Told ya so

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Just as I thought was likely to occur when I looked at the polls two weeks ago, Notre Dame has benefited from the latest round of ranked teams falling, and is now ranked in both polls — #25, to be exact — heading into next week’s showdown with #5/6 USC (who somehow managed to leapfrog Boise State in the coaches poll, and gain significant ground on the Broncos in the AP poll, during a week when both teams were idle… go figure).

If Notre Dame beats USC, they’ll jump to something like #12 in both polls, and we’ll suddenly hear longshot national championship talk. If they lose, they won’t be heard from again in the rankings for the rest of the season, or at least until maybe late November, if they still have two losses at that point. The Trojans are presently listed as 10 1/2 point favorites, which sounds about right.

Fight on, Trojans! Beat the Irish!

The BCS pecking order Top 25

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The headline today among poll-watchers is that Alabama has passed Texas for the #2 spot in the AP poll, which means that the SEC — which, if you hadn’t heard, is a war — now holds the top two spots. But really, who cares? Florida and Alabama can’t both go undefeated; if they both win out, they have to play in the SEC title game. So Texas is still effectively #2 in the BCS pecking order. Win and they’re in.

To dramatize this point, I thought it might be helpful to make up some actual rankings for the “BCS pecking order.” (CAVEAT: I’m ignoring computers, and assuming that the pollsters’ Top 2 will go to the title game. This is usually true under the current formula, but in a very close call, might not be the case.)

Here goes:

1. Undefeated SEC champion (Florida or Alabama)
2. Undefeated Big 12 champion (Texas or Kansas)
3. Undefeated Iowa

That’s the easy part. After that, it gets progressively more complicated. But here’s my best guess…

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