[Farm93]

The path is not that complicated.  It actually is rather easy.

Oregon falls to OSU.  Alternative paths - C.a.l at Memorial rises up or UofA gets its act together.
Auburn falls to Alabama.  Alternative paths Cam must sit out some future 2010 games or Auburn falls in the SEC Championship game.
TCU - Will be the BCS Championship game opponent, their path is clear.
Boise State - Falls to Nevada.  Alternative paths - None
LSU - Falls to Arkansas.  Alternative paths - they finally get unlucky at the end of a game.

It would be helpful if some others fall or at least look bad.

But it only matters if the team finishes 11-1 and looks good in November.

FWIW - This is like the Voldemort.  It is not enough to wait until the last week and push, push, push.  The program, the local media and the conference would need to start that BCS and/or BCS national game campaign now.  If it falls flat fine, but to wait until Nov 28 would really stack the deck against Stanford.

Here would be the talking points...

Plays in the best conference in 2010
Only loss on the road at Oregon with injuries at WR
6 road contests (not 4 like some SEC programs)
Contests against 11 AQ teams
Impressive wins, 2 shutouts
Most NFL ready QB, likely #1 overall draft pick
etc.

If the Cam Newton things starts to get out of control, Stanford would have another appeal to the powers.  That would be that Stanford does it "right".

[Farm93]

The path is not that complicated.  It actually is rather easy.

Oregon falls to OSU.  Alternative paths - C.a.l at Memorial rises up or UofA gets its act together.
Auburn falls to Alabama.  Alternative paths Cam must sit out some future 2010 games or Auburn falls in the SEC Championship game.
TCU - Will be the BCS Championship game opponent, their path is clear.
Boise State - Falls to Nevada.  Alternative paths - None
LSU - Falls to Arkansas.  Alternative paths - they finally get unlucky at the end of a game.

It would be helpful if some others fall or at least look bad.

But it only matters if the team finishes 11-1 and looks good in November.

FWIW - This is like the Voldemort.  It is not enough to wait until the last week and push, push, push.  The program, the local media and the conference would need to start that BCS and/or BCS national game campaign now.  If it falls flat fine, but to wait until Nov 28 would really stack the deck against Stanford.

Here would be the talking points...

Plays in the best conference in 2010
Only loss on the road at Oregon with injuries at WR
6 road contests (not 4 like some SEC programs)
Contests against 11 AQ teams
Impressive wins, 2 shutouts
Most NFL ready QB, likely #1 overall draft pick
etc.

If the Cam Newton things starts to get out of control, Stanford would have another appeal to the powers.  That would be that Stanford does it "right".