A week after Oklahoma and WIsconsin were both knocked from their unbeaten perch, week nine of the 2011 college football season was arguably just as crazy. We saw undefeated Clemson and Kansas State both take it on the chin and lose their zero. Add in the Stanford Cardinal barely escaping from USC in what might be the game of the year, and it was another wild weekend.
Stanford battled back from the brink of defeat to secure their 16th straight win and also maintain their candidacy for one half of the national title game. No. 5 Clemson losing at Georgia Tech only boosted Stanford's chances. The Cardinal have a monster test in two weeks against the Oregon Ducks, but they look to enter that game with a chance to make some more noise before all is said and done.
To date, the biggest obstacle for Stanford has been their strength of schedule. They boosted it this week but a poor first half of the schedule leaves them with the worst schedule at the top of the rankings. However, while they were busy boosting their strength with a win over USC, several teams around them lost games that will impact the six BCS computer ratings. Losses by teams like Texas A&M and Texas Tech both likely helped out Stanford. The Aggies and Red Raiders are both behind Stanford in the overall BCS rankings but ahead in some of the computer polls.
With Saturday in the books, here is an attempt to project the third BCS rankings. While awaiting the latest polls, the computer ratings will include the USA Today/Coaches Poll, Harris Interactive Poll, Sagarin Ratings, Anderson & Hester, Billingsley Report, ColleyMatrix, Massey Ratings, and Wolfe Ratings. While we don't have computer ratings for these projections, here are my week ten BCS rankings projections nonetheless:
1. LSU
2. Alabama
3. Boise State
4. Oklahoma State
5. Stanford
6. Oklahoma
7. Oregon
8. Arkansas
9. Clemson
10. Virginia Tech