Stanford's Road to the BCS: Early Games Open Thread

by Scott Allen on Nov 26, 2025 9:23 AM PST

LSU took care of Arkansas yesterday, so Stanford's slim BCS title game hopes are still alive. Two things must happen today to keep the Cardinal in the race. Auburn must beat heavily favored Alabama in the Iron Bowl and Stanford must beat Notre Dame.

In addition to those two games, there are number of others that would improve the Cardinal's standing in the BCS picture. Here's the link to the full Unofficial Guide to Scoreboard Watching. Be sure to check out the comments, as several people added a few additional games to monitor. The early games of note are listed below, with the teams to root for in bold.

Iowa State at Oklahoma, 9 a.m., FX

Ohio State at Michigan, 9 a.m., ABC

Oregon State at Oregon, 12:30 p.m., ABC

Virginia Tech at Virginia, 12:30 p.m., ESPN2

Alabama at Auburn, 12:30 p.m., CBS

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Well done Cal and Colorado

Those wins increase a tad the Strength of schedule, given that Stanford had not played either Utah or ASU. That could only matter with VTech (the rest of the teams are too far for second order results to be meaningful).

If the ACC has a debacle today against the SEC and go 0-4, that could push Stanford over VTech.

by Euler on Nov 26, 2025 11:09 AM PST reply actions

GT is doing its part today

Michigan is about seven yards away from giving up another lead to Ohio State, too. Oklahoma’s blowing out ISU, but that’s alright.

Still will be watching the Civil War and Iron Bowl like a hawk, though.

by RedOscar on Nov 26, 2025 11:40 AM PST up reply actions

I wouldn't deposit too much hope in those 2 games...

You know what’s going to happen, and if for some reason OSU and Auburn start strong, that will only set you up for disappointment at the end of the game ;o)
Well, that’s what I was thinking last week anyway!

Stanford is not really affected by Oklahoma though. If they win out, they’ll get a direct BCS berth, but won’t overtake an 11-1 (fingers crossed) Stanford. If they go 9-3, it would be unlikely/outrageous if they’d get picked before Stanford for an at-large berth.

by Euler on Nov 26, 2025 12:03 PM PST up reply actions

Looks like OU might beat ISU, hopefully that doesn’t mean an OU win over OSU next week will push a 2-loss OU over Stanford.

by smartazjb0y on Nov 26, 2025 11:40 AM PST reply actions

Ouch @ Auburn vs. Alabama

by smartazjb0y on Nov 26, 2025 1:19 PM PST up reply actions

Another important subplot is the Heisman race

which right now is a toss-up between Luck, RG3 and Richardson, with Keenum having an outside chance.

So also check out the rushing in Bama-Auburn and the passing in Texas Tech-Baylor.
It would all be easier if Luck finally had another breakout game a la VTech last year!

by Euler on Nov 26, 2025 12:06 PM PST reply actions

The #4 ranking and the Heisman should be the goals, and they pass through an excellent performance today. Come on seniors!
BTW, anybody knows when the honoring of the seniors begins?

by Euler on Nov 26, 2025 2:14 PM PST reply actions