I have done some calculations, and the Huskers still have a chance to play in the BCS title game. Granted, it would involve a remarkable confluence of events both plausible -- say, the spontaneous combustion of Les Miles, or Nick Saban's sudden reversion to his original reptilian form -- and highly implausible -- unprecedented mass emergency NCAA sanctions against entire conferences, like, say, the Big 12 for general fraudulence; perhaps a dozen or so tragic practice-field or locker-room explosions; a team or two laid low by a nasty outbreak of food-poisoning from bad jambalaya in New Orleans Jan. 8; and maybe another team or two declared ineligible after encounters with a bunch of Cajun transvestite hookers outside the Superdome.

Unlikely, sure. Still, it's the season of hope. GBR!