Oregon and Boise State not 1-2 in first BCS rankings is a joke

When the college football polls were released on Sunday, it was no secret the #1 team in the first BCS standings of the 2010 season should have been either the Oregon Ducks or the Boise State Broncos. But when the poll was released, we were in for quite the surprise from the BCS computer. Their #1 team?: the Oklahoma Sooners. That's right--the Sooners (ranked third in the AP, Harris, and ESPN/USA Today Coaches' poll) got the nod to be on top of the first BCS rankings of the season. What hurts both Oregon and Boise State is their respective strength of schedules. The Broncos especially, because they're in their final season in the WAC and their strength of schedule is the weakest of the bunch. Sure, their non-conference wins over Virginia Tech and Oregon State are nice, but because they're in the WAC, those wins still aren't good enough. If Virginia Tech had been able to beat James Madison (a reasonably good FCS school) in Blacksburg, Boise State's ranking in the initial poll would have been a little higher, but no higher than second once the BCS came out. Even though they blew out lowly conference foe San Jose State 48-0, it actually hurt them in the rankings because of how bad the Spartans' record is.

On the subject of the Ducks, Oregon is in the Pac-10 (will be the Pac-12 once Utah and Colorado officially join the conference in 2011 and 2012, respectively) and the champion in that league always gets an automatic bid to the Rose Bowl (that is if the Ducks don't finish 1st or 2nd in the final BCS rankings). I'm sure their fans are crying foul over the rankings much like Boise State fans are, given the fact that Oregon is #1 in the AP, Harris, and ESPN/USA Today Coaches' polls. And quite frankly, I think Oregon should be #1 in the BCS and Boise State #2. But that damned BCS computer did not put the Ducks topping all the polls into consideration when the fresh batch of rankings was released.

Which now brings me to the Sooners. They're playing at Missouri, another unbeaten Big 12 team that's in the BCS rankings (ranked 11th to be exact; Oklahoma State is the other Big 12 team in the standings, ranked 14th and unbeaten like Oklahoma and Missouri). On top of that Oklahoma also has wins over Florida State, Air Force, and perennial rival Texas. And should the Sooners beat the Tigers on Saturday, it would give them a big cushion when the next set of rankings are released next week, regardless of what Oregon does against UCLA on Thursday night or what Boise State does against Louisiana Tech next Tuesday. I guess it's safe to say that a lot of Oregon and Boise State fans are going to cheering hard for the Missouri Tigers to upset the Sooners this weekend in Columbia, because if the Tigers can make that happen, it could blow the BCS wide open, and permit the two best teams in college football to occupy the top two spots when the new rankings are released, right where they should be.