Only two years back, the Pac-10 conference was practically on its knees, begging for the Jeff Sagarins of the world to allow one school from the conference into the Bowl Championship Series.
If it were not for the Rose Bowl committee’s insistence to keep the Pac-10 and Big Ten tradition alive in the “Grandaddy of Them All,” Pac-10 member Stanford would not have been in a BCS game in the 1999 season.
With one month left in the 2001 college football campaign, the Pac-10 now has the tightest and most interesting race out of any conference in the nation. There are, however, two other conferences (ACC and Big Ten), which have neck-and-neck races occurring.
The following is a breakdown of the three conference races.
Pac-10: Oregon controls its own destiny. It’s simple: If they win, they’re in. With games against UCLA in Pasadena and home against in-state rivals and a disappointing Oregon State team, the Ducks will end up in the Fiesta Bowl if they win out, due to their the three-team tie-breaker advantage with Washington (7-1, 5-1) and Washington State (8-1, 5-1). Mike Belotti’s club has already knocked off Washington State, and his team doesn’t have the Huskies on the schedule this year.
UCLA is no easy opponent. Despite having lost their last two, the Bruins still sport a 6-2 record overall and could play the role of a spoiler. Bruins coach Bob Toledo is very familiar with Oregon, as he spent six seasons coaching in Eugene, only to be succeeded by Belotti as the Ducks’ offensive coordinator in 1989.
As for Washington and Washington St., the two schools square off on Nov.17, which will likely eliminate one from conference title contention. The Huskies finish with Oregon State on the road, the Cougars at home and then close out their season with a non-conference game at Miami.
Conversely, the Cougars square off with Arizona State and Washington on the road.
The fourth of the Pac-10 contenders is Stanford. The Cardinal has come on as of late with wins against UCLA and Oregon, but it still needs others to lose to make a run for the title.
Stanford has conference games at Arizona and California at home and thus could finish 6-2 in conference at best. Remember this: The Pac-10, with their strength of schedule (20-5 vs. non-conference opponents, 4-1 vs. top-25 teams), has an outside chance of getting two teams in BCS games.
Bowl chances: If Oregon wins out, they are obliged to go to the Fiesta bowl, unless they finish at No. 1 or No. 2 in the nation. If Washington wins out, they will complete their season 10-1 with wins against Michigan and Miami and could very well likely end up with at-large bid in a BCS bowl..
ACC: With their 41-27 victory over Clemson in the Bowden Bowl last week, Florida State (6-2, 5-1) moved into a first-place tie with Maryland atop the ACC. The Seminoles beat the Terps earlier in the season and thus are penciled into the Orange Bowl as of now.
The ‘Noles have an extremely tough remaining schedule, facing teams with a combined 18-5 record. FSU plays Florida in between home conference games against North Carolina State and Georgia Tech.
Maryland, on the other hand, has been consistent all year. They are one of only nine Division I-A schools to average over 200 yards passing and rushing per game in 2001. Ralph Friedgen’s team has yet to face Clemson and N.C. State on the road. With two wins, the Terps could go 10-1 overall and 7-1 in conference, and still they may not go to a BCS game.
Bowl chances: Either way, the Terps will likely end up in the Orange Bowl or Gator Bowl — not bad for a team that has not won eight games in a year since 1985.
UNC had a major beef at the ACC crown, until they came up short against Georgia Tech a week ago. Now the Heels sit at 5-4, 4-2 in conference, and find home games against Wake Forest, Duke and SMU to close out the season. The Tarheels should run the table to up their record to 8-4, 6-2 but it likely will not be good enough to catapult them into the Orange Bowl. UNC, Georgia Tech, Clemson and N.C. State will be vying for slots in the Peach Bowl and Tangerine Bowl.
Big Ten: The Big Ten may not a pose a real threat for a competitive BCS team this year, but it is still the hardest conference to escape from with an unblemished record.
Michigan had a shot at an undefeated conference season, but with one of the longest ticks of the clock on Saturday, Michigan’s in-state rivals, Michigan State, upended the Wolverines 26-24. With its win against Illinois on Sept. 29, Michigan still has destiny in its own hands, thanks to the Big Ten tiebreaker rules. Lloyd Carr’s team has three games left: Minnesota at home, a team they lead the all-time season series with 63-23-3, then they travel into Madison to play the Badgers. Then, the Wolverines close the season with their biggest rivalry game against Ohio State.
Illinois is riding high right now by reeling off four wins in a row, but there is one slight problem for the Illini: their one loss this season is at the hands of Michigan. Even if Illinois (7-1, 4-1) beats a hot Penn State team on Saturday, and defeat Ohio State at the Horseshoe and take out Northwestern, the Illini will not capture the conference title due to that one loss at the Big House.
Michigan State, Purdue and Ohio State are all at 3-2 in Big Ten play, and if one had to be eliminated right now on the basis of the difficulty of the rest of its schedule, it would be the Buckeyes. Jim Tressel and company have contests against Purdue and Illinois at home before they travel to Ann Arbor. The Spartans have conference games at home against Indiana and Penn State, with a road game at Purdue sandwiched in between.
Purdue is spending two of their last three Big Ten weeks away from West Lafayette, as it travels to Ohio State and Indiana, with the Spartans at home in between.
Bowl chances: All things being equal, the Maize and Blue seem to have the easiest road to the Sugar Bowl — where the Big Ten winner will go this year. Though Illinois is currently at No. 12 in the latest BCS rankings, the Illini could slip in at an at-large BCS bid if they win out, combined with some losses by higher-up teams.
