I blame UNI for Iowa being the lowest ranked undefeated team. It's very possible we would be ranked 1-3 spots higher right now if not for the 1-point win over UNI to start the year. We came into that game ranked and fell out of the rankings for 2-3 weeks following the close win. If Iowa blows UNI away like is expected they move up a few spots each week thereafter. The PSU game would have been billed as a 'clash of titans' rather than just a 'revenge' game and the winner would have been guaranteed top-10 status that week. Then 3 weeks/wins later (ArkSt,UM,UW) we would have had a shot of moving up to be even higher than we are now.
Right now, I think if Texas loses a game and Iowa runs the table we are in the NC game against the SEC champ. If Texas goes undefeated but looks weak in a few games and Iowa can blow away OSU at the Shoe I think there is a slim chance we go over Texas, but very slim.
Very good point. Here is how I would estimate we would currently stand had we stayed ranked after UNI:
(I'm using the AP poll since the coaches continue to lose credibility with each passing week)
Preseason: 22 (Actual weekly rank in parentheses)
Week 1: 21 (UR). We move ahead after a Georgia loss, but nobody else close to us in the polls loses.
Week 2: 21 (UR). We win big, but we get jumped by Miami after they beat then 16th ranked FSU and also by Nebraska (even though this doesn't make any sense, they are ahead of Miami, and I still don't see us moving ahead of them after beating ISU)
Week 3: 16 (UR). We finally make a big move up, with our AZ win getting more recognition as we are ranked at the time and several teams ahead of us losing, most notably Nebraska, BYU, Ok St, Utah, and Georgia Tech.
Week 4: 10 (13). We stay ahead of Houston, and jump TCU, Cincy, and due to losses, we move ahead of Ole Miss, Cal and (obviously) PSU.
Week 5: 10 (12). We win a game that isn't as close as the media thinks and get jumped by Cincy (just like OSU did that week), but also move ahead of 2 loss Oklahoma to hold our rank.
Week 6: 8 (11). With another major win, we jump Cincy again, since many voters were split on that one and they had the week off, and with the LSU loss, we also move ahead of them.
Week 7: 4 (6). We jumped from 11 to 6 in the real polls, so its not unreasonable to think that had we been at 8 and already ahead of Cincy, we would move ahead of Boise as well and the OSU and VT losses propel us up to 4th and we debut at 3rd in the BCS rankings AHEAD of Texas, due to us being only 1 spot behind in each of the human polls and 3 spots ahead in the computers, which have us ranked where we should have been all along.
In that scenario we would be looking like a lock for a title shot if we win out. Maybe we would still be behind Texas or they would jump us if they also win out, but still fun to think about.
