PonyFans.com

They are at 17 in the BCS rankings. UCLA is at 16. If UCLA gets beat again this weekend, they will probably drop behind them, putting Kent state at 16. Since there is not a Big East team in the top 16 (or top 25 for that matter) , doesn't that mean they get in per the rules?

Yes. If Kent State beats NIU, Stanford beats UCLA, and KSU beats Texas, then Kent State will be in the BCS.

I kind of hope it happens...

But the BE champ will still go as well. KSU would knock out an at large, probably OU.

NY Pony wrote:But the BE champ will still go as well. KSU would knock out an at large, probably OU.

Correct.

It's actually a very likely scenario, and it's kind of amazing more people aren't talking about it (at least not that I have seen).

Quite a few of the published bowl forecasts have impossible scenarios, which isn't that surprising given how clueless most of those people are.

Cheering for Kent State!

Yikes. They got blown out of the water by an awful Kentucky team early in the year.

The MAC has quietly put together quite a year for them this year. And since the Big Ten and the SEC aren't going to fill all of their bowl slots they have the chance to show their other teams, such as Ohio and NIU, off in some slightly better bowls.

East Coast Mustang wrote:Yikes. They got blown out of the water by an awful Kentucky team early in the year.

They also beat a Rutgers and a good Ohio team. They got better as the season went on.

Even if they go to the BCS, they will still be remembered this year the most for their backwards fumble return

If Kent State does get the automatic spot, then 3 of the 4 at large openings will be gone due to automatic qualifications (Kent St., Notre Dame, and most likely Florida as the #3 team). That leaves only one spot open for selection. Depending on which bowl gets that selection, you could see Oregon out of the BCS games with one loss and Kent St. in the BCS with one loss. For instance, the Sugar bowl might select Oklahoma over Oregon.

In that scenario, Oregon would potentially be dropping from the BCS title game to the Alamo or Holiday Bowl due to the Stanford loss.

Northern Illinois has a chance as well. They are currently ranked #21 in the BCS, and I believe they are a slight favorite over Kent State this week. Winner wins the conference.

Besides needing UCLA and Texas to lose (like Kent State), they would also need to move past Michigan (idle) and Boise State (Nevada). If they win they probably do move past Boise because beating Kent State will impress the computers more than beating Nevada woud.

NIU's only loss was a neutral field game (Soldier Field) close loss to Iowa in the first week of the season.