Poll Dancing: Week Twelve, or DIE DIE DIE BCS DIE!!!!!

Ah, what a weekend of football.  The BCS machine is scrambling, trying to convince you that you want to see a rematch of two teams from the same conference (even though you apparently would have hated that in 2006) and that it would be totally cool if a team that didn’t win its division played for the national title (even though that was a most uncool proposition in 2007).  Yeah, the BCS pushers are basically going to argue for whatever nonsense makes their system look like it “got things right.”

But this year, it’s not going to, because there is no getting it right in a two-team postseason this year.  The most the BCS can hope for is getting it acceptable to most and then trying to poke holes in all of the arguments that arise afterward.  Here, then, are some of this year’s possible end-games.  Feel free to cheer for whichever of these makes you most happy.  You know what I’ll be hoping for.

Best-Case For BCS-Lovers

Thanks to the Big 12’s absurd boost in the BCS computers (now up to +8.1 spots vs. human polls on average), if Oklahoma State beats Oklahoma next week, the Cowboys can still make the BCSCG.  Additionally, if LSU wins out, they will remain #1 and the title game will seem okay to most fans.  Maybe you’ll think another team belongs there, but you can live with this.  In this scenario, Houston will need to lose to Tulsa (who is also unbeaten in CUSA play) or to Southern Mississippi in the CUSACG to ensure there are no unbeaten non-champions at season’s end.  It would also be nice if all other one-loss teams lost.

Most-Likely Scenario (Mid-Level Controversy)

Based on current betting lines, Houston, LSU, Boise State, Alabama, Virginia Tech and Stanford should all win this weekend.  Chances are Oklahoma is going to be favored over Oklahoma State based on the fact that OU’s defense is ranked 40 spots higher than OkSU’s–in other words, the Sooners are going to win.  If that happens, there will almost certainly be multiple one-loss teams following conference championship week and they will be very close in the BCS rankings.  One of them will go to the BCSCG and the rest will complain.  Those complaints become even louder if the one-loss team is Alabama unless you think 5 other AQ conference commissioners are totally fine with the SEC taking both title game spots.

Total Chaos

This begins with Arkansas beating LSU, which is pretty unlikely.  That results in a 3-way tie atop the SEC West that must be settled by BCS ranking.  How that shakes out will already be controversial since the three tied teams just happen to be the top three teams in the current BCS standings and will probably remain the top 3 as long as OU beats OkSU (they will).  Step two is whichever team ends up on top losing to Georgia the following week, opening up the door for two teams from the same division playing for the national title even though neither of them actually won that division.  Jim Delany will murder three people (possibly at random) if this happens.

Also in this scenario: Houston and all non-SEC one-loss teams win out (including bowls), creating a jumble of teams with legitimate claims to the title.  And just for good measure, all Big Ten and ACC teams murder their bowl opponents (except when cancelled out by aforementioned one-lossers; also Big Ten takes precedence over ACC when the two play each other), adding the possibility that those conferences are better than critics thought.