Not so much that it looks like a PAC-10 team is going to be represented in the national championship game, we've seen that a lot, though rather exclusively with one team in recent history. But it does look as if Oregon is going to be making its first ever appearance in the BCS Championship game. The biggest questions, and possibly the most history making answer, will come in who is going to be their opponent?
I went to school in Washington, so I knew a lot of people who were very passionate about Oregon college football, but it has really been a long time since I have had a team to care about. As a kid, growing up in Colorado, I definitely had a thing for CU, and remember watching the amazing Orange Bowl game in which CU won its first, and only, national championship. That lasted up until the days of Kordell Stewart, and the Miracle in Michigan, and Rashan Salaam winning the Heisman Trophy. Since then Colorado College football has been kind of boring. I do always like to watch the bowl games on New Years, and saw the Oregon vs. Ohio State game last year. Even though Oregon lost that game last year, I could not get over how much fun it was to watch that team. So, since then, Oregon has become my college football team of choice. So I am quite happy to see Oregon sitting atop the college football rankings.
Now, if I had my choice of teams to pick for who I would want to play against Oregon in the national championship game, it would be Boise State. Not a hugely flashy team, but they do have some very fun trick plays up their sleeves that just makes things fun to watch. I mean, who can forget that hook and ladder play against Oklahoma that put them on the map. They still pull out some gems every now and their unpredictability, against the speed and excitement of an Oregon team would make for the most interesting game.
The most likely game to happen, and this pretty much depends entirely on what happens this week against Alabama, is Oregon vs. Auburn. Now, Auburn's QB, Cam Newton, has been in the news a lot recently about possible violations while he was at Florida. Depending on the outcome of these allegations, as well as whether or not they are able to beat the defending national champs, could definitely affect whether or not Auburn makes it that far. We must, of course, remember that Auburn does still need to play a South Carolina team that handed Bama its first loss of the year in the SEC championship. Auburn, while I believe the most likely choice, is still far from a sure thing, and will have to continue to play its impressive brand of football in order to get there, especially if they may end up without their team leader at QB. It's definitely hard to picture Auburn winning out without Cam Newton.
Now, should Auburn lose, we could see TCU end up in the national championship game, which would still provide us the history that so many people are aching for when it comes to the BCS system never giving non-automatic teams the time of day, but it lacks quite the following that Boise State has. TCU is a great team, but just aren't quite as sexy as Boise State is. I mean, it isn't like TCU plays on purple turf or anything like that.
Potential darkhorse teams. Other than Boise State and TCU, the only other team that really has much of a chance to squeak in, and they would need a lot of help from all the teams in front of them, is Wisconsin. Wisconsin is looking to assure themselves of the Big 10 Title with a win over Northwestern this week. If nothing else, Wisconsin, with a win, will manage to make it back to the Rose Bowl for the first time since 2000. Considering that Northwestern is a far inferior team, there is not much of a reason for Wisconsin to not claim the Big 10 Title this year, but most likely will fall short of the national championship game.
Whichever way it ends up, the road up to the national championship game is going to be one that is filled with twists and turns, and some seriously exciting football! I know that I am looking forward to it.
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