CBSSports.com projects that after all the trouble WVU has had this year, the Mountaineers could win a BCS berth by rising to the top in the Big East.
The Big 12 champion automatically goes to the Fiesta Bowl, so the way I see it playing out is Oklahoma State beats Oklahoma and then knocks off Nebraska in the in the Big 12 title game and lands here. The Fiesta Bowl gets the last at-large pick, so expect the Big East champion here. Take your choice — Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Connecticut, South Florida? Let’s say West Virginia, which should beat Pittsburgh next week.
We’ll see. Pitt is the only team in the Big East that controls its own destiny, and could squash West Virginia’s hopes with a win in the Backyard Brawl. And West Virginia’s path to the BCS is complicated by Connecticut, which won over Syracuse yesterday. The Huskies are currently tied with WVU at 3-2 in conference play, but if UConn wins out against Cincinnati and South Florida and WVU wins out as well, the Huskies would win the BCS berth (given that one of WVU’s wins would be against Pitt, and UConn wins all tiebreakers by beating both WVU and Pitt). So at this point, the Mountaineers need to win out against Pitt and Rutgers and hope for a loss by Connecticut. All told, it doesn’t look likely WVU will clinch a BCS berth, but it’s certainly still possible, and the path to the BCS begins by beating Pitt.