There was Penn State coach Bill O'Brien's long, seemingly bothered, stare across the Ohio Stadium field. There was O'Brien and Urban Meyer engaging in something that looked like a dead-fish postgame handshake.



There was a three-second pause when O'Brien was asked whether he was bothered when Meyer, who, after Ohio State was already up 49 points in the third quarter, decided to challenge a ruling on the field Saturday night.

"He didn't think we had a first down, so he called time out to challenge it," O'Brien said after the Buckeyes' 63-14 annihilation of the Nittany Lions. "I have no thoughts on that."

Many others do have thoughts on that, and days later they're still asking a simple question: Was Meyer running up the score?

[Photos: College football - Best of Week 9]

These debates are almost always wearisome – if you don't like getting blown ou,t then play better; this is college football not Pop Warner; it's more degrading if the better team tanks, etc.

Besides, only Urban Meyer knows for sure whether or not he was trying to inflate the margin of victory.

The more germane question is if he indeed wasn't, then why the heck not?

[Forde-Yard Dash: College football's proving ground is upon us]

Ohio State is trying to reach the BCS championship game, and the arcane system doesn't award points for sportsmanship. In fact, it promotes the exact opposite.

It's a brass-knuckle beauty pageant, a smoke-and-mirrors competition of perception among the 175 voters in two opinion polls.

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And Meyer is well aware that he is going into the stretch run in a disadvantaged position.

The Buckeyes are fourth in the rankings. Despite being 8-0 this season (and carrying a 20-game win streak), they not only fail to control their own path forward, they could still be jumped by teams behind them. They could even wind up being muscled out of a championship game berth by a program with one loss.

A perfect storm of a poorly constructed non-conference schedule – which then further fell apart when Vanderbilt cancelled a game – and a Big Ten slate that lacks anything that could be called a nationally relevant challenge has left Ohio State in a position where simply winning isn't enough.

It's a foregone conclusion that Ohio State will have to win all its games to even be considered for a slot in the title game. Style points are now essential in making the case that the Buckeyes' success is more than just ho-hum competition and that they deserve the opportunity.

The highest-rated opponent Ohio State has played this season – or is likely to play – is Northwestern, which was No. 16 at kickoff last month. The Buckeyes won a hard-fought game, 40-30. Northwestern, however, has lost four in a row, and that ranking appears to be more preseason hype and an easy early-season schedule than any discernable might.

There is still a trip to Michigan, but the Wolverines have impressed no one this season. There's the Big Ten title game ahead, but that isn't likely to feature a top-20, let alone top-15 opponent. Meanwhile, teams in other conferences are playing a few top-10 opponents and dominating the national discourse and voter eyeballs.

If at least two of the three teams ranked ahead of Ohio State – Alabama, Oregon and Florida State – wind up unbeaten, then the Buckeyes are on the outside looking in. There's no denying that.

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