Their strength of schedule is still lagging behind OU and USC by a good bit. The gap will close considerably after playing Alabama and Tennessee. But once again the Tennessee loss to Notre Dame may spell the difference in the end, both in computer polls and in the minds of the voters (beating yet another top 6 team, which is where Tennessee would be had they not lost) vs. beating a #13/#14 Tennessee team is nowhere close to the same thing). And they started much lower than USC and OU in the first computer poll rankings that came out. So they have been playing catch up all year long, just as LSU did last year. This is almost an instant replay of last year when LSU passed USC in the final week. Still possible for Auburn, but this time it's the human voters that will have to catapult them into the #2 spot in the BCS. That's why it is mission critical for LSU to win out and win their bowl game as well, in order to be in the top 5 of next year's preseason polls and computer polls.
Because of these crappy to subpar teams AU has played: (all of which have losing records.) LOUISIANA-MONROE Mississippi State THE CITADEL LOUISIANA TECH ARKANSAS KENTUCKY Mississippi Their schedule strength is not as strong as LSU's was last year and we just squeaked into the Championship game.
