The odds on both 'SC and Texas losing, and subsequently losing sufficient percentages in the BCS poll, to plop Penn State and Va. Tech in the Nat'l Championship are pretty doggone low - about the same as a Cal-Berkeley v. Utah Championship last year.

That didn't happen, either.

Yeah, thanks. Odds of me meaning 'Orange Bowl' instead of 'Rose Bowl' are so much higher that I'm surprised you didn't even consider it.

Let's say USC or Texas lose. If LSU wins out (Arkansas and Georgia), do they jump Penn St. and possibly find themselves in the Rose Bowl? I really don't see either of those two losing, but speculate for me.

By itself, probably not. The computers favor Penn State too much (PSU 3, LSU 8 ). That Tennesse loss at home probably hurts a lot compared to losing to a ranked Michgian team @ Ann Arbor. A win against Georgia gives you the overall strength of schedule edge and probably offsets the loss a bit, but I'm not sure if it's enough to catch up... especially if victory margins come into play.

LSU's best bet: Win out and win BIG. V Tech does the same and jumps Penn State in both polls. USC barely loses to UCLA and is knocked down to fourth. This would put LSU at 2 and Penn State at 5. This scenario creates a risk that USC or V Tech would sneak in, though. If Texas loses to A&M, I would expect them to drop to five or lower, which wouldn't give you the separation you'd probably need to jump PSU.

Actually we need V tech to lose because that would move us one spot closer to Penn St. in the comp polls and lessen their lead there. This has been discussed ad nauseum on an LSU board. There are some scenerios in which LSU can jump Penn St but involves a bunch of teams that seem irrelevant beating a bunch of other irrelevant teams.