Once again it is that time of year where the field of undefeated teams in college football has been thinned out to a lucky. Oregon and Auburn are the last remaining undefeated teams from a major BCS conference. Just when everyone thought it would be easy to simply put the ducks and the tigers in the title game, the non-automatic qualifying conferences came to crash the party. Boise State (WAC), TCU (MWC), and Utah (MWC) are all undefeated and eyeing a chance at the national title.
In order to understand the title decision better and make a selection for the two teams, one must look at the resumes for all the teams. So yours truly has decided to make for you the Dummies Guide to the BCS Championship Picture.
#5 Utah:
Record: 8-0
Key Wins: #15 Pittsburg
Verdict: Minus an overtime thriller with Pittsburg this team is a largely unchallenged football team. We will know much more about this team when they play undefeated TCU on Saturday. With a win on Saturday, Utah has a great chance of jumping at least Boise and TCU and maybe even Auburn too. This would put Utah into serious national title contention.
#4 Boise State:
Record: 7-0
Key Wins: #22 Virginia Tech, Oregon State
Verdict: Boise State is a tried and experienced football that has more than half of the starters back from last year's Fiesta Bowl winning team (over TCU). Now two things must happen for Boise to get a chance at the title game. First, the winner of the TCU/Utah game must lose or finish their season with unimpressive wins. Second, Boise needs to continue to thump teams by 40+ points in order to assert themselves as a great team who deserves the spot in the title game.
#3 TCU:
Record: 8-0
Key Wins: Oregon State, #21 Baylor
Verdict: Basically the same as Utah, it has to win this week. TCU plays in an harder conference and has slight edge in quality wins over Boise. With a win this week, TCU would have no trouble staying ahead of Boise and could potentially even jump up ahead of Auburn.
#2 Auburn:
Record 9-0
Key Wins: #19 South Carolina, #18 Arkansas, #10 LSU
Verdict: Auburn controls their own destiny. They are obviously a legitimate contender in the national championship race. The most important games for Auburn will be against #6 Alabama (national title dark horse and the SEC championship games. If they can win those games, the tigers will be in the title game.
#1 Oregon:
Record 8-0
Key Wins: Tennessee, #13 Standford, USC
Verdict: The Ducks, like Auburn control their own destiny. If the ducks continue to win, they will be in the title game.
My Perdiction:
Although I would love to see a non-bcs school in the title game, I do not believe either Auburn or Oregon will lose. Boise and TCU will again go undefeated and end up in BCS bowl games, but Oregon and Auburn will go to the title game where Oregon will win 56-52 in an extremely competitive game.
That's my prediction. We'll have to see if it turns out to be right or not. Comment and tell me what you think.
