AJC > Sports > Blog > Archives > 2007 > December > 02
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Early BCS projections: Dawgs headed to Sugar
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Good morning Sunshine!
While you were sleeping, Hawaii came back from a two-touchdown deficit to beat Washington with only 44 seconds left, 35-28. That was the final piece of the BCS puzzle in what has to go down as the craziest college football year I can ever remember.
In case you were on a deserted island with no TV or internet, both No. 1 Missouri and No. 2 West Virginia lost last night. West Virginia was a 28-point favorite at home and still fell to Pittsburgh, 13-9.
That has thrown the national championship race wide open as No. 3 Ohio State and No. 4 Georgia hope to move up.
The official BCS pairings won’t come out until 8 p.m. Sunday on Fox Sports. But your humble correspondent was on the phone until the wee hours of Sunday morning trying to figure out how the bowl picture will take shape.
So here is an early preview of what I think the BCS games will be:
BCS Championship: No. 1 Ohio State (11-1) vs. No. 2 LSU (11-2). Sorry, Georgia fans. But if you’ll recall we wrote about this possibility last week. Georgia is the hotter team and you can certainly make the case that the Dawgs are very deserving, given the way they have played down the stretch. But I believe that enough of the coaches will change their votes and reward LSU for winning the SEC championship.
Sugar Bowl: Georgia (10-2) vs. Hawaii (12-0): When LSU goes to the BCS championship game, the Sugar Bowl will get to pick a replacement. They will go with Georgia, which won its last six games in impressive fashion. Hawaii gets in as an at-large team with a great passing offense led by QB Colt Brennan. Georgia defensive coordinator Willie Martinez will be watching a lot of film in December.
Rose Bowl: Southern Cal (10-2) vs. Illinois (9-3): The Rose Bowl could take Georgia as a replacement because it lost No. 1 Ohio State to the BCS championship. But early Sunday morning I got a couple of calls telling me that the old guard on the Rose Bowl selection committee, aided by some pressure from the Big Ten, was going to prevail in this argument. The Rose would have the best game on the board if it took Georgia. But tradition is a hard thing to overcome with those people.
Orange Bowl: Virginia Tech (10-2) vs. Kansas (11-1): After the Rose and the Sugar replace the teams they lost to the BCS championship, it will be the Orange Bowl’s turn to pick an opponent for Virginia Tech, the ACC champ. The choices will include West Virginia, coming off the worst loss in school history, Kansas, Missouri, and Hawaii. The Orange can’t take Florida (9-3) because there are already two SEC teams in the BCS bowls. Kansas, whose only loss is to Missouri, will be ranked no worse than No. 5 or No. 6. The Orange could fool me and take West Virginia.
Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma (11-2) vs. West Virginia (10-2): The Fiesta could be tempted to pick an undefeated WAC team (Hawaii at 12-0) for the second straight year. They took Boise State last January and the Broncos delivered the best game of the bowl season. But the Fiesta passes on Hawaii to take a more traditional match-up. West Virginia fans are certainly disappointed, but they will still travel. If the Orange takes West Virginia first, then Kansas will fill here to give the Fiesta and All-Big 12 match-up.
Chick-fil-A Bowl: Clemson (9-3) vs. Auburn (8-4): The Chick-fil-A selection will meet on Sunday and they will seriously consider Boston College (10-3), which lost to Virginia Tech (30-16) in the ACC championship game. But when it comes time to pull the trigger they will take Clemson to play Auburn in a battle of the Tigers.
OTHER SEC BOWL PAIRINGS (Projected)
Capital One: Florida vs. Michigan
Outback: Tennessee vs. Wisconsin
Cotton: Arkansas vs. Missouri
Music City: Kentucky vs. Florida State
Liberty: Mississippi State vs. Central Florida
Independence: Alabama vs. TBA
OTHER ACC BOWL PAIRINGS (Projected)
Chick-fil-A: Clemson (9-3) vs. Auburn (8-4)
Gator: Virginia (9-3) vs. Texas Tech (8-4)
Champs Sports: Boston College (10-3) vs. Purdue (7-5)
Music City: Florida State (7-5) vs. Miss. State (8-4)
Meineke: Wake Forest (8-4) vs. Connecticut (9-3)
Emerald: Maryland (6-6) vs. California (6-6)
Humanitarian: Georgia Tech (7-5) vs. Nevada (6-6)
