After another weekend of BCS contender carnage, the question now: Why not Virginia Tech? Provided they win at Virginia on Saturday in the Commonwealth Cup and against Clemson in the ACC championship, the Hokies (10-1) will have a legitimate claim to a berth in the BCS title game.
Here’s why. With the exception of the SEC, no other conference champion will be more deserving.
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In the Big 12, losses by Oklahoma State (10-1) and Oklahoma (8-2), have taken the teeth out of the Bedlam game. Virginia Tech is a better one-loss option than Oklahoma State. The Hokies can avenge their defeat to Clemson, while the Cowboys loss came to lowly Iowa State.
In the Pac-12, Oregon (9-2) is out of contention after losing to USC. Stanford (10-1) shouldn’t make the BCS title game over Virginia Tech if it can’t win its conference. Though some would argue that the way Andrew Luck carved up the Hokies in last year’s Orange Bowl — a 40-12 Cardinal victory — Stanford is a more attractive BCS option.
Forget the other two BCS conferences. Neither the Big East nor Big Ten has a one-loss team left.
The way Virginia Tech has played when it gets into big games, there’s little national clamor for a Virginia Tech-LSU title game. But there’s not much for an Alabama-LSU rematch either.
Is Virginia Tech better than Alabama? Probably not. But if it is a question of who is more deserving, it has to be the Hokies. After all, Alabama doesn’t deserve another shot at LSU after losing at home to the Tigers.
– Kevin Dunleavy
