Virginia Tech Improves in BCS Rankings

Virginia Tech has increased its lead over Nebraska in this week’s bowl championship series rankings, almost assuring that the Hokies will secure the No. 2 spot and meet Florida State in the Jan. 4 Sugar Bowl.

The BCS rankings will not officially be released until today, but Jerry Palm, an Indiana-based computer buff, has been accurately duplicating the official rankings and posting them early on his Web site, collegeRPI.com, in advance of the BCS announcement.

According to Palm’s posting late Sunday night, Florida State leads with 2.24, followed by Virginia Tech at 6.16 and Nebraska at 7.70.

By virtue of Virginia Tech’s 38-14 victory over Boston College and Nebraska’s 33-30 overtime victory over Colorado, the Hokies were able to increase their lead from .63 to 1.54 over the Cornhuskers.

Only the top two schools in the BCS advance to the national title game.

Palm estimates Nebraska would have to defeat Texas, 50-0, in next Saturday’s Big 12 Conference title game in San Antonio to have a chance of overtaking Virginia Tech in the BCS rankings.

Why the drop? Because of its narrow victory, Nebraska lost one of its two leads in the BCS computer component this week, giving Virginia Tech the lead in seven of the eight computers used. Palm says the Cornhuskers need to lead in six of the eight computers after next week to pass the Hokies.