After a weekend full of upsets among the top teams in the Bowl Championship Series poll, Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel knew his team’s No. 3 spot in the most recent rankings would be a hot topic at his weekly luncheon.

So after questions about the Buckeyes game this weekend against Purdue were addressed, Tressel was ready for the BCS debate to begin.

“Third,” Tressel answered after being asked where his team stood. “I did my homework. I knew you’d ask that.”

But other than saying where the Buckeyes ranked, Tressel was quick to deflect his views on what the No. 3 ranking means.

“The take is this,” he said. “There’s no way we can go up if we don’t win. And if we don’t win, it’s the way it is.”

Winning their final two games may be all the Buckeyes need to make a repeat trip to the national championship game. Despite being on the outside looking in as of this week, OSU is only 1.46 points behind No. 2 USC in the poll. The Buckeyes, however, have a much harder road the final two weeks, taking on Top 25 teams Purdue and Michigan. The Trojans finish up with Arizona, UCLA and Oregon State.

While his team’s future shot at a second consecutive national championship may come down to percentage points and strength of schedule, don’t expect Tressel to be crunching numbers.

“I try to figure out what we do on third and fourth on the left hash rather than those other things,” he said.

While he may shy away from talking about the ramifications of the Buckeyes’ next two games, Tressel does not mind being put back into the contender spotlight.

“I think any time you talk about who’s going to make the playoffs, who’s going to be the wildcard, who’s going to be this and that, that’s interest in your game,” he said. “I think that’s fine to be talked about, as long as it’s not us talking about it. If we’re talking about anything other than Purdue, then we’ll join that throng of people next week that all they have to do is talk about it.”

Tressel said he believes his team may have a different goal in mind. Fans and the media may be talking about the BCS and the national championship, but the Buckeyes are looking to accomplish something else first.

“The thing I’ve heard the players talk about in the little bit you can sneak a listen here or there is the fact that we have not been the outright Big Ten champions since 1984,” Tressel said. “I haven’t heard any of them talk about where we are in the BCS or any of that type of thing.”