A friend of mine, Jerry Palm, earned a computer science degree from Purdue University years ago. He lives in a suburb of Chicago, where he has four children, and no pets.

Well, that's not exactly true. Palm's pet is the Bowl Championship Series formula. He

that explains what the computers will spit out each Sunday. Everyone reads the thing. In fact, Palm is so good at what he does that colleges have hired him over the years as a consultant.

He's been asked by college basketball programs to help them improve their RPI for the NCAA Tournament selection committee, and he's been hired by entire conferences to help the member institutions understand what kinds of nonconference games to schedule to maximize the number of teams that might qualify for the postseason. Basically, the guy's heart is so linked to numbers that if the BCS computer formula has a wallet, I would not be surprised to open it and find a photograph of Palm inside.

should get on the telephone with Palm today. Because if this college football season unfolds the way some around here hope it will, the Beavers are going to face a tricky decision that could tip their season and cost them millions if they misplay it.

Remember Nicholls State?

Oregon State's season-opening game was postponed because of Hurricane Isaac. That game is now rescheduled for Dec. 1, and the Beavers are contractually obligated to play unless they play in the Nov. 30 Pac-12 Conference Championship game. But I'm not convinced that's the only scenario in which the Beavers should back out of the game.

It's still possible that

and Oregon State could both play in BCS bowl games. The simplest scenario features Oregon finishing 13-0 and playing for a national championship and a two-loss OSU team (losses to Washington and Oregon) still rated highly enough with the computers to merit a BCS bowl berth itself.

Oregon State's strength of schedule is one of its best allies right now. The Beavers didn't play cupcakes. The schedule only improves, too, with conference games against Stanford and the Ducks remaining. But the Beavers should look hard at that Nicholls State game and decide after the Civil War if playing the makeup game is still in their best interest.

I asked Palm about Nicholls State, and given that OSU still has three games to play before that, it's all speculative. But Palm said, "Hard to say for sure how much of an impact that game would have, but nothing good comes from playing that game."

OSU is a surprise to just about everyone with its 7-1 start and No. 11 BCS ranking. After finishing 3-9 last season, this was a pipe dream, but it's here, and if the Beavers can beat Stanford and Cal, the athletic department may have to pull off some tricky scrambling. Which is why they should start mulling this now. And it may even turn out, win or lose in the next three weeks, that playing a non-FBS opponent is too costly to the bottom line.

I asked Beavers athletic director Bob De Carolis about the cancellation scenario a week ago. "A creative idea," he said. The buyout on Nicholls State would be $400,000. There's an additional $100,000 or so in refunds for ticket holders. Total: $500,000.

The payouts, per team, for the BCS bowl games: $17,000,000.

Even the Pac-12's own lucrative multimillion-dollar bowl agreements might be manipulated by an in-season scheduling maneuver. The Alamo and Holiday bowls, which have the first two choices of which conference teams to take, would be more inclined to take a higher-ranked BCS team.

Cancel it, right?

Coach Mike Riley said, "I hadn't heard that or thought about it, but it's something to think about." And really, you could hear the gears turning in Corvallis. Which is why OSU should consult with someone such as Palm now (and probably again in three weeks) to understand if it's worthwhile to simply buy out of the game and end up ahead in the long run.

We've heard of coaches scheduling strategically in the offseason. But what Oregon State has is a rare opportunity to schedule wisely during the season itself. An opportunity like this shouldn't be wasted.

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