The end of the college football regular season is here and one thing is for sure, the BCS games have the potential to be the weakest in history. There are four BCS games and one national championship game. The power conferences all get automatic invites which include: ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Big East, Pac 12 and the SEC. The Bowl games are the Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Fiesta Bowl and the National Championship game. There are also automatic invites to these bowls where the conferences have agreements to send their top team to (although it not always occurs this way). The Rose Bowl involves the Pac 12 vs the Big 10; Orange Bowl often invites the ACC; Sugar Bowl invites the SEC and the Fiesta Bowl invites the Big 12. Of the teams that do not win their conference championship, they are subject to the at large pool. A team must be ranked inside the top 14 in the last BCS ranking to be eligible for an at large bid. The other guideline is that there can only be a maximum of two teams from any given conference. A non power conference school will earn an automatic bid if ranked inside the top 12 teams in the country or the top 16 if ranked ahead of a power conference champion. Now on to why this could have the most lopsided matchups in BCS history.
For starters, the all mighty SEC has 6 teams eligible for a BCS bowl game and likely one will be in the championship leaving five teams lobbying for one position. This in my opinion hurts the BCS system where the best teams get left out because of the two team rule. Here are my predictions.
National Championship: Notre Dame vs Alabama
The team that plays the best defense in this game will win the championship. Notre Dame has not been this good in a long time and too many times this season they squeaked by lesser opponents while Alabama is the defending champion with a sustainable offense and a dominating defense. Their downfall will be if they could not contain Irish QB Everett Gholston. The Tide have had trouble with QB's lately most notably their loss to Johnny Manziel. The best defense will win this game.
My pick: Notre Dame
Fiesta Bowl: Kansas St vs Texas A&M
The battle of the top two Heisman candidates in Colin "Optimus" Klein and Johnny "Football" Manziel will possibly showcase the best offense game of the BCS. Although Texas A&M lost to two teams that are ranked ahead of them, I find it hard that they will choose Florida and LSU over Manziel. He will bring money and unfortunately, these bowl games seem to only be about money. A&M also has the potential to be in the Sugar Bowl but I like them here against K State.
My pick: Texas A&M
Rose Bowl: Stanford vs Nebraska
These two teams will likely win their conference championship and will meet in the prestigious Rose Bowl. Stanford took down all mighty Oregon in Eugene to earn their trip to the Pac 12 championship and even have the home game against UCLA. Nebraska is the highest ranked out of the Big 10 (sorry Ohio St) and will take on an underachieving Wisconsin team. Potentially this matchup could be Wisconsin and UCLA but that could turn into a snoozer.
My pick: Stanford
Sugar Bowl: Oregon vs Kent St
Wow. Kent St really? Yes and here's why. Kent St plays in the non power conference MAC and are currently ranked 17 in the BCS. All they need to do is win their conference championship and have UCLA lose to Stanford for them to earn an automatic bid because they are ranked ahead of the highest Big East team. Unfortunately for Oregon, I think they will not play against an at large SEC team although a Manziel vs Mariota game would be an offensive dream game and the story-line of seeing former Oregon commit Manziel play against Oregon for the Sugar Bowl. But I just do not see that happening. This could be a blowout.
My pick: Oregon
Orange Bowl: Florida St vs Rutgers/Louisville
Both of those Big East teams are just bad and the fact that one of them will earn an automatic bid will only hurt the BCS. FSU will take on Georgia Tech and the Seminoles are huge favorites in that game. More than likely, these two teams play because of their position on the East coast and the Orange Bowl being in Florida.
My pick: Florida St
Left out: Florida, LSU, Georgia and to some degree South Carolina are just the teams from the SEC that are likely to be left out. Clemson and Oklahoma could be left out because of the lack of at large teams available. In my opinion, Oklahoma has the best chance to gain an outside bid if Kent St were to lose in the MAC championship.
Other Possible Outcomes: Sugar Bowl: Oregon vs Texas A&M. Oregon vs Oklahoma
Fiesta Bowl: Kansas St vs Kent St.
AZTECS:
The Aztecs will be playing at home against BYU in the Pointsetta bowl this year. These two former Mountain West rivals will certainly provide a great game. The Stormin Mormans vs the Darkside Defense (please bring that back) will decide two of the best Non AQ teams in the West. Also, for basketball fans, Aztec great Tim Shelton is back with another track representing the Aztecs. Last year's hit "Aztec Motto" was even included in an article on ESPN.com. Check out the link right here. (It may look like there is an empty space there so just move your mouse over it and it will magically appear #goaztecs)
My pick: Aztecs - hopefully ill be there, tickets anybody???
So there you have it, I decided to make a BCS prediction post due to reading a certain local amateur sports website that was filled with falsehoods and lack of truthful information. Comment on what you think are the BCS predictions and subscribe to my blog. You have to do it from a computer but it would be much appreciated. Peace.
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