Let The Mayhem Begin

Mayhem is going to be paying a visit to the BCS.

The BCS is in turmoil... once again.

With Oklahoma State losing to Iowa State 37-31 in double overtime, there is no clear #2 team in the country. First, I feel awful for Oklahoma State, having to suffer through the tragedy involving Kurt Budke. I'm sure they were looking for anything to make themselves feel better and a win tonight might have helped.  Second, I have to give props to the Cyclones.They looked like they were going to end the season with a losing record, but now have a huge win and are bowl eligible. Third, congratulations to Alabama, Oregon, Oklahoma and all the other one-loss teams who now have a chance at making the national championship.

There a nine legitimate 1-loss teams and an undefeated Houston who all feel they have a right to play in the championship game. In actuality, there are five teams that have a shot of making it to the big game. Virginia Tech, Clemson, Houston, Stanford, and Boise State have just not done enough to warrant them getting an opportunity to win it all. That leaves us with Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Oregon fight for the number two spot behind LSU. Let's take a look at these teams chances and why they might deserves the spot.

Arkansas
This is the team that nobody is talking about right now, but are 9-1 and if they win out should be a huge player in the championship game possibilities.  The issue with that scenario is they would have to beat LSU, which looks unstoppable. It wouldn't be the first time Arkansas beat a #1 LSU team in the final week of the regular season. I'm sure you guys remember the triple overtime game back in 2007. If that happens though, it would further increase the mayhem, with LSU joining all these teams with one loss. They seem to be a lock to go to the title game with their superior schedule, but it would be hard to deny Arkansas a chance. Even in this situation, I think they would have to win the SEC, which would require Arkansas jumping Alabama in the rankings and LSU staying ahead of Bama. Chances are they lose to LSU and they would be eliminated from this conversation.

Oklahoma/Oklahoma State
These two teams will play each other on December 3rd eliminating one of the teams from contention. Oklahoma probably has a better chance of making it to the championship game because of a better non-conference schedule and because of the Oklahoma tradition. If Oklahoma State wins, I don't see them factoring into the conversation even though they should. They will have wins over Oklahoma, Kansas State, Texas, Baylor, and the rest of the Big 12. It just will be hard to come back from the tough loss they suffered tonight. The loss hurt Oklahoma as well. A win over OK State won't look as good as it would have if Oklahoma State came in undefeated. A win on December 3rd may not help Oklahoma enough to jump over Alabama and Oregon even though Oklahoma has more high-quality wins over good teams than Oregon does.

Oregon
In all likelihood, if all of the top teams win out and no more upsets occur, it will come down to Oregon and Alabama. Personally, I don't think Oregon deserve it more than Alabama does. There are only three team even worth mentioning when talking about football in the Pac-12. Those teams are Oregon, Stanford and USC. Outside of playing each other and Oregon playing LSU, none of them have played a legitimate team. Neither Stanford nor USC have a quality win other than Stanford's triple overtime win over USC. Unless Oregon can destroy USC, they shouldn't be considered over Alabama. Oregon's one loss was to #1 LSU. It doesn't sound bad, but they were manhandled by them. The score was 40-20 before they scored a garbage time touchdown.

Alabama
Alabama has taken care of every one of their opponents except one, #1 LSU.  Sound familiar? The difference is Alabama loss was an overtime loss with a score of 9-6. Alabama stayed competitive the entire game and even looked like the better team. They have also played a tougher SEC-schedule and played a Penn State team that was undefeated outside of the Alabama game before Paterno was fired.  It is also most likely unless voters change their votes to avoid an all-SEC national championship. Alabama holds a sizable lead over Oregon in both human polls and the computers.

Of course none of this could matter because half of these teams could lose before the season ends. Iowa State has shown us anything can happen. Either way we are in for an exciting ending to the season and a controversial one. It looks like the BCS is going to take another beating in the media for not having a playoff system. There is no way this season ends without a few schools complaining about the system. All we can do is sit back and enjoy. LEt me know what you think about this mess. Feel free to leave a comment on who you think should make it to the national title game.