There is a common misconception that college football bigwigs actually care what the fans want. They don't. The bottom line is that a lot folks are getting fat off the bowl system. Why would they give it up? If you had a business that allowed you regularly to make money hand over fist, would you change? Neither will they.

you are spot on ed.

Objection/Response: Objection #1: The bowl games are traditional and sacred and cannot be jeopardized. Response: $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Objection #2: The season will be to long if we have a play-off tournament at the end. Response: $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Objection #3: How would the play-off money be distributed? Response: $$$$$$$$$$$$ WHO CARES $$$$$$$$$$$ The truth is, if the NCAA would intervene and over-rule their own university Presidents, forcing a play-off upon them, they all would receive more $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ than Carlos Slim in a good year! GET OVER IT AND GET ON WITH IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You're so right.

The University presidents are too powerful to be over-ruled by the NCAA, Bill. I'm a little ambivalent about the current BCS system. The top 3 teams at the moment are Oklahoma, Georgia and USC, none of which are in the championship game... that's not good. Ohio St. is a crock with a history and has no business backing into the championship... that's not good. Both championship teams are 1-1 in their last 2 games... that's not good. LSU jumped from #7 to #2 after one meager win, leapfrogging more deserving, winning teams.. that's not good. However, a playoff would change the entire complexion of the regular season. NCAA Div-I football is the ONLY major sport where every game in the regular season means something. Essentially, the entire NCAA regular season IS a playoff. I watch game 1 with the same excitment and intensity as I watch game 11. The NBA is bogus until April, hockey is hockey, the NFL allows 9-7 teams into conference championships, baseball has 162 games. I'm afraid a playoff, in the form most commonly proposed, would turn NCAA football into everything else. That may be a bigger disaster than the current BCS system. Titans and Panthers in the playoffs?? Please, shoot me now.

Quick question for you ElG. How many teams with a winning record did USC beat? The answer is two: Oregon State and Arizona State. Tell me how that makes them one of the top 3 teams.

How can you say every game matters? Because every game obviously didn't matter to the ONLY undefeated team in the United States, and that would be Hawaii. And don't give me that crap about the conference they are in, the only thing that matters in sports is WINS!!!!!! THATS IT!!!! YOU PLAY TO WIN!!!!! Every game doesn't matter because teams like LSU can lose TWO GAMES AND STILL MAKE IT INTO THE CHAMPIONSHIP? AND THEY LOST AGAINST UNRANKED TEAMS. So those games didn't matter, did they? You're a bona fide idiot if you think every game matters in college football during the regular season.

Who exactly said that every game matters? Not me.

Well now Gary there you go answering your own question. This year I’ll take a Pac-10 10-2 over a Big-10 11-1 in an Appalachian minute. ASU has a better shot to beat LSU than OSU does. Just like last year, slow, plodding OSU will again get skull f’d by a more talented, more athletic SEC team in the in national championship game and make it unwatchable by halftime. And again, USC will embarrass a Big-10 school in the Rose Bowl. It is insulting to subject USC to the 1-dimesional fraud that is Illinois (a fraud that beat OSU). With their depth and team speed, a healthy USC can beat any college team and the Miami Dolphins 7 days a week. I have no allegiance to USC, I simply enjoy a good college football game. How good would USC-VA Tech or USC-OU or USC-Georgia have been?! Oh well. Polish Guy, try to think outside the box a little, beyond the constraints of what happened with LSU and other select glamor programs. Had your beloved Hawaii not won at Louisiana Tech on a failed 2-point conversion, not only would they not be in a BCS Bowl now, they wouldn’t be top-20. Why? Every game matters. Yes, schools like LSU benefit from a different standard. They had no business leapfrogging VA Tech and Georgia. Notre Dame has no business going to major bowls with 7-5 records but they do. On the whole, Polish Guy, relative to every other sport, relative to a proposed playoff system, every game matters in college football. Try to think of the word “every” figuratively if you can.

Excellent points EL G (as usual). Hawaii almost lost to my lama mater, San Jose State as well. The Spartans were ahead by 14 poins with 8 minutes left and choked! I just like to throw the Rainbows in there to spice up the controversy. You know how fun spicing up controversy is, don't you El G? I can't believe this article has 5,000 hits in 2 days!

