Seeing as how we were ranked below USC and OU before the season started, I find it hard to believe that we would have jumped either of them in the polls this year. Now that would have been a load of crap, the defending BCS NC going undefeated and getting left out of the Orange Bowl. Just another reason why polls shouldn't come out until atleast a month into the season.
LSU's schedule this year was actually very good. 6 of LSU's opponents had winning records. Add in the SEC championship game and that would have been seven. Strength of schedule, which does matter, would have been very much in LSU's favor for the computrer polls, possibly cementing LSU into the #1 spot in most computer polls. As for the human polls. LSU also started the season at 3 in one poll and 4 in the other. Had we gone 12-0 then I could easily see LSU moving to #2 at the very least. At one point this year, pollsters were even swaying Aubarn's way with the #2 spot.
The human polls make up 66% of the total while SOS only makes up part of the other 33%. The NCAA ranks Auburns SOS at #9, OU at #22 and USC at #31. LSU would be ranked #3 just Like AU because SOS means nothing in the new BCS formula and we all know why.
Go look at how the current computer rankings and strength of schedule are factoring into keeping Auburn at #3 overall, then get back to me.
If someone could go back and do research on this that would be great, but if LSU was undefeated I can confidently assume that we would have received enough first place votes by October to be ranked either 1 or 2, or to be close enough in the polls and high enough in the computers to be in the top 2. For LSU to be undefeated assuming everyone else finishes the season the same way (I know a huge assumption, but), LSU would have beaten an undefeated at the time AUBURN team (which would finish the season with 1 loss, probably ranked btw 5 & 7) on the road, the next week and undefeated GEORGIA team on the road, then the next week a 1 loss FLORIDA team on the road. After the Florida win I would assume LSU would have had a great case for not just a top 2 ranking, but quite possible the #1 ranking in both polls. With LSU’s schedule we would have probably been #1 in the computers. Just my opinion but it seems to make sense.
The media annointed USC before the season and nobody was going to pass them unless they took a loss. Not AU, not OU, not LSU ... nobody. Oklahoma will beat USC and they will finish out of the top five. Serves USC right for trying to claim last years title even though they finished out of the running for the NC game.
Remember that we dropped in polls after our win against OSU... Which means we would have lost points by barely beating an "average" AU 9-3 (assumig we stopped the 4th and 12, the pollsters' excuses would have been that AU wasn't that good).
then all of our close calls against vandy, troy, etc.... those games would have surely bumped us completely out the top 10
It's impossible to predict, AU came from #17 to #3 over the course of the season . . . we wouldn't have had such a high mountain to climb. I'm not saying we would be a shoe in for the Orange, but it would be a different situation. Maybe if someone has the time they could plug in the numbers and see how we would have faired in the BCS this time around.
It's hard to believe that they would let the defending national champs not defend their championship if they went undefeated, but if we won games ugly like we have - maybe. It occurs to me that the media would prefer to see a USC/LSU game - the 2 defending national champs face off to determine one true national champion this year. It just seems they could hype that game up to no end. We would stay 3rd until close to the end and then make a real run on it. I say we get it because of Saban and all of the respect he gets from the media and coaches.
