Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller
There's still a lot of football ahead and lots of chances to move up or down, but here's a look at the Pac-10's bowl situation.
Who's in: USC (9-1. 7-1), Oregon State (7-3, 6-1), Oregon (8-3, 6-2), Arizona (6-4, 4-3) and California (6-4, 4-3).
Who's out: Washington and Washington State. Duh.
Who's a maybe: Stanford, Arizona State and UCLA.
Stanford is in if it beats Cal on Saturday. The loser of UCLA's visit to ASU on Nov. 28 is out. The winner then needs to beat its arch rival -- USC or Arizona -- to earn a sixth win and bowl eligibility.
So, at most, the Pac-10 can have seven bowl eligible teams. Or it can end up with only five, meaning it won't fill at least two of its seven bowl contracts.
The bowl contracts (selection order): Rose (1), Holiday (2), Sun (3), Las Vegas (4 or 5), Emerald (4 or 5), Hawaii (6), Poinsettia (7).
The selection rule: If there is a tie for the Pac-10 championship, the head-to-head winner among the tied teams shall be awarded the Conference's top bowl position. In the event of a tie for any position in the standings other than the championship, the selecting bowl may choose its participant from among the tied teams.
So if Arizona and Cal end up tied, the bowl has a right to select Cal, even though Arizona beat Cal.
First big issue to be settled: Does the Pac-10 get two BCS bowl berths? That would mean Oregon State wins out and goes to the Rose Bowl and USC wins out and earns an at-large berth.
That, by the way, is what ESPN.com's crack team of bowl prognosticators predict.
Here's the team-by-team breakdown.
Arizona: Arizona could go as high as the Sun Bowl or as low as the seventh slot.
Possibilities: Holiday (two wins, USC and Oregon State in BCS bowls) all the way down to the Poinsettia Bowl (two losses, Stanford and ASU in).
Prediction: Sun.
Arizona State: The Sun Devils need to win their final two games to become bowl eligible.
Possibilities: ASU could slip into the Emerald Bowl (Arizona loses twice; no Stanford) or the six or seventh slots (Hawaii, Poinsettia).
Prediction: Out.
California: Cal can improve its prospects dramatically by beating Stanford and Washington to finish 8-4, 6-3.
Possibilities: Could go as high as Holiday Bowl (both USC and OSU in BCS bowls) or as low as the sixth or seventh slots (lose final two games, just one BCS team).
Prediction: Las Vegas
Oregon: Oregon only has one game remaining and beating Oregon State in the Civil War on Nov. 29 would really help its prospects.
Possibilities: Believe it or not, Oregon could still end up in the Rose Bowl in a three-way tiebreaker with USC and Oregon State. The Ducks also could fall to the Emerald Bowl.
Prediction: Emerald.
Oregon State: If Oregon State wins out, it goes to the Rose Bowl. And it could tumble way down the pecking order with two losses.
Possibilities: It's possible to put the Beavers in any of the top five spots.
Prediction: Holiday Bowl.
Stanford: Stanford needs to beat Cal on Saturday to become bowl eligible.
Possibilities: If Arizona and Cal both lose their final two games -- that means the Bears would lose at home to Washington -- then Stanford could go as high as No. 4 to the Las Vegas Bowl. The Cardinal also could end up in the Emerald, Hawaii or Poinsettia Bowls.
Prediction: Out.
UCLA: UCLA needs to beat Arizona State and USC to become bowl eligible.
Possibilities: Much like Stanford. There's an unlikely scenario that gets the Bruins to Las Vegas, but their more likely possibilities are the Emerald, Hawaii and Poinsettia Bowls.
Prediction: Out.
USC: USC probably wants Oregon State to win out and earn the Rose Bowl berth so the Trojans can go to another BCS bowl, seeing that they've played in Pasadena four out of the past five years.
Possibilities: If the Trojans win out -- Notre Dame and UCLA -- they either go to the Rose Bowl (with an Oregon State loss) or are a strong bet for another BCS bowl as an at-large pick. There are also scenarios, albeit unlikely, where they could fall all the way to the Sun Bowl.
Prediction: Rose Bowl.