| Ohio State Not Completely Out Yet By Bryan Mulroney College Football Columnist Nov 15, 2007 - 9:00:42 AM |
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But how I hear you ask? They are in seventh place and have only one game left. Is it practically possible that OSU could jump all the way to number two and make it into the Championship game? And my answer is an unequivocal yes.
Here's how:
At least two of the Bog Twelve teams ahead of the Bucks are going to lose. This is fact, there is no way that Missouri, Kansas, and OU all stay ahead of the Bucks. The likely scenario is that Kansas will lose to Missouri, dropping them from the top ten, and Missouri will lose in the Big Twelve Championship to Oklahoma. The Sooners have been hot and cold as well this year and haven't show up in games against Colorado, Iowa State, and Texas. In all those games they entered as double digit favorites and either barely managed the win or lost outright (Colorado). The Sooners also played poorly last week letting lowly Baylor move the ball (450 total yards) and it isn't inconceivable that the Sooners could botch a game against Texas Tech or Oklahoma State both of whom have a much more prolific offense than Baylor. The best situation for the Bucks is if all three teams eliminate themselves, but the worse case still moves them to number five in the polls.
WVU is also ahead of the Bucks but they have a very tough game this weekend against Cincinnati. WVU enters as the favorite, but to completely discount a team that topped Rutgers, South Florida, and destroyed UConn, is to be foolish. This game is on the road for WVU and the Bearcats have enough to top WVU if the put a solid game together.
If you are keeping track, worse case for OSU at this point is 5th place in the BCS if OU and WVU keep winning, if Cincinnati and TTU pull a not terribly unlikely upset, OSU finds themselves sitting in third.
If the cards fall right, OSU will be watching Oregon for a letdown at Arizona (unlikely) as the Cats nearly upset USC earlier this year and have been another hot and cold team this season. The Ducks also still have games against on again off again UCLA and rival Oregon State.
If the Ducks don't stumble, the number one team still has a few potential landmines to maneuver. LSU has a moderately tough game remaining against Arkansas, and then a tilt in the Conference Championship.
So though the talking heads might argue that the Buckeyes are completely out of the BCS Championship Game hunt, I have to disagree. While the odds may be slim, the Buckeyes still have an outside chance of finding New Orleans. But the entirety of this argument will be moot if the Buckeyes do not top Michigan in Ann Arbor this weekend.
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