Team A is 4-0, has improved as much as any team in the country in September and just beat Team B by 11 points on the road in one of the nation's most hostile college football environments.
Team B is 3-1, looked mediocre in wins over three lousy opponents and improved little through the first third of the season.
Based on the available information, simple logic tells us Team A's resume is stronger than Team B's.
Tell that to the 175 human voters who comprise two-thirds of the BCS formula.
Both the Harris Interactive Poll and the USA Today Coaches' Poll were released Sunday, and, clearly, a significant amount of voters in the two polls failed to comprehend what happened Saturday night when Iowa took down Penn State, 21-10.
Harris voters placed Penn State 12th, Iowa 14th. In the coaches' poll, the Nittany Lions check in at No. 13, while the Hawkeyes are No. 17.
Each poll also ranks California ahead of Oregon, despite the teams boasting identical records and Oregon thoroughly dominating Cal 42-3 Saturday. And in the coaches' poll, Oklahoma State sits three spots ahead of Houston, even though the Cougars won in Stillwater earlier this season.
Since when did logic become a foreign concept?
The Harris Poll doesn't get released until after the fourth week in an attempt to rank schools based on on-the-field performances instead of preseason projections.
Yet, clearly, Harris Poll voters simply seem to look at the other polls and base their votes off of what the AP and coaches are doing. Aside from preseason expectations, why else would Iowa sit behind Penn State, given the information gathered through four games?
Meanwhile, the coaches who vote in the USA Today poll aren't even able to watch college football games on Saturdays. They're kind of busy, you know, coaching their teams.
When the voters turn in their ballots, sure, the transitive property doesn't always work.
Taken to the extreme, one could argue that Division II Abilene Christian deserved the national title last season. Hey, the Wildcats did beat Northwest Missouri State -- who beat Washburn who beat Missouri State who beat Youngstown State who beat North Dakota State who beat Southern Illinois who beat Northern Iowa who beat New Hampshire who beat Army who beat Louisiana Tech who beat Mississippi State who beat Vanderbilt who beat Mississippi who beat BCS champion Florida.
Thank you, cfbanalyzer.com.
It's obviously far from that simple. Upsets happen and plenty of other variables come into play.
But when two teams have identical records -- or a team such as Iowa or Houston has a better record than the opponent -- and one team beat the other head-to-head, there is no argument for ranking the losing team higher.
Iowa's lone blemish is it needed two blocked field goals to stave off an upset by Northern Iowa in the opener.
But since then, the Hawkeyes have proven they're at least worthy of a higher ranking than the Lions. Anyone who watched Saturday night's game or even looked at the score can see that.
I'm far from the BCS's harshest critic, however, one thing continues to be clear.
When it comes to deciding college football's national champion, logic is never a priority.