A masterpiece! You are a genius!

If USC doesn't want to be "insulted" by playing in the Rose Bowl, they shouldn't lose to Stanford, or a one-man team like Oregon.

Ed - this is the article we all want to publish! The BCS is a an excitement killer for me - it's the only thing more confusing than the Broowaha rating scale. To el g's credit, I have taken some interest in this college season - and I've been rewarded with some pretty intense upsets. Tons in fact! The only thing more of a money maker, I feel, then these college athletics is Roger Mahoney, who got tackled by a hungry USC lineman a few weeks back. Those boys can eat. It's only times like these I wish I had gone to a Penn St. or even Montana St. for that matter- CSUN football wasn't even that bad and had amazing potential to be a kick ass program (remember Albert Fann?) and still the only other football game I've ever seen in the valley was the Los Angeles Express play a game at Pierce College. Hey - Steve Young even signed my program that day!

Here is my counter-argument to that El G. If you can lose 1 or 2 games and still make it into the national title game over an undefeated team. And who cares if they almost lost, at the end of the game when the clock reached 0:00, Hawaii(and I'm an ND fan *hangs head*) had still won that game. Something LSU and USC CANNOT SAY. Then how is it that those games matter? They're being thrown out, its like "Whoops, you slipped up LSU, USC, Mizzou, OU, Georgia, but thats okay because it doesn't matter, you can still play for the title." If you had a playoff system, OU and Georgia who both think they got snubbed, could prove to OSU and LSU that they deserve as much as those two teams do to be in the title game. Every game doesn't matter in college football, it hasn't for a long time. Much longer than just the BCS being implicated. In the end, I want a REAL national title, not some moniker of what a few people think is the best team...sports writers, and computers who can't even watch a game! Let them play it out on the field. Let the players decide who is the best, or playing the best football at that time. Not you, or the coaches, or I, or some stupid computers.

Easy, Buckeye Honk... I mean Gary. LSU and THE Ohio St. University deserve to be in the BCS Championship game - based on the rules that govern the BCS Championship game. But since when does reality govern un-reality? Ohio St. is not the best team in the country. PERIOD! But can we prove that? No, because the NCAA, FOX Sports, Miles Brand, etc. don't want us to. (And no, neither is USC) Tell you what. Let's cancel March Madness in 2008. Let's have a few of the contestants from "Beauty and the Geek" get together and tell us who the number 1 college basketball team in the country is. Then we could invite them to play in a few ceremonial exhibition games held around the country. And we could all call it the... WHO CARES WHAT WE CALL IT! It won't be a championship because it doesn't declare a champion. Back in the day, when polls decided the championship, they called the #1 team in the country "The Mythical National Champion". And on January 7, they still should. Congrats to THE Louisiana State University, the 2008, Mythical National Champs!

Gary, playing in the Rose Bowl is a great honor. The insult comes from having to play Big-10 abortions 2 years in a row. What will a win over Illinois prove? At least if the Trojans got to play a legit top-5 team, they could finish the season ranked #2. USC-Georgia would have been incredible, but SEC rules prevent it. Polish Guy, I know all the arguments for and against Bowls and every manifestation of potential playoffs. I'm not against playoffs. I'm just afraid that playoffs, if not done right, will turn NCAA football into NCAA basketball where the regular season means next to nothing. Until March, NCAA BB is a small hemorrhoid on the ass of big-time sports in America. The BCS system is a mess (a mess Bob Stoops favors, by the way), but the cure could be worse than the disease. My guess is the playoffs will come with baby steps in the next few years, the first of which being a +1 game.

