Alabama coach Nick Saban is a veteran when it comes to dealing with the ups and downs and the sometimes-head-scratching permutations of the Bowl Championship Series formula.

When coaching at LSU five years ago, Saban's team ended up sharing the national title with Southern California, exactly the scenario the 11-year-old BCS was set up to try to avoid.

The No. 2 Crimson Tide (6-0) take on Mississippi today on the eve of the release of the first BCS standings of this season, and Saban's players might not be as up to speed on the ins and outs of the system as he is. So he has a simple set of instructions for them.

"What I tell them is, 'Can you tell me who was ranked where on this date a year ago?' " Saban says. "And if anybody can tell me that, I guess it has some significance. Otherwise, it doesn't, and therefore, we shouldn't be worried about it."

When the first set of standings is announced tomorrow, No. 1 Texas, the No. 2 Crimson Tide and third-ranked Penn State are expected to be at the top of the list, as long as all three take care of business this weekend, says Jerry Palm, whose website, Collegebcs.com, approximates the standings. Texas has a tough date with No. 12 Missouri, while the Nittany Lions host struggling Michigan.

But with 175 voters casting ballots each week in the USA TODAY Coaches' Poll and Harris Interactive Poll, which combine to make up two-thirds of the formula, human opinion is a key element and one that players sometimes have no control over.

So, says Saban, it's important his players concentrate on what they can control.

"What we should be focused on is how we perform and how we play, and with the way people get beat every week in college football, consistency in performance is a real key to being successful," he says.

"I think too many guys get affected by external factors, and it takes a tremendous amount of maturity and a lot of leadership to keep everybody going in the right direction."

While the BCS is better known for chaos and controversy rather than a sense of order, every year but one since the system started in 1998, at least one team rated in the top two in the initial standings has made the national championship game.

"You all want to fight to get in the BCS at the end. So if you can continue to win, you can position yourself at the end to be good," says Texas coach Mack Brown, who said this week that he did not believe his team should have jumped from fifth to first in the polls, based on beating then-No. 1 Oklahoma last Saturday.

The final BCS standings, which determine the teams that will play for the title Jan. 8 in Miami, will be released Dec. 7.

The last one-third of the BCS formula is made up of six computer ratings, with the highest and lowest rating discarded.

The computers — and voters as well — can reward or punish a team based on the strength of its schedule, and if Texas (6-0) can continue to win, the Longhorns' prospects figure to be bolstered by their slate of games.

Texas follows the Missouri game with contests against No. 10 Oklahoma State and No. 5 Texas Tech and later plays No. 15 Kansas.

But it's a double-edged sword, because a loss could knock the Longhorns out of the title game, especially if two other teams finish undefeated.

The schedule has the attention of Texas' Brown.

"We've got a long way to (go to) prove that we're any good," Brown says. "I'm honored for our team that the recognition they're getting now is because we've played well for six weeks, and we beat a really good Oklahoma team. But I don't even think we're in a position right now, with the schedule we have, to start worrying about the end. We've got to continue to play and continue to get better."

Because schedule strength can vary so much from team to team, Brown thinks a postseason playoff would be fairer than the current system.

"I'd like to see strength of schedule being a bigger factor, or get some type of playoff at the end for a team that may have slipped," he says.

That won't be coming anytime soon, though. So starting tomorrow, get out the calculators and, maybe, the crystal balls.