BCS projected rankings: Boise State expected to shoot up rankings, in the hunt for BCS bid

The No. 22 Boise St. Broncos picked a great week to be on a bye, because multiple teams ranked ahead of Boise State lost this weekend, to be exact the Nos. 15 - 21 teams all lost. There could possibly be enough to give Boise State a big push in the polls, and thus place them right back in the hunt for that automatic BCS bowl berth from the non-automatic qualifying leagues.

Here are the results that will greatly help Boise State's chance at a BCS bowl game

• No. 13 Oklahoma defeated No. 21 Oklahoma State, 51-48
• No. 5 Oregon defeated No. 15 Oregon State, 48-24
• TCU defeated No. 16 Texas, 20-13
• No. 8 Stanford defeated No. 17 UCLA, 35-17
• Pitt defeated No. 18 Rutgers, 27-6
• Ohio State defeated No. 19 Michigan, 26-21
• Connecticut defeated No. 20, Louisville 23-20

Boise State will move up at least a few spots, but it will be very interesting to see how the voters shuffle these teams down for losing. My assumption is that Texas, Louisville, Rutgers and PItt will fall behind Boise State due to losing to unranked teams. Then do the voters place Boise State ahead of Oregon State and UCLA who lost by double digits. Then Michigan losing to a now 12-0 Ohio State team, so should the Wolverines fall just for losing. This will be very interesting on Sunday morning with the polls.

What also will help Boise State is that the top Big East team is not going to be ranked higher than No. 16. The one problem for Boise State is how the computers rank them, in last weeks BCS rankings the Broncos were not ranked in any of the top 25 of the computers.

Here is how I think the BCS standings will look Sunday night:

1. Notre Dame
2. Alabama
3. Florida
4. Georgia
5. Oregon
6. Kansas State
7. LSU
8. Stanford
9. Texas A&M
10. South Carolina
11. Oklahoma
12. Nebraska
13. Florida State
14. Clemson

------- After this point is really up in the air, and will be a crap shoot on my part.

15. Michigan -- They had the best loss of the group.
16. Oklahoma State -- Again, they lost to a top-10 team, but will the voters move them up.
17. Boise State
18. Texas
19. UCLA
20. Oregon State

If Boise State is at No. 17 or even No. 18 they have shot because Wisconsin plays Nebraska in the Big Ten title game, TCU hosts Oklahoma and then Kansas State plays Texas. The Texas loss could help Boise State gain some computer points.

While it seems like Boise State needs some help to get to No. 16, they are going to be very close to that spot on Sunday.