COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State is determined not to let the Bowl Championship Series rankings be a distraction.

"It's pretty simple,'' free safety Donnie Nickey said Tuesday. "We keep winning, we end up where we want to be.''

Ranked No. 6 just two weeks ago in the complicated formula that determines the teams that will play for the national championship, the Buckeyes climbed to No. 2 Monday.

Oklahoma is No. 1 in the BCS, Miami is third.

The Buckeyes have games left at Purdue (4-5) on Saturday, at Illinois (3-6), and at home against Michigan (7-2).

"If we take care of our business, the BCS will take care of itself,'' center Alex Stepanovich said. "At this point, they could put us anywhere and it doesn't matter. Because if you don't take care of your business in November, the rankings right now really won't mean a thing at the end of the year.''

Ohio State (10-0, 5-0 Big Ten) trails Iowa (9-1, 6-0) in the conference race and cannot afford a slip. The Hawkeyes play Northwestern on Saturday, then at Minnesota.

"The BCS is flaky. You go from 6 to 2 -- it's all real flaky. You just don't put any weight on it,'' Nickey said. "The rankings are the rankings. We're 10-0, we've got a chance to be 11-0. That's what drives us. It's not the polls.''

In Purdue, Ohio State faces a team that's come close to having a much better record than 4-5. The Boilermakers lost to Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Iowa, Illinois and Michigan by a combined 22 points. All five losses were decided by a touchdown or less, including one in overtime.

By beating Purdue, the Buckeyes can tie the school record for wins in a season. Five times Ohio State has won 11 games: in 1975, 1979, 1995, 1996 and 1998.

Coach Jim Tressel doesn't waste time talking about the national championship game with his players.

"I usually spend time with them talking about opponents and what we need to do better and those types of things,'' he said. "Very seldom do we talk about BCS and standings and rankings and that type of thing. I would say we will not use that, we will not make that a motivational thing.''