACC Champion.
	2009 Bowl Championship Series National Championship Game Pasadena, California. January 7th
	Alabama Crimson Tide
vs.
	Texas Longhorns
	Comment: While its not what we expected, this Alabama vs. Texas matchup has been in the cards for quite some time. After Alabama clinched the SEC championship earlier in the day, they replaced the Gators in this slot. The Longhorns followed suit in the Big 12, although had a bit more trouble, but won all the same. Therefore this matchup is basically in the books. Its gonna be a good one.

With their 32-12 victory in the SEC Championship Game over the Florida Gators, the Alabama Crimson Tide clinched the SEC crown, an undefeated regular season and a spot in the BCS National Championship Game.

Behind Mark Ingram’s three rushing touchdowns and nearly 200 yards of total offense, the Tide never trailed, and ended a 22-game Gator winning streak.

Alabama will also likely be No. 1 in the final BCS rankings.

The Gators are likely to receive a bid to the Sugar Bowl.

Expect full previews of all of the BCS games on Sunday after they are announced.

Find FINAL Projected BCS Bowls (Dec. 6th) HERE

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Projected 2010 BCS Bowls

	Rose Bowl Pasadena, California. January 1st
	Ohio State Buckeyes
vs.
	Oregon Ducks
	Comment: Oregon will get the chance to make this matchup official on Thursday when they face off against Oregon State in their “Civil War” to decide the Pac-10 Champ, who will play in Pasadena on January 1st. BCS Know How projects the Ducks will be victorious at home.
	Sugar Bowl New Orleans, Louisiana. January 1st
	Alabama Crimson Tide
vs.
	TCU Horned Frogs
	Comment: TCU is all but assured of a BCS bowl bid, and the Sugar Bowl is as likely as any to take the Horned Frogs, as last year’s BCS buster team, Utah, had great success against the Crimson Tide in New Orleans. Alabama will have a shot at the national title and could be replaced here by Florida, but BCS Know How projects the Gators will win the SEC Championship Game this year.
	Fiesta Bowl Glendale, Arizona. January 4th
	Boise State Broncos
vs.
	Iowa Hawkeyes
	Comment: With Oklahoma State’s loss, Boise State’s BCS bowl bid hopes are great helped. Now the only thing the Broncos will need to hope against will be either Texas or Georgia Tech losing in their conference championship games, which would make either of them likely BCS at-large candidates.
	Orange Bowl Miami, Florida. January 5th
	Cincinnati Bearcats
vs.
	Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
	Comment: Georgia Tech goes in stumbling to the ACC Championship Game, but so do the Clemson Tigers, and BCS Know How projects the Yellow Jackets will pull the victory out at the ACC Championship Game, giving the Jackets a BCS bowl bid, likely to be the Orange Bowl bid. Cincinnati will face Pitt for the Big East crown and is projected to take the victory.
	2009 Bowl Championship Series National Championship Game Pasadena, California. January 7th
	Florida Gators
vs.
	Texas Longhorns
	Comment: What we’ve expected all along, and if both can win out, this is the matchup the country has been waiting to see. Florida and Texas were supposed to get here, and with just one more victory each, that’s exactly what we’re going to get. Hold on to your hats.

Projected 2010 BCS Bowls

	Rose Bowl Pasadena, California. January 1st
	Ohio State Buckeyes
vs.
	Oregon Ducks
	Comment: The Granddaddy of them all is historically a Big 10 vs. Pac 10 matchup, and this year will be no different. The Buckeyes are already locked in here, and the Ducks will play Oregon State in two weeks for the rights to get here. BCS Know How projects the Ducks will beat the Beavers in the “Civil War” and make a run at the Roses.
	Sugar Bowl New Orleans, Louisiana. January 1st
	Alabama Crimson Tide
vs.
	TCU Horned Frogs
	Comment: Missing out on the projected SEC champion Florida Gators, the Sugar Bowl will likely target Alabama fill the SEC-happy bowl’s need for a crowd pleaser. A year after Utah took a Sugar Bowl bid and beat Alabama, the Sugar Bowl will be more than willing to take TCU, who will likely qualify automatically,  in this spot as well, and hope for another good game.
	Fiesta Bowl Glendale, Arizona. January 4th
	Boise State Broncos
vs.
	Iowa Hawkeyes
	The Fiesta Bowl is likely to get last licks here, so why not take full advantage and choose Boise State? When looking for another at-large team to reward with a bid to their game, expect the Fiesta Bowl to choose Iowa over Oklahoma State, as the Hawkeyes have a larger national following.
	Orange Bowl Miami, Florida. January 5th
	Cincinnati Bearcats
vs.
	Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
	The champs of the Big East and ACC have met here many times before, and there’s no reason to think that this year will be different. Cincinnati and Georgia Tech have been the classes of their conferences and are likely to claim their conference titles with relative ease in the next few weeks.
	2009 Bowl Championship Series National Championship Game Pasadena, California. January 7th
	Florida Gators
vs.
	Texas Longhorns
	Comment: What we’ve expected all along, and if both can win out, this is the matchup the country has been waiting to see. Florida and Texas were supposed to get here, and just a few more games, and that’s exactly what we’re going to get. Hold on to your hats.

It’s a wonder how such huge losses last Saturday could have such little impact on the upcoming weeks of college football.

In this week’s BCS standings, Alabama (as expected) retook the No. 2 ranking from Texas, who fell to third.

Let’s examine how little this actually means:

With their win over LSU on Saturday, Alabama clinched the SEC West crown, punching their ticket to the SEC Championship Game.

If the Tide and the Florida Gators meet undefeated, the winner will play in the BCS National Title game, regardless of where in the losing team falls in the rankings.

