It's Never Ever Too Early to Think About Next Year's Tourney!! And No Lockouts Here!

Oklahoma appears to be the favorite to say "Meet Me in Saint Louis" on the way to the 2011-2012 tournament championship game in New Orleans. Both ESPN and CNNSI project Oklahoma as the early number one for next seasons football rankings. Based on these two sources, it seems like the projections for next year's tournament place teams into three groups:

THE BIG FOUR: Oklahoma, Oregon, LSU, and Alabama are in the top four of both projections

BEST IN THEIR CONFERENCES: Ohio State, Florida State, and West Virginia are best of their respective bunches according to both sets of rankings.

LEADERS OF THE INITIAL SCRAMBLE FOR THE OTHER THREE SLOTS: Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Stanford, Arkansas, Texas Christian, and Boise State made the tourney in one of the two projections. Let the battling begin!

With the championship game in New Orleans, LSU will feel some impact, in that, due to the "only one game with home state advantage" rule, they cannot play in the Sugar Bowl quarterfinal, even if they win the SEC, but if they can make it to the finals, they get to taste some in-state home cooking. Here are the two tournament projections:

Scenario I: Based on ESPN.com 2011 Projections

FIRST ROUND:

In Jacksonville, FL:
7 Florida State (ACC Champ)
10 West Virginia (Big East Champ)

In Cincinnati, OH:
8 Arkansas (at-large)
9 Ohio State (Big Ten champ)

BCS BOWLS (Quarterfinals):

Fiesta:
1 Oklahoma (Big XII Champ)
Arkansas/Ohio State winner

Orange:
4 LSU (at-large)
5 Boise State (non-BCS automatic)

Sugar:
2 Alabama (SEC champ)
Florida State/West Virginia winner

Rose:
3 Oregon (Pac Ten champ)
6 Oklahoma State (at-large)

Semi-finals in St Louis:

BCS Championship in New Orleans:

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Scenario II: Based on CNNSI.com 2011 Projections

FIRST ROUND:

In Pittsburgh, PA:
7 Texas A&M (at large)
10 West Virginia (Big East Champ)

In Houston, TX:
8 Texas Christian (non-BCS automatic)
9 Florida State (ACC Champ)

BCS BOWLS (Quarterfinals):

Fiesta:
1 Oklahoma (Big XII Champ)
Texas Christian/Florida State winner

Sugar:
4 Alabama (at-large)
5 Stanford (at-large)

Rose:
2 Oregon (Pac Ten champ)
Texas A&M/West Virginia winner

Orange:
3 LSU (SEC champ)
6 Ohio State (Big Ten champ)

Semi-finals in St Louis:

BCS Championship in New Orleans: