BC-‘Mess’ officially BS

By Jeff Glauser
The Phanatic Magazine

The best possible scenario occurred last night for BCS-opponents.

The top two teams lost, thus resulting in a presumed complete nightmare for the BCS makers and poll voters, those now trying to figure out every possible mathematical equation to justify the reasoning for whomever will play in the championship.

They’d be better off just picking out of a hat (and who’s to say they haven’t done so all season anyway? Lest they try to explain three-loss Florida remaining in the Top 10 while undefeated Hawaii remains in Rodney Dangerfield status).

If this season doesn’t confirm the need for a winner to be determined on the field, as opposed to on a computer, nothing will. Eight No. 2 teams have lost this season and four No. 1’s. In fact, the No. 1 team du jour last night, Missouri, were underdogs last night! How can the top-ranked team in the nation be an underdog on the last game of the regular season? How does that instill any faith in the public that the people who determine these standings have any credibility whatsoever?

Meanwhile, Ohio State might be making its best push for a title down the stretch…by not playing. It moved up two spots in the rankings last week during a bye and, with the two teams in front of it losing, it can make a pretty practical case for becoming the BCS rankings champ once more by default.

This has officially become embarrassing. Baseball steroid scandal embarrassing. NHL lockout embarrassing. Andy Reid playcalling embarrassing. And now more than ever, the fans, players and even the schools deserve a playoff system to sort this out.

“It’s not going to happen…for a variety of reasons,” said Brent Musberger, who owns the record for longest tenure for being an overrated sports broadcaster in American history.

He may be right on the first part of the statement, but the second part is a total fallacy. There is no variety to which is impeding the right decision of a playoff. It’s money. Plain and simple. There is no other logical explanation for this debacle to continue.

Yes, the almighty dollar - the same thing that’s ruined most other facets of sport, further stripping away the purity that we once had in the college game to fall back upon.

At some point, college and university presidents and others who qualify as gravely blind, stubborn, selfish, greedy, or simply ignorant, will come to their senses and understand that this annual debate has grown stale and quite foolish.

What’s ironic is that the committee came one night away from having a more valid argument for maintaining status quo. Two atypical teams who worked their way up the ladder by beating tough teams and leapfrogging up to the top spots by winning at the right times and doing so continuously. Further proof that the chips can fall toward the lesser acclaimed schools if they do their part. And Hawaii almost did them an additional favor before rallying against Washington to remain unblemished.

Rest assured, that would have been a mirage, not a convincing reason to let this political, ravenousness, muddled, chaos continue.

Sadly though, the reality is that this year’s championship will most likely be played by two teams that backed in, while those poor Rainbow Warriors (and isn’t bad enough that they’re called the Rainbow Warriors?) can’t even have a chance to prove their worth.

Just like the Boise States, Auburns and the fill-in-the-blanks before them.