Ok listen. I take full responsibility for U$C not making the National Championship Game. My team LOST to Stanford….favored by 42 points and yet, we couldn’t get the job done against the mighty Cardinal. Thankfully, the media loves us (yes, even as Dan Foutes has said many times, even with two losses, we are still “The MIGHTY USC Trojans”. After all, Stanford was ranked 111’th in the Sagarian power rankings and App State was ranked 67’Th at the time they beat #2 Michigan in Ann Arbor. Michigan, those poor bastards, went from two out of the top twenty-five. We lost to a far lesser team and only dropped ten spots. But, that’s because ESPN loves me. I can do no wrong, nor can any of my players. Sure Reggie Bush took money from an agent. But, do you see ESPN making it their lead story for two years ala Mo Clarrett? Of course not. It’s SC. We can do no wrong. Yeah, Jarrett broke the rules living with his male lover and fellow NFL bust ol’ Matty. Sure, Rey-Rey beat the snot out of that kid at the party a few years ago. I don’t care. I started him for the first time ever the following week. So what if Mark Sanchez sexually assaulted a girl. He’s my #1 guy. Who cares if my backup linebacker punched a high school senior in Hawaii this past May and broke her nose? She was asking for it. It’s just kids being kids. And really, who cares if every player who’s played for me is a bust in the NFL. It happens. I am nothing without the man who made us truly great. I wish I wasn’t such a jerk and made him leave for Nashville. I also take full responsibility for our loss to the Oregon Ducks and the one-man show. Don’t look at the fact UCLA shut them out. The Pac 10 is the greatest conference in the world. I know the Big 10 has nine bowl eligible teams, but the Pac 10 is clearly better. We have powers like UCLA (1 National Championship) Washington (1 SHARED National Championship), Stanford (0), Cal (0), Arizona (0), Oregon (0), Oregon State (0), Wazzu (0), Arizona State (0). Despite the fact the Pac 10 has only 2 National Titles amongst the other nine teams, it is still better. So what if the Big 10 is sending yet another two teams to BCS games. So what if those mighty domers of Notre Dame count two of their big three wins against Pac 10 schools. WE BELONG, Ohio State doesn’t….they haven’t played ANYBODY. We beat FOUR ranked (at the time we played them) this year: Arizona State, Oregon, Nebraska and Cal. We went 3-1 against those ranked teams. It’s all smoke and mirrors when people say Ohio State beat #23 Purdue, #21 Wisconsin, #20 Penn State and #12 Michigan. So what if they went undefeated against top 25 competition. Who cares if the held #12 Michigan to EXACTELY 100 yards of offense in four quarters of football. They lost to Illinois!!! Who cares if the Big 10 can’t call a fumble a fumble or knows what an illegal pick is. They LOST to Illinois. I really don’t care if Illinois is #12 in the country and going to a BCS bowl game. Stanford is a much better program than Illinois. I can go on and on, but I have to go. I would like to close this with a big thank you to all you DIE HARD SC fans out there. You know who you are. We have the biggest and most loyal fan base on the planet. So what if a sellout was a rarity from 1990-2002. Who cares if the average attendance in 1998 was 42,000 or 34,000 in 2000? So what if we usually played to about 50,000 empty seats? Our fans started coming back in 2003 because they are LOYAL and DIE HARD. No bandwagon here. Yes, it is true that the week after we lost to Stanford, about 31,000 loyal and die hard fans couldn’t make it to the game against Arizona. It is a shame that so many weddings had to take place that Saturday. Nonetheless, the 61,000 that did show up saw us come out with a very hard fought win against the powerhouse that is Arizona. Ok my people. Remember, as I tell every recruit I can, you are MY NUMBER one guy. I must go now and tell Keith, Rey-Rey, Brian, San and JDB that they are going to be drafted this year and out of the NFL like every other player I coached (Carson was all Norm baby). I have to pound the line they will be using everyday after their careers are cut tragically short by a lack of talent. “Welcome to (insert fast food joint name). My name is (insert your name). May I take your order?” Meanwhile, I’m sure that as the utter those words, a NFL will be on the TV will be on with all those damn one and three star recruits Jim Tressel gets like AJ Hawk and Nick Mangold. Don’t tell anybody, but I really can’t coach. Anyway, I digress. I am out to go bask in how truly great I am. FIGHT ON.

Man, I cannot believe it. I am so thrilled. Pete Carroll, the coach of the mighty Trojans commented on MY article. And what a comment it is! This is why I LOVE the Broo!!

