These last few weeks of the college football season will reveal which teams has what it takes to play for the national championship and which teams will have to settle for a lower tier bowl game. Without a playoff arrangement in place, they’ll always be the argument that one, two or even three or more other deserving teams will have missed out on that opportunity.

In many ways they are right – the convoluted season of major college football is centered on teams getting to a bowl game, a lucrative one preferably, with the ultimate goal of landing a Bowl Championship Series (BCS) bowl, especially the self-titled BCS title game. What had long been an eleven game regular season is now twelve games long, thirteen for the teams playing in a conference championship. Come January, a fourteenth game is played, but that game doesn’t always determine the best team in the land.

There are a number of polls out there to measure the success and progress of the nation’s top teams, but they are rarely in agreement. The AP Top 25 is the writer’s poll, the USA Today Poll is based on coaches’ votes, and the ESPNU Allstate Standings is the fan bowl. But, when it comes down to determining BCS eligibility, it is the BCS Standings which reveal that.

This weekend there are several games of importance involving the current top ten BCS teams. If the season were to end before this weekend, those ten teams would play in one of five BCS bowls, with the top two assigned to the bowl game designated as the BCS championship game. For 2008-2009, that game will be the BCS National Championship game which is to be played in Miami, FL on January 8^th.

This weekend, the following teams are in the BCS Top Ten:

1. Alabama 9-0
2. Texas Tech 9-0
3. Penn State 9-0
4. Texas 8-1
5. Florida 7-1
6. Oklahoma 8-1
7. USC 7-1
8. Utah 9-0
9. Oklahoma State 8-1
10. Boise State 9-0

Boise State played Wednesday night and won their game, while Utah hosted TCU – I wrote this article the day before, so I can’t share with you the results of that game here. Of the remaining eight teams, several will be heavily challenged this weekend and could find their places in the standings shifting depending on how well they perform:

Alabama @ LSU – The hardest road ahead is for the SEC leader who must win at LSU this weekend, beat Auburn (always a tough game) on November 22^nd and survive the SEC championship game in December in order to qualify for the BCS game.

Texas Tech hosts Oklahoma State – Beating #1 Texas last Saturday was a watershed event for the Red Raiders but they will be facing Oklahoma’s finest teams the next two weekends. They, too, must win their conference’s title game in order to advance.

Penn State – The Nittany Lions should easily dispatch Iowa and Indiana before finishing at home against #18 Michigan State. If the Nittany Lions run the table, they’ll probably qualify for the BCS title game unless Alabama and Texas Tech win their remaining games.

Texas, Florida, Oklahoma, USC, Oklahoma State – Last year, two time loser LSU qualified to play in the BCS title game, but this year it’ll be nearly impossible for even a one loss team to qualify. Each of the four teams stumbled at some point during the season, but college football isn’t all that forgiving – they cannot afford to lose again.

We won’t know until the conference championship games have been decided on December 6^th on just how everything will shake out for this year. Regardless, come December 7^th you’ll hear grumbling from college football fans across the US that their team was slighted and the argument for a postseason playoff system will once again come up.

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Adv. — Is your family experiencing a financial shortfall this academic year? Scholarships, grants, 529 money, and part time work may not be enough. Learn about private student loans by visiting SayStudent.com, your portal for college financial assistance. We have free tools for your download and updated information about current college financing requirements.

Tags: Alabama, BCS, Bowl Championship Series, college bowls, college football, college sports, gridiron, Penn State, Texas Tech

This article isn’t an endorsement of Andrew Jackson University, rather it is our way of shining the light on the various happenings across academia.

Probably the most important concern for students and their parents when it comes to college is how to pay for it. Indeed, even when scholarships and grant money is offered tuition bills can run into the tens of thousands of dollars. Thus, when we learned that a school based in Alabama has a program in place that charges no tuition, our interest was naturally piqued.

As a backgrounder, Andrew Jackson University or AJU is a for-profit, online or distance learning school. AJU offers Associate’s, Bachelor’s, and Master’s degrees in Business and Criminal Justice, with Communication, Public Administration, Health Care Management, and Psychology among the other degrees offered. Formed in 1994, the university has been accredited by the Accrediting Commission of the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC).

Sponsored Tuition Program Now Available

In a novel way of helping students cover the cost of their tuition, AJU has developed a sponsored tuition program where private companies cover tuition costs in exchange for enrollment in their programs. Three companies are currently acting as sponsors; I chose one of them when I signed up which involved me sharing minimal personal information about myself (email, phone, address). You are required to pay a $75 application fee to enroll and, if accepted into the program you’re responsible for covering the cost of your books and certain fees.

AJU President Don Kassner explained the university’s zero tuition program in a recently released press release by saying, “Most universities spend a tremendous amount of money to recruit students. Many spend as much as thirty-five percent of their revenue on marketing and advertising. They have to keep their tuition high to recover these costs. We eliminated these costs by structuring relationships with strategic partners that refer potential students to us. Therefore, we can operate a quality, degree granting institution without the escalating tuition and excessive fees deemed necessary by many schools.”

AJU’s sponsored tuition program is currently limited to one hundred students per month, but the university has plans to increase that number gradually over time.

(Source: Andrew Jackson University)

Related Information

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Free Tuition Colleges Really Exist!

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Adv. — Is your family experiencing a financial shortfall this academic year? Scholarships, grants, 529 money, and part time work may not be enough. Learn about private student loans by visiting SayStudent.com, your portal for college financial assistance. We have free tools for your download and updated information about current college financing requirements.

Tags: Alabama, Andrew Jackson University, associates degree, Bachelor's Degree, Birmingham, distance learning, internet, masters degree