irishnickname said:
With both LSU and VT losing this evening, Notre Dame will recieve an automatic bid by way of being in the top 6 of the final BCS bowl ratings.
ND does get an automatic bid if it gets 9 wins and a Top 6 finish. But LSU and VT losing does NOT guarantee ND automatically moves up 2 slots in the BCS to #6.
I've been playing with projected polls and computer rankings and believe it's possible for ND to get to 6 but it's no lock even without shenanigans. Skewed voting like ND/FSU in '93 or CAL/Texas last year can guarantee ND doesn't get an Automatic Bid.
A few weeks ago VT dropped below ND in the polls but in the next two weeks when ND didn't blow away either Syracuse or Stanford (see Tex/CU and USC/UCLA for bonafide blowouts) VT climbed back ahead.
Saturday VT was getting ripped 27-3 and put up 19 4th quarter points to make it a game. Do pollsters, who had no excuse not to watch this game, focus on the 3rd Q blowout by an unranked team or vote VT high on the ballot for a close lose in the 13 game of the season?
Likewise do voters finally realize LSU played a sham schedule with inflated wins and tonight's 20 point lose was no accident? Or do they consider a 13th game, Katrina, and the SEC block vote? Minimizing LSU's drop while elevating UGA (they will climb in the polls) and possibily Auburn?
Consider that PAC 10 voters might hold similar sympathy.
In the last polls ND was 7th but a 6th place finish in the polls doesn't guarantee a 6th place BCS finish. Last week held an edge over Oregon in both polls by 0.0671 but the Total BCS Points in the two polls was dwarfed by Oregon's big edge, 0.2180, in the computers (Oregon was 6th and ND 10th).
Looking at the past few weeks of computer ranking shows ND will pick up ground.
ND will rise from 10th to 8th in Saragin. Oregon will probably only move up one slot as LSU was ranked below them.
In Anderson Hester, Oregon will pick up a slot from VT but again ND may not but ND will pick up two slots from LSU and UCLA (8th last week).
Billingsley had ND way down in 15 th place and Oregon 10th. VT was #3 and LSU #5 with AUB #6 and UGA #7. ND will pass over #14 UCLA but the gap between VT and LSU may to be great to overcome. One or both could drop below Oregon but be ranked ahead of ND.
Colley had VT 4th, Oregon 6th, LSU 7th, UCLA 10th, UGA 12th, and ND 13th. ND will be up one slot for UCLA but might not pass LSU and most likely won't pass the formerly 3rd ranked VT.
Massey had VT 5, Oregon 6, LSU 7, ND 9 and UGA 12. ND should close the gap somewhat with Oregon if UGA doesn't pass ND based on a 10th win.
Wolfe had VT 5, Oregon 6, LSU 7, ND 10 so again ND moves up as does Oregon but can ND pass VT?
ND doesn't have to catch Oregon in the computer ranking, rather ND has to close the gap enought that Oregon can't overcome the edge ND will get in the polls. ND has to close the differential with Oregon in the computers from 4 places to 2 places and that might still be enough.