Who's No. 2? It's debatable

Published Oct. 8, 2010 10:11 a.m. ET

foxsports

It's almost time for the first BCS rankings, which will be released Sunday. There will be no suspense about No. 1. But who is No. 2?

We asked two people familiar with college football who should play Alabama if the season ended with the first ranking. Former Georgia coach Vince Dooley is a member of the Legends Poll. Matt Hayes is a veteran college football reporter at the Sporting News.

Dooley: Oregon should be No. 2. We played some West Coast teams back in my day, and I have never seen a West Coast team as prepared to play this early in the season in the South. We have our humidity and they have a different climate; it's cooler there, but Oregon came to Tennessee and was in terrific shape. It was their whole team, not just their offense. They are in incredible shape.

They are fairly good defensively, but they are super offensively. They are fast and run all kinds of plays. The running back [LaMichael James] is about as exciting a player as you will find. They keep coming at you ...

They beat a very good Stanford team. Now, can they beat a physical Alabama team? That's a good question. I'm not sure they can, which is why I have Alabama No. 1.

Hayes: Boise State. They are better than Oregon. Don't we have to admit that at some point? They won in Oregon. They won in Boise and both times rather easily. In Oregon they got a huge lead and took their foot off the gas. At some point, we have to say this argument about the WAC and they don't play anybody, that has to be minimized. When they do play people, they play very well, and more times than not, they win.

People say, look what happened to them when they went to Georgia. Well, that was five years ago, and Boise is not the same program now. They are a completely different team, physicality wise. I don't see how anyone could have watched them against Virginia Tech and Oregon State and not say, 'Wow, that is a really good defense'."