Where should BYU finish in the polls?

PROVO — How far can BYU's football team climb in the final rankings after the bowl season?

The Cougars are currently ranked No. 17 in the BCS poll and No. 19 in the Associated Press. Generally speaking, newspapers go by the AP poll when referencing rankings by college teams.

You could make arguments that the Cougars will close in on the top 10, or just make a move one or two spots from No. 19 to No. 17. In a worse-case scenario, they stay at No. 19 or climb to No. 18.

But predicting the minds of poll voters is akin to scripting what Britney Spears will do Saturday night. This is the same panel that ranked Wisconsin No. 5 and Louisville No. 8 the first week of 2007.

No. 3 Oklahoma played No. 11 West Virginia Wednesday night in the Fiesta Bowl. When two teams ranked near the top 10 go against each other in a bowl game, the loser is unlikely to experience a huge drop in the rankings.

Then there is the idea of bowl games in general. Unlike the regular season when teams are in a groove and do not have weeks on end to work on an opponent's game tapes, how much of a measuring stick is a bowl win or loss in how a team should be ranked? How motivated are some teams to play in a bowl?

Is Michigan that much better than Florida? Do you dock BYU for barely defeating a 6-6 Bruin squad with no head coach and a QB way down the food chain?

If a voter goes by records, BYU is in a group of 10 teams with 11 wins or more. This group, — not counting West Virginia, a 10-win team playing Wednesday night — includes Ohio State, LSU, Virginia Tech, Kansas, Oklahoma, Hawaii, Georgia, USC and Boston College.

How much weight do you put on overall records? Going by the record got Hawaii ranked No. 10 at 12-0.

How much credit would BYU earn for having won 10 straight games, the nation's longest win streak?

Then you have a situation like No. 17 Texas beating No. 11 Arizona State. Both teams now have 10-3 records. Because they both played ranked opponents in a bowl and BYU did not in UCLA, how much credit do you give both teams? How far does Arizona State drop? Should the Cougars be ranked ahead of the Sun Devils?

Before the Fiesta Bowl Wednesday night, six teams ranked ahead of the Cougars lost their bowl games. They include Clemson at No. 16, No. 13 Illinois, ASU, No. 10 Hawaii and No. 9 Florida.

You could see BYU moving ahead of Clemson. Maybe Illinois. It would be a stretch to think ASU drops that far, and how big of a takedown does Hawaii experience after getting plastered by Georgia?

Maybe it is reasonable to guess the Cougars get to No. 16. If they're lucky, they'll climb to No. 15. Anything higher would be gravy and the benevolence of those with the power of the vote.

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E-mail: dharmon@desnews.com