Spoiler alert: There's really no such thing as an "easy" path to a BCS bowl. Even the best teams in college football have difficult challenges and worthy adversaries to overcome before they can even think about planning for New Year's Day and beyond.
That being said, these five teams should, given their remaining schedules, find the way to a big-time bowl berth relatively reasonable.
Boise State
The Broncos have as good a shot as any team from a non-AQ conference has ever had of playing for the BCS National Championship, thanks in no small part to their remaining schedule. With their tough road test against Georgia now out of the way, No. 4 Boise State can now get back to feasting on cupcakes like Toledo, Tulsa and Nevada before romping their way through the Mountain West.
The only drawback, of course, is that the pollsters won't be particularly impressed by the "empty calories" taken in by Boise at the end of the year, perfect record or no. Then again, there's no guarantee the Broncos won't trip up against a lesser foe, like they did against the Wolfpack in 2010.
And despite No. 25 TCU's well-noted struggles against Baylor, the Horned Frogs could very well prove to be a formidable opponent when they visit the Smurf Turf in mid-November.
Still, Boise has but one ranked opponent left on the docket and, with all of its talent and experience, should realistically be favored by at least two touchdowns in each of its remaining games.
Stanford
After watching No. 13 Oregon struggle so mightily against No. 2 LSU, is anyone still worried that No. 6 Stanford won't win the Pac-12?
Sure, the Cardinal lost a lot of important people from last year's 12-1 team, but they still have Andrew Luck, the best player in college football, calling the shots under center with a favorable schedule left to traverse.
Stanford's two toughest opponents, Oregon and Notre Dame, will have to come to the Farm to play. Those two aside, the Cardinal don't have to play Arizona State or Utah and will face only one team (the Ducks) that's currently ranked.
Virginia Tech
With all the talk of teams moving and super-conferences forming these days, you can bet Virginia Tech will stay put in the ACC. The Hokies are practically guaranteed a BCS bowl berth every single year by virtue of the strength (or lack thereof) of their league.
Frank Beamer's boys won't face a single ranked team until the ACC Championship, with their only semi-difficult road game at Georgia Tech.
Now, whether the Hokies actually do anything of note in the BCS once they get there is another story entirely. For now, at least, Va. Tech can bank on another sizable payday once the calendar turns to 2012.
Mariano Rivera Kerry Wood Francisco Cervelli Chad Moeller Jorge Posada Lance Berkman
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