The hardest remaining game for Florida is its trip to South Carolina, while Alabama still must play at Auburn, however both of these opponents are unranked.

The undefeated Texas Longhorns should also finish strong against a depleted Big 12, and will likely meet a four-loss underdog in the Big 12 Championship Game.

Win out and Texas is in the BCS National Title game too.

So three top 10 teams lose on Saturday, and the national title picture hasn’t changed in the slightest.

The interesting part of the BCS actually starts at No. 4.

This week TCU jumped up to claim that spot from Iowa, giving them a good shot at an at-large BCS bowl bid.

No. 5 Cincinnati needed a near-perfect performance from QB Zach Collaros to stay undefeated, and is now the top-ranked team from a BCS conference outside of the Big 12 and the SEC.

No. 6 Boise State should be thanking its lucky stars that No. 10 Iowa lost on Saturday.

Now it’s unlikely that the Big 10 will get more than one BCS bowl bid, which opens the door for non-BCS conference teams like the Broncos.

No. 7 Georgia Tech gained the most from the weekend losses by jumping up three spots. The Yellow Jackets should be Orange Bowl-bound.

There is a huge gap between No. 7 and No. 8, but after their loss, LSU should be pleasantly surprised.

The No. 9 USC Trojans find themselves back in the BCS top 10 this weekend, after just one week outside, but have no chance at a national title.

No. 11 Ohio State and No. 12 Pittsburgh round out the top 12, with the Panthers giving the Big East two top-12 teams for the first time this season.

BCS Rankings – November 8th

After spending a the first two BCS weeks looking up at two SEC teams, Texas took full advantage of a Alabama off week to impress the voters, and claimed the number two spot in the third BCS rankings of the year.

Still, this does not do anything to affect the much predicted funnel effect of a possible SEC Championship matchup between the two SEC teams, the Florida Gators and the Crimson Tide. If both teams are to make it that far, it is more than likely that the winner of the December 5^th matchup will automatically be entered into the BCS National Championship Game.

For now, Texas rests easy, knowing that completing an undefeated record of their own will be much easier, as they do not have a strong remaining schedule, but are right where they need to be if they want a berth in the championship game.

Iowa retains its fourth overall spot, but loses some of the good fortune it had seen from the computers, instead the math went the way of the Gators, but the Hawkeyes remain second in the computer rankings.

No. 5 Cincinnati follows the Hawkeyes, replacing USC, who falls all the way to No. 12 this week. The Bearcats are also the beneficiaries of some computer help, ranked fifth in the computers, while the coaches no longer see the Bearcats as viable, ranking them seventh.

TCU and Boise State, the two BCS busters jockeying for position come in at No. 6 and No. 7, respectively. TCU fends off Boise State for another week, taking one more step towards a BCS bowl bid, although Boise did tighten the gap slightly, mostly from computer help, after Oregon’s victory over USC improved the Broncos’ strength of schedule by a large percentage.

The Ducks follow the BCS busters at No. 8, up two spots from last week on the strength of both a human and computer bump after handily defeating USC on Saturday.

LSU and Georgia Tech, once defeated BCS conference members still have a slight chance of shooting up the rankings, especially next week when LSU goes against Alabama, but both need a ton of help.

Penn State and USC round out the top twelve, and are both out of national title contention.

Something to look for in the BCS rankings now will be how the remaining schedules of both Boise State and TCU effect their positioning. Boise is currently .0145 points behind the Horned Frogs, a margin that can easily be made up in the computer rankings in the coming weeks.

Also, the muddled middle – between No. 4 Iowa and No. 9 LSU – is separated by less than .2 points, which means anything can happen in the coming weeks.

Big 10

Conference Leader: Iowa (7-0, 3-0)

Lurking: Michigan State (4-3, 3-1)

Game of Last Week: Michigan State 24 vs. Northwestern 14. The Spartans and quarterback Kirk Cousins have emerged as a legitimate Big 10 contender, and trailing at half to the Wildcats, were able to make the comeback and sneak into a tie for second place in the conference

Game of Next Week: Michigan vs. Iowa. Two of the leaders of this year’s Big 10 resurgence which has come mostly without the help of Ohio State, the only Big 10 team to play in the BCS National Championship game.

Bowl Eligible Teams: Iowa Hawkeyes.

Big 12

Conference Leaders: Kansas State (North Division; 4-3, 2-1), Texas (South Division; 6-0, 3-0)

Lurking: Oklahoma State (South Division; 5-1, 2-0)

Game of Last Week: Texas 16 vs. Oklahoma 13. The Red River Shootout lived up to its hype, and although Sam Bradford was knocked out early in the game, the teams played close, and a game-saving tackle by Colt McCoy on his own interception likely preserved the Longhorn’s season and national title hopes.

Game of Next Week: Texas vs. Missouri. Although Missouri is winless in conference play as of yet, they look to matchup well with the Longhorns, and the recent struggle of the Texas offense may hold the key for a Tigers upset bid.

Bowl Eligible Teams: None yet.

Big East

Conference Leader: Pittsburgh (6-1, 3-0)

Lurking: Cincinnati (6-0, 2-0)

Game of Last Week: Cincinnati 34 vs. South Florida 17. A matchup of the class of the Big East turned into a national coming out party for the strong Cincinnati offense, and although Tony Pike was injured in the contest, a statement was made about the legitimacy of the Big East teams.

Game of Next Week: South Florida vs. Pittsburgh. Now looking to avenge the loss to Cincinnati, the Bulls will now have to travel to Pittsburgh to try their luck against the Panthers, who lead the Big East conference.

Bowl Eligible Teams: None yet.