Bowl projections are updated on the left hand side. The updated projections deal with the major bowls and the Capital One/Outback games. The second-tier scenario has not changed since the post right below this.
It was a good weekend for Ohio State. The Buckeyes watched LSU fall to Arkansas, and the OSU championship scenario is now simple--if either West Virginia or Missouri lose, Jim Tressel's team is next in line to fill a berth in the national championship game. WVA is home against Pitt, while Missouri has a tough Big 12 championship showdown with Oklahoma on Saturday night.
The weekend wasn't quite as kind to Illinois' BCS chances. Hawaii beat Boise State and got respect from the pollsters in doing so. The Rainbows moved up to #12 in the BCS rankings, exactly where they needed to get to assure themselves an automatic bid. It appears Hawaii will have to lose outright to Washington next weekend to lose its BCS bid, and that it makes it unlikely Illinois can get in. With four available spots (after the six automatics to the major conferences after doled out), we can lock in the Big 12 and SEC for one spot. The Pac-10 will without question grab a third, so long as USC & Arizona State both win (and even if they don't, the Pac-10 might still get an at-large). That leaves Illinois and Hawaii to fight over the last spot, and Saturday's results weren't good for Ron Zook & Co.
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In the midst of the bowl talk, it's also time to talk a little buckets. College basketball has been slowly warming up these past couple weeks, and it's about time to kick into high gear on the hardwood. The Big Ten-ACC Challenge begins tonight, with Iowa hosting Wake Forest. The Big Ten traditionally gets taken to the cleaners in this event, having lost the previous eight challenges. Maybe the ninth time's the charm. It better be, albeit for personal reasons--with this writer moving to the Baltimore area in less then a month, I need something to hang my hat on.
This year's challenge is higlhlighted by Wisconsin's trip to Cameron Indoor Stadium on Tuesday night, the Illinois-Maryland battle in my future backyard on Wednesday, followed by Carolina-Ohio State that same night. Other then tonight's opener, all the games are on Tuesday and Wednesday and they fill the TV slots with doubleheaders for both ESPN & ESPN2 on both nights.
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