Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/16103878.htm
RALPH D. RUSSO
Associated Press
Call the Bowl Championship Series flawed. Call it a bogus way of crowning a national champion. Call it nasty names that can't be mentioned here.
But please don't call the BCS unfair.
When your team gets left out of the big game, crying foul just assumes the other guys deserve to be bumped out.
All the wailing that's coming from Southeastern Conference country is getting louder as it becomes more apparent that the champion of the country's best college football league won't be playing for the national title - again.
Southern California, after its 44-24 victory over Notre Dame on Saturday night, is a win at UCLA away from a date with No. 1 Ohio State in the BCS championship game on Jan. 8 in Glendale, Ariz.
The Trojans (10-1) moved past Michigan (11-1) into second place in the BCS standings Sunday. Fourth-place Florida (11-1) is on the outside looking in, and even a victory over Arkansas in the SEC championship game won't be enough to earn the Gators a trip to the desert if they don't get some help.
Florida coach Urban Meyer suggested imploding the BCS after the Gators won 21-14 at Florida State on Saturday, another close game against a bowl-eligible team. Not counting a 62-0 walkover against Division I-AA Western Carolina, Florida's last four victories have each been by a single-digit margin.
On Sunday, Meyer put it this way:
"I think the BCS has done the best they possibly could in a very difficult situation," he said. "For anybody who thinks logically, it's not the best system, but it's probably the best at this time."
Really, you can't blame Meyer for being upset with his team's plight. Florida's only loss was at Auburn (10-2), a three-point game that turned into a 10-point final when the Tigers scored a meaningless touchdown on the last play.
The SEC's sense of entitlement - and resentment - is also understandable. The so-called experts spend most of the season feeding the SEC's ego, lavishing praise on the powerful conference. But ultimately the champion is criticized for not having enough lopsided wins or not playing a more difficult nonconference slate.
Talk about your mixed messages.
The Gators have made a good case to play Ohio State, but no better than USC or Michigan - though at least the Wolverines had their shot at the Buckeyes.
Unless your blinded by bias, you could not watch USC and Michigan over the past two weeks and think, "Florida is better than those guys." At best, the Gators are just as good.
Just two years ago, it was Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville playing Meyer's role. Tuberville's Tigers went undefeated but unbeaten USC and unbeaten Oklahoma played for the national championship.
It was awful for Auburn to miss out - and the Tigers felt vindicated when USC drilled Oklahoma 55-19 in the Orange Bowl. But it would've been equally awful for the Sooners to get passed over, and there's no guarantee Auburn would have fared any better against the Trojans.
The BCS's fatal flaw, what will ultimately lead to its demise - or at least another significant change - is there's no good way to separate these teams.
---
CRYSTAL BALL: Heading into championship weekend, two of the 10 teams that will play in the Bowl Championship Series have been determined: Ohio State will play for the national title and USC will either play the Buckeyes in Arizona or go to the Rose Bowl.
Boise State is sort of in, too, though its automatic bid for finishing in the top 12 can't be official until next Sunday when the pairings are set.
Here's a guess of how they'll look:
Fiesta Bowl - Oklahoma (Big 12) vs. Boise State (at-large)
Orange Bowl - Georgia Tech (ACC) vs. Florida (at-large)
Sugar Bowl - Arkansas (SEC) vs. Louisville (Big East)
Rose Bowl - Michigan (at-large) vs. Notre Dame (at-large)
Championship game - Ohio State (Big Ten) vs. USC (Pac-10)
The bowls aren't inclined to making rematches, but how can the Rose Bowl pass up Notre Dame, college football's cash cow, just because the Irish already lost to Michigan? The Irish haven't played in the Rose Bowl since 1925.