College Football Contenders Behind 'Big 3' Struggle

College football had nine legitimate BCS contenders last week, but now college football can lop a third of that list. The college football landscape wasn't severely shaken, and won't be as long as college football's Big 3 still stay perfect. But the landscape beyond the Big 3 is now severely shaken, as the only real contenders left are either mid-majors or teams just establishing a tradition. Now, more than ever, the BCS is praying for Florida, Alabama and Texas to stay perfect - or else Cincinnati, TCU or Boise State could actually crash into Pasadena.

The gap between the college football top 3 and the rest of the BCS pack widened just a little further yesterday. Florida and Texas cruised to easy wins, while Alabama held off LSU to eliminate the Tigers from the BCS title race. But in the meantime, Iowa finally fell to Northwestern, while Oregon lost a shootout at Stanford.

When the college football rankings and BCS standings come out, Florida, Alabama and Texas will be in greater control than ever. In the meantime, the teams now likely to trail them are Cincinnati, TCU and Boise State. However, mid-major TCU might be in the best shape, since Cincinnati had to hold off a late charge against Connecticut, and Boise State struggled against Louisiana Tech.

The Boise State Broncos may be all but out of the BCS title game race, and are just playing to get in a BCS bowl, period. Cincinnati and TCU, of all college football teams, may have the best hope of going into the BCS title game if the Big 3 falter - which would be the BCS's worst nightmare. Other teams like Georgia Tech, USC, Pitt and Ohio State may be too far back to catch up.

Luckily for the college football overlords, Florida, Alabama and Texas look more invincible than ever, at least for the rest of the month. Each team has an easy November schedule, though they each have to face hungry rivals. But all they need to do is finish November unbeaten - then Florida and Alabama will play for one BCS title game berth, and Texas can blow out someone in the Big 12 title game.

Cincinnati and TCU could slip off anyway, since TCU has a mega-showdown at Utah this coming week, and Cincinnati faces West Virginia, Illinois and Pitt the rest of the way. But if both teams go down, then there's almost no one left to play for the college football national championship, if the worst happens to the Big 3. In that scenario, Boise State may still have a shot.

It looks more inevitable than ever that Florida, Alabama and Texas are the only real powerhouses this college football season, and will make the BCS race nice and orderly. But more than ever, there could be the greatest chaos in BCS history if one of them falls early - especially if TCU and Boise State remain perfect.

Sources

Rivals.com- "Winners and losers: TCU's perfect quest"