Five still alive in LRT Pick ’em

With seven bowls to go, five contestants remain mathematically alive to win the 6th annual Living Room Times Bowl Pick ’em Contest. They are the current Top 5 in the standings: Rachel Dulitz (currently in 1st place), Josh Rubin (tied for 2nd), Randy Styles (tied for 2nd), David K. (tied for 4th) and Jeff Freeze (tied for 4th). Nobody else can win the contest.

No one can clinch the Pick ’em Contest prior to the BCS Title Game next Monday. But which two contestants will remain alive to win the pool, heading into that decisive game, will be determined by the outcomes of the Orange and Sugar Bowls tonight and tomorrow, and possibly the Cotton Bowl Friday and the BBVA Compass Bowl Saturday.

The GoDaddy.com Bowl on Thursday and the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl on Sunday will have no impact on who eventually wins the pool.

Dulitz, the pool’s leader since December 26, will win the pool if Oregon wins the championship and either Virginia Tech wins the Orange Bowl or Arkansas wins the Sugar Bowl (or both).

If, on the other hand, Stanford and Ohio State — both 3.5-point favorites — both win, then Dulitz will be eliminated tomorrow night, and Friday’s Cotton Bowl will determine who heads into the Oregon-Auburn game needing a Ducks victory to take home the Pick ’em title. David K. would be the guy if Texas A&M, a 1-point underdog, wins the Cotton Bowl, while Freeze would be the guy if LSU beats the Aggies.

On the flip side, if Auburn wins the national title, neither Dulitz nor Freeze nor David K. can win. Instead, the winner would be either Styles or Rubin. Assuming an Auburn victory, Styles would win the contest if at least two of the following three teams win their respective bowls: Stanford (Orange), Ohio State (Sugar) and Pittsburgh (BBVA Compass). Rubin, conversely, would win if at least two out of Virginia Tech, Arkansas and Kentucky — all underdogs by 3.5 points, as it happens — are victorious in those games.

Auburn, incidentally, is a 2.5-point favorite in the championship game.

Full current standings are visible to contestants here (along with everyone’s picks), and visible to everyone here. Contestants can play around with “what-if” scenarios here.