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Help me understand something. Notre Dame continues to be ranked ahead of such one-loss teams as Alabama, Virginia Tech and Oregon. Why?
--Jonathan, Baton Rouge, La.

Probably because they're playing better than those teams. The Tide's offense has gone in the toilet, the Ducks have barely survived their two games since losing starting quarterback Kellen Clemens and the last time we saw the Hokies, they were on the wrong end of a 27-7 score. If you'd prefer, I could start ranking teams in strict order of their records, in which case I'll start letting our interns fill out my ballot each week.

Notre Dame lost to Michigan State (5-5, 2-5 in the Big Ten). How on earth can the Irish be ranked as high as they are, and why doesn't anyone ever bring that up? It's like people forgot that game.
--Kyle, Houston

You know what's interesting? Despite Miami moving up to No. 3 in the BCS standings this week -- a development that has far more potential ramifications than whether Notre Dame is sixth or ninth -- I haven't heard a single person say, "Hey, have you people forgotten that the 'Canes lost to a Florida State team that got blown out by Clemson?" I'd imagine that's because most people generally accept the notion that Miami has gotten significantly better since that game, while the 'Noles have regressed. That's pretty much how a season works -- some teams evolve from the first game to the last game, others devolve.

But apparently, judging by my e-mail, that's not the case with Notre Dame and Michigan State. Apparently the Irish are exactly the same team today that they were two months ago, and apparently the Spartans were just as bad when they started 4-0 and were scoring 49 points per game on people than they are now that they've lost five of six and couldn't crack 20 on Minnesota. I suppose it's not remotely possible that, say, the Irish defense is substantially more comfortable after nine games under a new coaching staff than it was after two, or that the more games the Spartans played, the more scouting opportunities opposing defensive coordinators had to figure out their spread offense. I'm not trying to make excuses for what was clearly a bad loss; I just feel that a game played on Sept. 17 has little-to-no-bearing on how a team is playing on Nov. 17.

When are you or your compatriots going to write about the travesty that is Notre Dame at No. 6/7 in the polls. Let's face facts: ND is a two-loss team. One of those losses was at HOME to a now 5-5 Michigan State team. Notre Dame has no wins against a team with fewer than three losses. The combined record of the teams Notre Dame has defeated is only 35-35. By contrast, Oregon is a one-loss team. The Ducks have defeated 8-1 Fresno State. The combined records of the teams defeated by Oregon is 45-42.
--Alec Boyd, San Francisco

It's time like these that I start questioning my job. Why do I bother going away every weekend, dealing with airport delays, fast-food dinners and stadium traffic in order to evaluate these teams in person? Better yet, why do I even watch games on television? Apparently watching the teams play is no longer as useful an evaluation tool as schedule strength, opponents' records, etc., etc. In fact, not a single one of these e-mails has mentioned a particular Notre Dame (or Oregon, or Ohio State, etc.) player by name, mentioned the play of a team's offense or defense, its quality of coaching, etc. From now on, I think I'm going to just go to the park or the movies on Saturdays, sit down on Sundays, crunch the latest numbers and come out with my new rankings. It will be like ... oh, I don't know ... a computer poll.

While we're on the subject, though, here are a couple of more numbers for Alec's Notre Dame-Oregon comparison: 44-13 (the score of Oregon's loss to USC) and 34-31 (the score of Notre Dame's loss to USC). You can't ask for a much better measuring stick than that.

You have Notre Dame ahead of Ohio State in your Power Rankings? How do you justify this, especially considering Ohio State beat Michigan State, and considering that Ohio State is playing considerably better than when it barely lost to Texas (just as Notre Dame barely lost to USC).
--Mike, Baltimore

All right, I can't take it any more -- what's wrong with you Ohio State people? Honestly? Do you have nothing better to do with your time than play the "my two-loss team is better than your two-loss team" game? This is like arguing over the Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

We're basically splitting hairs here, but if you want my honest opinion: Ohio State is the more talented team, but in the Buckeyes' two biggest games of the season, I watched as their offense -- at the direction of their coaches -- curled into the fetal position. In Notre Dame's biggest game of the season, Charlie Weis showed no fear whatsoever against the No. 1 team in the country. When the Irish fell behind 28-24 with 5:09 left, Quinn promptly drove them 87 yards and dove for the go-ahead touchdown. When Ohio State fell behind Texas 23-22 with 2:37 remaining, Buckeyes QB Justin Zwick promptly fumbled. Down seven to Penn State in the final minutes, Troy Smith fumbled. Now, since that Penn State game, Smith and the OSU offense have been among the most explosive in the country. Yet why do I have this sneaking suspicion Jim Tressel's sphincter will tighten considerably when the Buckeyes go to Ann Arbor this weekend?

Tell you what, OSU fans. If he proves me wrong, I promise I'll revisit my rankings. Now, please, go find yourselves some cold towels.

I'm looking at Notre Dame's opponents' records and I find myself wondering how they are ranked so high in the AP and Coaches' polls ... because they just barely lost to USC? They did lose to Michigan State, right? My guess -- because of their poor strength-of-schedule, the powers-that-be are rating them high enough to ensure they finish in the top 12 of the BCS.
--Tom Bihn, Norwalk, Ohio

All right, you figured it out. At 1 a.m. on Saturdays, after I've just spent eight hours at a stadium, ran around doing interviews and cranked out a story on deadline, the first thing I do when I get back to my hotel room, before filling out my ballot for the week, is call up some of my fellow voters and go, "All right, how high do we need to rank the Irish this week? We've got to make sure they get in the Fiesta Bowl."

I posed this question already this week, but wanted to make sure you received it. How is Notre Dame ranked ahead of Ohio State?
--Brian Fabbro, Indianapolis

Don't worry. I received it.

Stewart Mandel covers college sports for SI.com.