It might lack the structure of a true tournament, but what college football fans will witness over the next six weeks might be as close to a playoff as this sport has ever experienced.

Starting with Nebraska-Oklahoma this weekend, there will be at least five games played between the Top 10 teams in the BCS Rankings -- with a possible sixth in the Big 12 Championship. Each of the top-seven teams will play at least once against another member of the top seven.

	Who needs a playoff?
	Top 10	Key games left
	No. 1 Nebraska	No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 10 K-State
	No. 2 Oklahoma	No. 1 Nebraska
	No. 3 Va. Tech	No. 4 Miami
	No. 4 Miami	No. 3 Va. Tech
	No. 5 Florida St.	No. 6 Clemson, No. 7 Florida
	No. 6 Florida	No. 5 Florida St.
	No. 7 Clemson	No. 5 Florida St.
	No. 8 Oregon	n/a
	No. 9 Washington	n/a
	No. 10 K-State	No. 1 Nebraska

With a stronger performance against Syracuse on Saturday, Virginia Tech would have occupied the second spot, but while the Hokies held firm in the polls, they fell in most of the computers, dropping about two points in computer average. That, combined with Oklahoma gaining half-a-point by jumping Clemson in the coaches' poll, put the Sooners in the No. 2 position. But don't get too concerned with the current order at the top. It will sort itself out over the next two weekends anyway.

It could happen
For the sixth time in 15 official releases of the BCS Rankings, a team in the top two of both polls is ranked third overall. It happened one week last year with Virginia Tech and took place four times in '98 with Kansas State. It has not yet happened in the final standings, but the potential for this controversial occurrence is becoming obvious.

A BCS first
Nebraska and Oklahoma have twice met as the top-two teams in the polls, but this week they will instead meet as Nos. 1 and 2 in the BCS Rankings -- the first regular season meeting of 1 and 2 in this system. In the brief history of the BCS, this is also the first week that the top-two teams have come from the same conference.

Sudden death (maybe)
For most teams still holding on to national title hopes, there is no choice but to win all remaining games. The Nebraska-Oklahoma loser, however, might be the lone exception. Barring a blowout, that team should not fall too far in the polls and should keep a good enough standing in the computers to have a chance to get back into the mix. A chance, that is.

One for the money
As more unbeatens fall in the coming weeks, and several once-beaten teams filter toward the top of the rankings, don't be too surprised. In four of the past 11 seasons, a team with one loss has won the national title. Florida State also overcame a loss to reach the '98 BCS Championship Game but fell to Tennessee.

What about TCU?
Even as the lone undefeated team in Division I-A, it appears that TCU would have no chance of winning the national title. The Horned Frogs are 13th in the BCS Rankings, which even makes their goal of playing in the Bowl Championship Series look like a long shot. But if they can finish in the top six of the final rankings, TCU will earn an at-large spot in either the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl or Nokia Sugar Bowl.

Power struggle
For the first time in 15 total weeks of the BCS Rankings, there is not an SEC team positioned in the top four. Florida is the only team from the SEC or Big Ten that appears to have a decent chance to play for the national title, while instead, it's the Big 12, Big East and ACC that boast six of the top-seven teams.

Brad Edwards is a college football researcher for ESPN and one of the few people who actually understands the BCS. Edwards will provide a weekly analysis of the BCS rankings.