COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio State would not be playing for the national title, even if the Buckeyes were eligible.

Probably.

The final edition of the Plain Dealer's Fake BCS standings show that Alabama's lead in the polls would overcome Ohio State's projected, adjusted lead in the computer ratings. But there's a helping of speculation and getting in the voters' heads that is part of this, and if you want to read those minds differently than I do, you maybe could get the Buckeyes into the title game.

Let's break it down.

First, the real fake standings.

In the final computer ratings, Ohio State would be tied for third, behind Notre Dame which was No. 1 in all six computers, and Florida, and even with Alabama.

Here's that breakdown, using the actual computer ratings which do list the Buckeyes, who were then removed by the BCS:

Notre Dame 1.000

Florida .950

Alabama .890

Ohio State .890

Kansas State .820

Oregon .780

Ohio State was No. 2, No. 3, No. 3, No. 4, No. 5 and No. 10 in the computers. The top and bottom ratings are removed, and one to 25 points assigned for each of four other ratings. That gave Ohio State 89 points, or .890.

Alabama was No. 2, No. 3, No. 3, No. 4, No. 5 and No. 5 in the computers. Taking out the top and bottom that also gave the Crimson Tide 89 points, or .890.

We then turn to the AP poll. In place of the Harris poll and coaches poll, which didn't include the Buckeyes, are we going to use the AP poll twice. In earlier fake BCS standings, we used the coaches and Harris polls for all the teams except Ohio State, but that method doesn't account for the points other teams would lose because of Ohio State's presence.

So now we're using the AP poll for everyone.

Alabama received 1,424 points in the AP poll, while Ohio State got 1,302 points. That's a pretty big gap. The BCS gets the poll number by taking the percentage of points earned from the overall possible points, which in the AP poll in 1,500.

Here then are the poll numbers, which we'll double before adding it to the computer numbers for each team:

Notre Dame 1.000

Alabama .9493

Ohio State .868

Florida .8527

Oregon .8333

Kansas State .7527

So the final Fake BCS numbers for the top six then break down this way:

No. 1 Notre Dame 1.000

No. 2 Alabama .9295

No. 3 Florida .8851

No. 4 Ohio State .8753

No. 5 Oregon . 8155

No. 6 Kansas State .7751

So the Buckeyes aren't even No. 3 in these standings, edged out by Florida's better computer ranking.

But.

Ohio State lost something by not playing in the Big Ten title game. What isn't exactly sure, but it was something, one more chance to impress voters and improve their schedule strength, which would help in the computers.

I question how much of a bump Ohio State would have received by beating then-No. 12 Nebraska, a team the Buckeyes already beat by 25 points. But if the Buckeyes would have stomped the Cornhuskers like Wisconsin did, it would have meant something. Not as much as Alabama beating No. 3 Georgia, but something.

Exactly what was hard to decipher. I tried to compare the bump Wisconsin received in each computer rating with the win, but not all the computer ratings had the previous weeks' standings available.

So looking at how close Ohio State was to the team above it in some cases and anticipating some upward movement, I estimated that the Buckeyes would have stayed the same in three computer ratings, moved up one spot in two ratings and moved up two spots in one rating. That also would have moved Alabama and Florida down a bit as a result, creating these new adjusted computer ratings.

Notre Dame 1.000

Ohio State .930

Florida .920

Kansas State .820

Oregon .780

That's not a bad move. Ohio State is now No. 2 ahead of Florida, instead of tied for third with Alabama in the computers.

Now, the polls.

We start with Ohio State at 1,302 points and Alabama at 1,424.

In the AP poll, Ohio State had 17 second-place votes before the championship games and 14 second-place votes after the championship games. Give those three second-place votes back to Ohio State for beating Nebraska, which takes away three corresponding points from Alabama.

I don't think beating Nebraska would have moved Ohio State ahead of Alabama among voters who already had the Crimson Tide ranked higher. You can disagree, especially since Georgia was driving to win the game in the final seconds. That game was tight. Assume Ohio State gave Nebraska the Wisconsin treatment.

But still, Georgia was No. 3 and Nebraska was No. 12. And voters know that Ohio State already dropped 63 on the Cornhuskers. Would reinforcing that really make voters leapfrog the Buckeyes over Alabama? I don't think so. But let's say a few did. Maybe 10. So add 10 more points to Ohio State and take 10 more Alabama.

The issue, then, is the effect Ohio State could have had on the voters that have the Buckeyes much lower in the polls.

In the final AP poll, this was Ohio State's vote breakdown:

No. 2 14

No. 3 17

No. 4 7

No. 5 7

No. 6 5

No. 7 3

No. 8 3

No. 9 1

No. 10 2

No. 12 1

Assume the 38 voters who had the Buckeyes No. 2, No. 3 or No. 4 are set in their thinking. That leaves 22 voters to influence. That's 22 voters who could have been more impressed by the Big Ten title game, or 22 voters who are consciously or subconsciously holding the postseason ban against the Buckeyes.

How do we account for this?

Let's have them all move up Ohio State two spots on their ballots. It's just a guess, just a random number. But I've argued all along that I don't think the postseason ban is playing a huge role in this. I think, and I've heard from AP voters, that it's more about the lack of strength of the Big Ten, and about the Buckeyes' lack of standout wins. That's a gain of 44 points.

Overall, Ohio State now goes from 1,302 points in the poll to 1,359. Alabama goes from 1,424 points in the poll to 1,411.

Let's recalculate the poll number, which we're going to use twice for each team, with those points.

Ohio State .906

Alabama .9407

And now we get that final one-third of the formula from our adjusted computer number.

Ohio State .930

Alabama .880

So the new Fake Adjusted BCS number for each is created by:

Ohio State is .906 + .906 + .930 divided by three.

Alabama is .9407 + .9407 + .880 divided by three.

And we get

Ohio State .914

Alabama .9205

Close.

But that still gets Alabama into the national title game against Notre Dame. And it sends Ohio State to the Rose Bowl against Stanford.