re: Coaches Poll No. 12, AP Poll No. 15, Sagarin No. 6

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The flip side (good news) is that running the table makes us a lock for the big game.

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Not necessarily. The computers should love us, but the polls are 2/3rds of the formula. With the potential for an unusually high number of undefeated teams who are already ahead of us (it could easily be 4 or 5), we could be #1 in the computers and as low as #5 or #6 in the polls. Under that scenario, it's very possible we wouldn't be in the top 2 going into the BCS, even if we are 13-0.

It would be very easy for the following teams who are currently ranked ahead of us to be undefeated going into the bowls and still ranked ahead of us in the polls:

1) Ohio State (Iowa, Wisconsin the only real obstacles)
2) Boise State (All hopes rest on Oregon State)
3) Oregon or Arizona (must hope that a tough Pac Ten beat up on each other)
4) TCU or Utah (no real obstacles except each other)
5) Big XII champion (OU, Texas or Nebraska--no real obstacles except each other)

We would probably leapfrog some or all of these in the computers based on our strength of schedule, but the poll voters are not as reliable as a mathematical formula, especially if we are mostly winning ugly. If we are all the way at #6 behind these teams, the computers may not be enough to pick us back up. This is particularly problematic with Oregon/Arizona, Ohio State and the Big XII champion, whose computer rankings will likely be right up there with ours or close to it if they are undefeated.