Da Geeks Power Rankings for 11/28/2011 Bowl Predictions...

1.  West Virginia  Louisville and Cincinnati share the top spot in this weeks poll. These 3 teams are the only ones that have any shot at the BCS and thus are the only relevant teams.  Everyone else has fallen into complete obscurity.  To break this down simply it is like this Louisville is already at worst a co-champion of the Big East and shall be the BCS representative with a Cincinnati loss.  They are a pedestrian 7 and 5, but of those 7 wins including one over the Eers in Morgantown, they have won 5 conference games.  The best that Cincinnati and West Virginia can hope to do is to win 5 conference games for a share of the Big East Crown.  Cincinnati wins the nod to play in the BCS game with a win over UConn (bringing their record to 9 and 3) and a WVU loss.  They have won the head to head match with Louisville, thus they would win the first tie breaker.   WVU would get the BCS nod if the Eers can notch a victory over the always challenging Bulls in Tampa (which would bring their record to 9 and 3), and a Cincinnati win over UConn.  Were this to happen the 3 co-champs would then be placed into a mini-conference.  Since all of the teams won one and lost one against the others (Louisville beat WVU lost to Cincinnati; Cincinnati beat Louisville and lost to WVU; and WVU beat Cincinnati but lost to Louisville.)  This means that the representative would be the team ranked higher in the BCS poll.  As it currently stands WVU is 23rd in the BCS poll being the only team ranked in the top 25 (Cincinnati is 30th and Louisville is 41st.)  Though stranger things have happened I simply don't see Cincinnati jumping WVU in this poll were both teams to win this weekend and Louisville has no team to beat to move them up in the poll this weekend, thus WVU shall get the nod in the 3rd tie breaker and therefore shall be the representative in the BCS bowl game this year in the event that WVU and Cincinnati take care of business.  Bowl predictions for these teams:  WVU in the Orange Bowl; Louisville in the Belk Bowl; Cincinnati in the Papa Johns Bowl.  Notre Dame is Bowl eligible and I think that this is all that matters to the Champs Sports Bowl, thus the second pick of a Big East team would fall to the Belk and Louisville is a proven traveler to bowl games for this reason I think they would get the edge over Cincinnati.

4.  Rutgers at 8 and 4 takes this spot even with that abysmal loss to Connecticut.  They fall here ahead of Pitt for 2 reasons first they beat them head to head and secondly and far more importantly they have a better conference and overall record.  While, Pitt can still end up tied with Rutgers in the Conference standings this week they trail the Knights.  The New Era Pin Stripe Bowl has been salivating over inviting Rutgers basically since the season began and thus will give Rutgers the invite as soon as it is their turn to make a selection.  

5. Pitt holds down the number 5 spot.  They fought hard but refused to accept the many gifts that WVU passed their way in terms of turnovers.  Pitt won the turnover battle 3-1 and still couldn't find it in themselves to beat the Eers.  As far as Brawl's go this one was certainly a classic.  Particularly because the Panthers were under the misguided impression that they were going to win this game right down to the last sack/fumble.  But alas, it was not meant to be so the Panthers had to hightail it 77 miles back home losers again.   They like the rest of the teams in this Power Rankings are not currently Bowl eligible. They are currently 5-6.  They face the completely irrelevant Orange to find out who is going to get the invite to the Beef O'Brady's Bowl.  Yup everybody is going to be glued to the sets to see the outcome of this game.  My prediction is that the Panthers defeat the hapless Orange thus they shall be heading to Tampa over the holidays. 

6.  Connecticut is next on the list as they have at least won a game recently.  They gave Rutgers a good-old- fashioned-butt-kicking this past weekend.  Who would have seen a 40 point explosion (a) happening for Connecticut and (b) being given up by Rutgers, suffice to say, it happened.  With that win they have earned the right to go to Cincinnati and likely get pasted and eliminated from Bowl Contention.  I realize that they are playing for their Bowl lives but the Bearcats are playing maybe for a shot at the BCS.  Even without this motivation the "Flying Munchies" with Isaiah Pead are simply a better team and should get this win.  Therefore, The Huskies will end this season Bowl-less. 

7.  South Florida currently at 5 and 6 have a lot to play for as they too can become bowl eligible with a win.  However, they usually don't need any more motivation to progress than to know that WVU is going to be on the other side of the ball.    They have a nack for rising to the occasion against the Eers particularly in Tampa.  It appears that they shall have the services of their starting quarterback for Thursday nights game so I expect a battle.  I predict however that the Bulls will come up short as the Eers simply have too much to play for on Thursday.  This game in the words of Coach Holgorsen, is "season defining." As a result of this game, the bowl hopes of the Bulls come to an end.  They will end the season 5 and 7 and more importantly 1 and 7 in Big East play.

8.  Syracuse, wow does this team really even deserve a mention in the top 8 of an 8 team league?  They had one moment in the season where they cashed it all in against WVU and then thud came the season.  The utter futility of this seasons effort makes the ACC proud.  I mean let us look at this for a second the ACC invites one of the worst teams in the Big East and the team that just did marginally better in Pitt.  Enjoy!  With Syracuse's loss to Pitt this weekend they shall join South Florida with a 5 and 7 record with just one win in conference play.  So no bowl for you.  Hmm.  Sure looks like that performance against WVU earlier this season really mattered in the grand scheme of things.  I am sure that there fan base takes solace in the fact that they will have beaten one of the eventual conference champions but any fan that is satisfied with this seasons' performance should really reexamine their sports loyalties.  It is a FINE time to be an Orangefan.