I think most everyone has agreed that if the University of Michigan is able to break into the top 14 of the BCS rankings, they will unquestionably be selected as an at-large competitor in a BCS bowl. However, up until today, it has not been certain whether they will be able to ascend two places in the rankings in order to do that.
Based on what I have seen from watching the Southern Miss.-Houston game so far, I'm starting to think Michigan find themselves in the top 12 tomorrow afternoon simply by not having a football game today in which to kill themselves. Therefore, I've prepared a checklist of things that can/will propel them upward today.
Before I begin, I would like to note that I am still a Michigan State fan; however, I am one of those weird fans who believes that it is good for Michigan to succeed as long as they don't take championships away from us and we crush them in our annual matchup. It boosts our computer rankings, you see (and brings millions of dollars in shared revenue into the Big Ten). I still experience some cognitive dissonance in saying positive things about that school off to the southeast, though, so my language in this post may be a little... more direct than usual.
- Houston is currently failing to execute to an even greater extent than Southern Miss., 42-21. This game has been fiercely compelling in the same way as a coal train running off the rails and crashing into a burning distillery. It was among the most certain games coming into the weekend, and it instead seems the rumors* that Kevin Sumlin had been tricked into buying a timeshare on Herpaderp Island may have been true after all. Anyway, if Houston continues to lose, this game will be a huge boon to the Home of the Hash Bash. Not only is it likely to rocket Houston's BCS rankings into the ground faster than Duck Dodgers with the silly thing in reverse, it has the potential to block any non-automatically-qualifying teams from getting a BCS bid if TCU fails to impress today. I know I said earlier in this post that Michigan will be the first at-large pick if they are available, and I still believe that, but this would buy them insurance.
- TCU is only up 7-3 on UNLV — which is an anagram for "LUVN" — which proves that I am still twelve years old emotionally. TCU has the MWC championship locked down, so they're the last team in position to grab the LOL Big East non-AQ bid. If it turns out that Gary Patterson is embroiled in the Herpaderp scandal, another spot may open up for Oklahoma/K-State
/Boise. - Speaking of K-State, they're only up by 4 on Iowa State at the half. Yes, that Iowa State.
- If Georgia
winsputs up a good fight against LSU, they may not fall far enough in the polls for Michigan to jump them. If they come out of the game looking for a change of pants, they could be out of the way. - I don't think Oklahoma will fall behind Michigan even if they lose today, but if they come out of Bedlam wishing they were wearing Georgia's pants instead...
- One of the Scramblin' Weasels' worries coming into today was that Baylor would very likely leapfrog them by defeating the University of Occasional Capitalization. If Baylor doesn't win... actually, I want Baylor to win this game, so let's hope the other stuff in those post also happens and it doesn't matter.
- Michigan is currently 16th in the BCS. Wisconsin is 15th. They only lead by .0226 points. GO STATE.
*I may have started these rumors just now.
