BCS Championship Show Projections, Predictions Round-Up

A state of confusion and shock in the college football world?

What could be better!

After #1 Missouri and #2 West Virginia both lost last night, who's going to be in the title game is a guess--and there are plenty of those being made right now.

Here are some of the best guesses right now. Some are naturally touting Ohio State, some LSU, some Georgia, some Hawaii. Who ever they're pushing, remember: they're all just guesses until the BCS Selection Show on Fox at 8 pm tonight (Sunday).

Now the picks.

PROJECTING THE BCS

Staff writer Brian Davis projects the five BCS games as things stand today.

Allstate BCS national championship: Ohio State vs. LSU

FedEx Orange: Virginia Tech vs. West Virginia

Tostitos Fiesta: Oklahoma vs. Arizona State

Allstate Sugar: Georgia vs. Kansas

Rose: USC vs. Hawaii
--Dallas News - BCS Disarray

Yes, it's a mess and a big one, too. All we can do is sit, wait and see. Our prediction for the BCS game is Ohio State and LSU.
--OG Paper - BCS Championship

Ohio State (11-1) entered the weekend at No. 3 and looks like it's in, essentially because it only lost once. Sure it only played 12 games (to most team's 13), took on a weak non-conference slate, beat no really good teams, lost three weeks ago at home to Illinois and didn't play anyone in two weeks, but in this season … hey, step on up you're a winner, please try to play better than last year.

After that, who knows for sure?

"I'm leaning toward Ohio State-LSU," said Jerry Palm, publisher of CollegeBCS.com and an expert on these things. "But it could be OSU-Virginia Tech. Probably 3-1 chances it's LSU over Va Tech."

This is based on the prediction that Oklahoma might beat out LSU in the polls (two-thirds of the BCS formula), but trail in the computers (one-third) so the Tigers will hold off the Sooners. And while Virginia Tech might beat out LSU in the computers, it will trail in the polls, leaving the Tigers in the middle to take the second spot.

LSU besting Virginia Tech would actually make sense because in a sport with so few direct comparisons, there is one here: LSU whipped Tech 48-7 back in September.

But would it make sense that 11-2 LSU, ranked No. 7 heading into Saturday, could skip ahead of five teams to get into the title game? LSU lost just last weekend to unranked Arkansas after all. In a sport that loves to bogusly promote itself as "every week is a playoff", that was supposed to be it.

Well, not so fast my friend.

The Tigers have been resurrected after winning the SEC championship Saturday and boasting the argument that, yes, sure, it lost two games but both came in triple overtime. That's about as close as a two-loss team can be to perfect.

That could allow them to leapfrog Georgia (10-2), currently ranked No. 4 in the BCS but incapable of even reaching the SEC title game (Tennessee won the East).

That might be enough to cause the Bulldogs, winners of six consecutive games, to become the anti-Ohio State. Rather than rise in the polls when not playing, Georgia could drop.

The assumption is the voters will push LSU ahead of Georgia since it seems unfair that a team that couldn't even play for its league championship could play for the national one.

Of course, that actually happened back in 2001 when Nebraska didn't win its division in the Big 12 and still made the BCS title game.
--Yahoo Sports - Now What?

Under normal circumstances, college football polls work in an orderly and fairly predictable matter.

If the No. 1 and 2 teams lose, the No. 3 and 4 teams move up to take their place 99 percent of the time. Which means that Ohio State and Georgia should be making preparations for Jan. 7 and a BCS title game showdown as we type.

But there seems to be a strong sentiment among the talking heads that the Bulldogs should be disqualified from consideration for the title game simply because they were sitting at home watching the SEC title game instead of playing in it.

And that's just wrong.

In a college-football world filled with absolute chaos and utter confusion, the 2007 Georgia Bulldogs are the rare rock of clarity. With records, opponents, wins, losses, out-of-conference foes, intra-conference foes, weather, month, national visibility and respectability being analyzed with subjectivity and heated opinion across the country — UGA's the logical team in this mess; the squad of reason.
Top 25 roundup

Saturday's action:
# No. 9 Oklahoma tops No. 1 Mizzou

# Pitt shocks No. 2 WVU

# No. 5 LSU wins SEC championship

# No. 6 Va. Tech wins ACC title

# No. 8 USC clinches Rose Bowl berth

# No. 11 Hawaii rallies past UW

# No. 13 ASU outlasts Arizona

# No. 18 Oregon St. outlasts Oregon

# No. 21 BYU pounds SDSU

# Full college football scoreboard

Undoubtedly the hottest team in the nation over the course of the final two months of this rather bizarre college football season, Georgia entered Saturday's games as the No. 4 team in the BCS rankings. Like Ohio State, they did not lose. And just like the Buckeyes, they should slide up the polls two spots while idle.

If the system settles these arguments on paper as opposed to on the field, then the No. 4 Georgia Bulldogs should move to No. 2 when the previous 1 and 2 ranked teams go down. In a world clouded in grey, UGA's the black and white (or red) option for the No. 2 slot. Want to settle this with numbers, math and science? With reason and objectivity? Then UGA's the only way to go.
--Fox Sports - Georgia Has Shown it Deserves a Title Shot

"It should come down to who the voters believe are the two best teams in the nation right now," Richt said.

"Let's face it, going into today we were ranked No. 4 in the BCS. They ranked us there for a reason. They believed we belonged there. Two teams lost ahead of us. Everybody knew going in we were not going to play for a conference championship and still they voted us there. They voted us there for a reason and I don't know why that should change right now."

LSU beat Tennessee 21-14 on Saturday in the Southeastern Conference championship game and may pass Georgia in the polls and BCS standings.

Asked directly if he believes Georgia is better than LSU, Richt didn't back down.

"I think if we'd have played for the (SEC) championship, we certainly believe we could have won the game," Richt said. "Do I think we could beat LSU? Yes."

Richt said he knows many will argue LSU is more deserving because it won the SEC title.
--Sporting News - Georgia Ought to Be Included in Title Game

compiled by Mondoreb
[image:foxsports]