ESPN's Brad Edwards projects Boise State will be No. 1 in the BCS next week

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5673225

 

Please let it be true. Please let it be true.

This season has had just enough of a crazy start for this to be the year that a Boise State or a TCU, or possibly both, to reach the BCS title game.

 

Edwards has always been spot-on with his projections, so I don't doubt his accuracy. But as he said, the fact that Boise has already played its toughest games will probably cause its computer rankings to drop steadily each week.

 

"Though this is exactly what the BCS standings would look like if they came out today, this is not an indication of what they will look like several weeks from now if all these teams keep winning," Edwards said.


Translation: This means absolutely nothing.

 

I don't know much, but I do know the computer ranking that currently has Alabama 10th is a joke.

 

I guess I'm not the only person who thinks if Bama wins out they still wind up in Glendale.

 

They will probably have to have beaten three Top 10 (if not Top 5) teams to get there --- LSU, Auburn, South Carolina/Florida, so you might be right. But if Ohio State, Oregon and/or the Oklahoma-Nebraska winner are still unbeaten, it's going to be tough for Bama to jump two of the three in the human polls.

 

I'm not so sure sure it's a joke given how Alabama was dominated from start to finish in a 14-point loss. Physically, this Tide team doesn't look anywhere near as imposing as last year's version -- even in the Arkansas game. And the best running back on the field Saturday wasn't the one with the Heisman Trophy; he played for the Gamecocks.

Remember when Alabama beat Penn State 24-3? Doesn't that seem like a weak score now, knowing Penn State owns the worst offense on the Big Ten and lost 33-13 to Illinois on Saturday?

Remember when Alabama beat Florida 31-6? Well, given how the Gators own the 96th-ranked offense nationally, that game doesn't hold the same weight we all thought it would when the season began.

 

I think Boise State will run the table. I don't know about TCU.

I still think it will be SEC Champ against Big 10 or Big 12 Champ in the BCS title game, even if those teams all have one loss.

 

There's no way to say that definitively. Alabama had to pretty much abandon the running game when it got down 21-3 in the second quarter.

 

Alabama didn't abandon its running game down 20-7 late in the third quarter in Arkansas and finished with 227 yards on the ground, most of it late. I don't buy that the Tide absolutely had to abandon the running game to win, but you are right, they did abandon it.

 

It's a matter of opinion, I guess. But Lattimore wasn't the reason South Carolina won that game. It was, in order:

1a. USC QB Stephen Garcia playing the best game, by far, of his career.
1b. USC WR Alshon Jeffery owning the Tide secondary
2. Alabama's defense falling apart at all the key moments
3. Alabama's special teams --- shanked a punt to give USC a short field early, missed an extra point and a makeable field goal, botched a fake field goal

Lattimore's a very good --- potentially great --- back and he certainly outplayed Ingram and Richardson on Saturday. But to say he's a better player at this point is jumping the gun.