First off, let’s take a moment to celebrate what’s already been accomplished and ponder what’s possible.
Here’s (some of) the history that’s been made by this year’s team: most wins by a senior class (33), most SEC wins (6), undefeated against SEC East (5-0). Here’s what’s possible: most wins in a season (11, which we can get with a bowl win) and highest final ranking (10 or higher. The previous high is the 1984 team, which went 10-2 and finished #11 in the final poll).
The Gamecocks can reach most wins by just winning (baby), but need a bit of help to finish in the Final BCS Top 10. On the way toward that goal, we would improve our chances of landing a better bowl bid if some of the teams ranked ahead of us lose this weekend.
That established, here’s what I propose enables the Gamecocks to move up in the BCS Poll and garner a better bowl:
The probable: UGa loses to LSU in the SEC Championship. Just as our loss in Atlanta last year cost us a better bowl, a Georgia loss (especially a drubbing) likely moves us ahead of a 10-3 team that would also probably drop even further back from their current position of 14. (In terms of ranked SEC teams, we can’t surpass LSU, Alabama, or Arkansas before the bowls, but we would lose ground to the Dawgs if they upset LSU.) Oklahoma losing to Oklahoma State (especially by a lot) should drop the Sooners out of the Top 10 and would leave OU with a worse record (9-3) than ours (10-2),in addition to a previous loss to unranked Texas Tech (5-7).
The possible: Virginia Tech loses to clemson in the ACC Championship. I know, I know. Spurrier & I may be the only Gamecocks that see the value in the tigers winning when they’re not playing us, but hear me out… clemson did beat the Hokies earlier this year and giving VA Tech another loss would drop them down in the poll (think long term here, if they lose the ACC Championship and their bowl game, we could conceivably finish with the same amount of wins as the Gobblers but with one less loss and no losing streak). This outcome would have the added benefit of boosting the value of our win over clem’s son. (Just sayin’…).
The longshots: I really don’t see these happening, but while we’re dreamin’, these outcomes would also help. UCLA upsets #9 Oregon in the PAC-12 Championship, dropping the Ducks to 10-3 and out of the BCS Top 10. #6 Houston finally loses, to #24 Southern Miss in the Conference-USA Championship. #11 Kansas State loses to Iowa State, a team that’s already upset Oklahoma State this season. This would drop the Wildcats to 9-3 and enable us to move ahead of them in the last regular season BCS Poll.
The really longshot: #7 Boise State loses on their blue turf to an unranked opponent again, this time New Mexico (1-10). (You can’t see me, but trust me when I tell you that I couldn’t type that last sentence with a straight face.) Yeah, I REALLY don’t see this happenin,’ but a loss to the (currently) one-win Lobos would safely drop Kellen Moore and his teammates out of the BCS Top 10.
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STEVE JOHNSON is a Freelance Writer who attended USC during the span of fellow Gamecocks like Sterling Sharpe, Robert Brooks, Darius Rucker, and Todd Ellis. He can be reached at Steve@StevePierceJohnson.com or through his website www.StevePierceJohnson.com
