LSU, Alabama Finish No. 1, No. 2 In BCS Rankings

Wait, no. That’s not accurate. The BCS has empowered the Harris to help determine which teams do and do not make the biggest game in college athletics.

But if you take a look at what Wine’s saying about the vote, you can’t help but wonder whether he did it for our own good.

Your curious ballot champions are Scott Johnson, Derrick Mayes, Craig Morton, Jeff Van Note, and George Wine. Johnson, Morton, and Van Note had the Cowboys fifth, while Mayes and Wine each put OK State at No. 6.

Wine, a former Iowa SID, had Houston ranked ahead of the Cowboys. Houston’s best win was over Tulsa. OSU had four or more superior wins. This vote helped decide college football’s championship game. TULSA. Nothing is real.

That SEC (and Air Force!) voters acted in their own self-interest isn’t the problem. It’s that they had the opportunity to do so. Coaches of competing football teams get to choose which teams make which postseason games. We shouldn’t be surprised when they choose themselves.

If the rankings were based on Big 12 ballots, the Cowboys would’ve come in second. Even the ballot of Tommy Tuberville, a longtime SEC man who’s now Texas Tech’s coach, has Alabama No. 3.

All these matchups will be a great opportunity to showcase the talent at the top of the conference and establish the SEC as the dominant conference in the nation once again.

For more on each bowl game pairing and a complete schedule, stay tuned to SB Nation’s 2011 college football bowl game coverage. And visit our many college football blogs.

What was a sure thing got a whole lot more uncertain when Oklahoma State dismantled Oklahoma 44-10 on Saturday. The Alabama Crimson Tide were considered the heavy favorites to face the LSU Tigers in the BCS National Championship Game heading into this past weekend, before the Cowboys gave pollsters plenty to think about. Ultimately it wasn’t enough, however, with the top three teams in the final BCS rankings of the regular season looking exactly the same from the week before: No. 1 LSU, No. 2 Alabama, No. 3 Oklahoma State.

Alabama and LSU will meet in New Orleans for a rematch of their Nov. 5 meeting in Tuscaloosa. The Tigers won the first round, 9-6 in a game that featured no shortage of defense.

For those wondering where the final all-important Harris Poll results of the regular season are, the rankings are reportedly being withheld until after the final BCS Standings are revealed Sunday night. The Harris Poll makes up one half of the human element of the BCS Standings. The delayed release of the poll only increases the nailbiting tension that Alabama and Oklahoma State fans must be feeling at this moment.

If this week’s AP and Coaches’ polls are any indication, the Crimson Tide should retain their No. 2 spot in the Harris Poll. We won’t know for sure until Sunday night, however.

While the final BCS rankings will not be released until Sunday evening, the AP Poll and Coaches Poll are out and give us a pretty good indication of who we can expect to qualify for the BCS bowl games.

We can fee pretty confident that No. 2 Alabama will be playing either for the national title or, at the very least, Sugar Bowl. Other schools likely in the Top 15 hoping to hear a call from the BCS for those final two spots are No. 4 Stanford, No. 6 Boise State, No. 7 Arkansas, No. 10 Kansas State, No. 11 Virginia Tech, No. 13 Michigan State and No. 15 TCU.

The Pac-12 owns the next three spots with Stanford, USC and Oregon while Arkansas, Boise, Wisconsin and South Carolina round out the top ten.

Here’s the full AP Poll top 25 for Week 13:

That said, Alabama and Oklahoma State were separated by 166 points. This week, they’re separated by only 32.

Pac-12 schools Stanford and Oregon round out the Top Five.

Over the course of Sunday, bits and pieces of this week’s final BCS standings will come out. Based on previous weeks, we have a pretty good guess of when this stuff will fall in line. The first three happen when they happen and can’t really be nailed to a particular time, but the last two are scheduled to broadcast on ESPN.

All times ET, and we’ll have complete coverage of each of these right here as soon as they’re made available.

Before we get to a weekend of college football that will, invariably, infuriate what seems like everyone, ask yourself a question before you ultimately look foolish.

Does the BCS make more sense than you do?