State of the BCS Conferences Part 2 - Big Ten, Pac 10, SEC

In Part 1, I took a look at the ACC, Big 12, and Big East and made some predictions on who will come out of each conference. In Part 2, I will do the same thing with the remaining three BCS Conferences. The Big Ten is pretty straight forward, but the other two are a big mess. Big Ten The Big Ten has taken a lot of heat from the media and other fans for their play this season. Most of it can be pointed squarely at the University of Michigan who lost their first two games to Appalachian State and Oregon. So what does it say about the conference when Michigan is tied for the top spot in it. Along with fellow rival Ohio State, the Wolverines are sitting atop the Big Ten standings with a 3-0 conference record. The other team that still has a claim in the race is the upstart Illinois Illini. The Illini slipped up last weekend against Iowa or there could be a three way tie. Michigan has a chance to completely wipe out Illinois chances this weekend when they travel to Champaign. The Buckeyes have a little easier game this week with Michigan State before games at Penn State, Wisconsin, Illinois, and at Michigan. The Wolverines remaining schedule includes Illinois, at Wisconsin, Minnesota, at Michigan State, and of course at home against the Buckeyes. Ohio State has been using a defense that only gives up around 7 points per game while the Wolverines have been using a steady diet of Michael Hart and an improved Chad Henne to keep opposing offenses off the field. Big Ten Winner: Illinois needs to beat Michigan and Ohio State which will be tough since they will be playing at the Horseshoe. Illinois is going to be a good team but they aren’t ready to beat both of the big boys, which leaves us to Ohio State and Michigan for the title once again. Michigan continues to improve each week and while I think Ohio State is a good team, I think the Wolverines will get the last laugh as they win the game in the Big House for the Big Ten title. If that happens, look for Michael Hart to take home some other hardware. Pacific Ten The Fire Dorrell cheer can be heard all around Los Angeles, but do Bruin fans realize they are undefeated in conference play? Arizona State is 4-0 while UCLA has a perfect 3-0 record in the Pac 10. But the teams at one loss are the ones that will make the most noise in the conference. Cal, minus their starting quarterback Nate Longshore, lost a heartbreaker last week to the Oregon State Beavers. USC survived against Arizona, and if they do not get their offensive line in gear, they will lose again. Oregon, even though they did lose to the Bears, might be in the best shape to win the conference. USC still has Oregon and California left on their schedule, while USC and Arizona State have all three teams left. The Bears need to keep Longshore healthy and continue to find ways to get DeSean Jackson the ball. The Ducks were only a score away from beating the Bears, but a win against USC will erase that memory. Pacific Ten Winner: This race has all the makings of a photo finish. The two teams at the top right now, Arizona State and UCLA, are unproved and both have huge holes in the game defensively. I would not be surprised to see the winner of the conference come out with 2 losses. We saw with Stanford and Oregon State, the Pac Ten is a deep conference with little room between the top and middle tier teams. In the end I think California comes out on top, as they will be tied with Oregon and possibly USC. Cal will hold the tiebreaker to take the BCS bid. SEC East Five of the six teams in the SEC East alone are good enough to win or finish in second place in a most of the BCS Conferences. Last year’s champion Florida is behind the 8-ball a bit with two losses to LSU and Auburn as is Georgia. South Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee all have one loss. Out of the top teams in this side of the conference, Florida has beaten Tennessee, South Carolina beat Kentucky, and South Carolina beat Georgia. With the erratic play of Matthew Stafford, I do not expect the Bulldogs to be much of a player for the SEC East title. Tennessee has shown problems stopping athletic teams which could pose a problem when they Kentucky or Alabama, but they do not play LSU. Kentucky has trouble stopping the pass which could hurt them this weekend against Florida and later on against Tennessee. SEC East Winner: Even though they have two losses, I am going to go with Florida. Both of the Gators’ losses came to SEC West team, while they put a big beating on the Vols in their SEC Opener. There is so much talent on this Gators team which will overwhelm their opponents. It would be great to see a rematch of the LSU and Florida game in the SEC Title Game. SEC West The SEC West is a little less complicated than the East. LSU, Auburn, and Alabama are all tied at 3-1 in the conference. LSU has Auburn this week and at Alabama next week, so the picture will clear up a lot in that period of time. The Tide continues to get better, but what worries me is if they are able to keep up with the big boys. They had a coming out win against Arkansas, but don’t forget they blew a big lead in that game. Auburn had a huge upset against Florida, but I am not sure they can do it two weeks in a row against LSU. The Tigers have shown they have the talent, speed, and guts with their coaching staff, now let’s see if they can handle adversity. LSU is still very much in the National Title picture, but if they can’t run the table in their own conference, they won’t be playing in the National Title. SEC West Winner: LSU will win the west, even if they lose another game. Last week was a wake up call to the team. The Tigers had a huge emotional win against Florida, and let down against Kentucky. Les Miles will regroup the team, but that letdown could have cost them their shot at the title.