Ohio State is creaming the controversy-saddled Kansas State Wildcats at the moment, 35-14, late in the third quarter. This brings up an interesting question: if the Buckeyes win, will they leapfrog Michigan in the final rankings, even though the Wolverines soundly beat OSU in the final, conference-deciding, national-championship-berth-possibly-on-the-line game of the regular season?

Here were the final rankings of the regular season from the AP poll (you know, the voters who actually get to vote) and what that team has done in its bowl game:

1. USC (beat Michigan, 28-14)
2. LSU (plays Oklahoma Sunday)
3. Oklahoma (plays LSU Sunday)
4. Michigan (lost to USC, 28-14)
5. Texas (lost to Wash. St., 28-20)
6. Tennessee (lost to Clemson, 27-14)
7. Ohio State (easily beating Kansas State)
8. Kansas State (losing badly to Ohio State)
9. Florida State (lost to Miami, 16-14)
10. Miami (beat Florida State, 16-14)

Okay, so let’s review. USC is #1. The Sugar Bowl winner is #2. After that, our winners and still two-loss teams are… Ohio State and Miami. Plus, whoever loses the Sugar Bowl will also be a two-loss team. So what do we do with those presumptive #3-5 teams? Following the normal “win and you gain ground, lose and you lose ground” logic, it would go:

1. USC
2. LSU/Oklahoma winner
3. Ohio State
4. Miami
5. LSU/Oklahoma loser
6. Michigan

But of course, this has several flaws. One is, I’m not sure if the sportswriters really respect OSU enough to put them at #3. I suspect Miami might leapfrog them instead. Then again, Kansas State was a media darling after beating Oklahoma, and now OSU is creaming them, so who knows… but the bigger issue is, what the hell, how can OSU be 2-3 spots ahead of Michigan after beating them 35-21 on Nov. 22?

(Hey, wait a minute, Kansas State just scored, now it’s 35-21 — familiar score! — early in the fourth quarter. It ain’t over yet.)

Assuming OSU does win in the end, a more accurate final poll — based on the totality of the season rather than the old “bump up, bump down” logic — might look something like this:

1. USC
2. LSU/Oklahoma winner
3. LSU/Oklahoma loser (c’mon, give ‘em a break, they lost to the #2 team in the country)
4. Michigan (c’mon, give ‘em a break, they lost to the #1 team in the country)
5. Ohio State (good win, boys, but #5 is as high as we go — blame Michigan, again)
6. Miami (of Florida, though I’d love to see Miami of Ohio, which only has one loss after all, here or higher)

Of course, that places three-loss Michigan ahead of two-loss OSU and two-loss Miami, which, come to think of it, isn’t exactly in line with “totality of the season” logic. But head-to-head matchups should not be ignored… so as you can see, this is a dilemma.