The New National Title Landscape

Now that USC has lost to Oregon State, let's look at the national title landscape and make some new predictions. Mind you, I'm wiritng this on Friday night ... as Louisville is cruising past Connecticut. Scratch that, UofL 21, UConn 17.

What we know, conference by conference:
1. ACC: Unless Wake goes undefeated (highly doubtful), no ACC team will play in the BCS title game. Wake is the only undefeated team, and the conference once again looks fairly weak. Maryland's shocker over Cal gave it some good pub, but Maryland also lost to Middle Tennessee. Clemson's egg laying vs. Alabama set the tone. Prediction (of getting into the BCS title game): No chance.

2. Big East: West Virginia's 1-2 start has not helped the Big East in the least. South Florida and UConn remain undefeated. It would take a 12-0 record from both these teams to even give the Big East a shot, given their poor performance against non-conference foes. South Florida, if they run the table, are probably the only real contender for the BCS title game, because of their quality win over a ranked Kansas team. Prediction: no chance.

3. Big Ten: Given the bad publicity, it would take an undefeated team to make it to the BCS title game, unless all hell breaks loose (like last year ... and which has continued with the Beavers win yesterday ... is it getting colder in here [think Dante]). The two teams that have a real shot in my mind are Penn State and Wisconsin. Penn State has been rolling over teams and an impressive performance in the Big Ten schedule (and a 12-0 record) would catapault them into the BCS title game, unless there were three unbeatens and the other two came from the SEC and Big XII. Ohio State in my mind still has a very, very, very slim chance of making it, and only if they go 11-1 and win impressively in every big game the rest of the way. Prediction: The Big Ten will beat each other up, so no title game this year.

4. Big Twelve: A one-loss team from the Big Twelve could make the BCS title game. I am not a Big XII buff myself, but the Big XII is loaded. Colorado showed that with its impressive win over West Virginia. Even Baylor has some talent! Missouri's offense is dynamite, although its defense leaves something to be desired. Sam Bradford and OU are stacked as always and Texas Tech is going to average 42 points a game. Prediction: The Big XII champ will play in the BCS title game.

5. Pacific 10: Well, before yesterday, I would have put USC in the title game, but now ... no way. This conference is 0-5 vs. the Mountain West and 0-3 vs. the Big Twelve. USC needed to go undefeated to make the big dance. They just looked too terrible against Oregon State. Prediction: outside shot for USC if they look impressive as they did against the Buckeyes the rest of the way, but most likely they will lose again.

6. SEC: Georgia, Florida, LSU, Alabama, Auburn. This is a conference whose D-lines could step into the NFL seemingly without missing a beat. The winner of the SEC this year plays in the BCS title game, period. The only way it wouldn't happen is if the champ had 3 losses. Florida's schedule presents the best opportunity, but who knows. The conference's resume so far is really good: Alabama 34, Clemson 10; S. Car. 34, NC State 0 (who beat ECU); Florida 26, Miami 3; Kentucky 27, UofK 27, UofL 2; Georgia 27, ASU 10. The only real brain-fart was Tennessee's loss to UCLA. Tennessee is really down ... where have you gone, Peyton Manning?

Prediction: The Big XII winner vs. the SEC winner.
Most likely matchup: Oklahoma vs. Florida. Florida 34, OU 20, making it three straight for the SEC.