Thanks for the stroll down memory lane, Ace, but you forgot to mention Woody Hayes and the DuMont network (how many hours did it take you to write that load?). It’s 2007!! Mike Gundy is a man and the Big-10 is done. The Big-10 today ranks somewhere between the Big East and Division-II. Nothing sadder than desperately clutching at past glory. Hey, 100 years ago, Joan Collins was a babe. Today she’s a crusty, arthritic, menopausal half-dead bitch, just like the Big-10 Conference. On January 1, 2008, the Big-10 will get bent over and have a giant Trojan horse genital rammed into its ass... just like it did January 1, 2007. A few days later, a OSU will get Ned Beattied by LSU... just like it did last year by the Gators. The Big-10 can’t hang anymore, and it proves it year after year. USC was praying for OU or VA Tech and got stuck with Ron Zook and his one trick pony offense. The SEC and PAC-10 are the A-list of college football TODAY. If you don’t understand that, you don’t understand college football.

Hey Peter, while you're at it, why don't you apologize for running LenDale White up the middle without Reggie Bush even on the field as a decoy in the Rose Bowl game against Texas! Oh, and for4 having anyone whose last name is Ting on the field at the end of the game! Not that I'm still bitter or anything.

I'm bitter about it. Great story.

Impressive. Nice writing, Ed. Oh, and as an 'SC grad (Yeah, I know, crazy, huh?), I have to state that for the record, they should be there. Simply because everyone ahead of them lost in the last week....

The BCS has taken college football backwards! Think back to the day, when you won your conference and would go to a certain bowl game. You might have not the match ups you want. (Like we did this year :)) But, you had five happy teams for winning their games. This year there are two happy teams and they might not be the most deserving. Playoffs do not say who is the best team always. They show who is the hottest. Upsets and injuries happen in the playoffs. Oregon with a healthy Dennis Dixon is a top 10 team. Right now, I would take USC in a bowl against anyone. A healthy O line and Booty they should give any team a great game.

If we go by "hottest" teams getting Bowl Bids, Man of Troy, then USC would have been out of the Rose Bowl National Championship Game against Texas as Ohio State and Texas where en fuego at the time. Your argument holds as much water as an Ohio State fan claiming they belonged in the National Championship game that year. Yes, we lost to the National Champions that year. Of course, Ohio State did hold the Texas offense in check the entire game, unlike the game against SC when you couldn't stop anything. If Ryan Hamby wouldn't have dropped that damn pass.....I digress. OSU lost to #1 Texas by 2 and #4 PSU (BCS Orange Bowl winners). We didn't belong. As my SC friends told me, OSU was the best two loss team in the country. You don't belong. You lost to Stanford. I don't understand the myopic view of SOME of the SC fans out there. OSU lost to a BCS Bowl team. Really, had some calls been called correctly, we wouldn't have had this discussion. Afterall, the Big 10 did formally apologize to tOSU for the officiating in that game and took action against the crew. Bottom line is this: SC isn't a national championship team. They narrowly beat UW and even my namesake said after the game that if the clock had an extra couple minutes on it, he didn't like your chances. OSU was there two weeks earlier and left no doubt. Bottom line, you lost to Stanford. The biggest upset of the year. Favored by 42 only to come up just a little short. Personally, it's BS that U$C wasn't hit with the same penalty UM was for losing to APP State. App State was ranked nearly 60 spots HIGHER in the Sagarian Power Rankings than Stanford. Yet, somehow, U$C doesn't follow the trend of dropping out of the top 25 for losing to a team as bad as that. Thankfully, you are the media darlings. I can go on and on about Reggie taking money from an agent and the lack of attention that has drawn from your friends at ESPN...etc etc. USC: WE LOST TO STANFORD. WE BELONG IN THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME.

Did that guy just say "en fuego"? What a geek! It wasn't cool when Dan Patrick said it 14 years ago, now it's pure, degenerate dorkery. I bet you say "back back back..." too, don't you, "Peter"?

No, I just tell everybody your my NUMBER ONE guy. It works. Try it.

I came back to this article because I always enjoy a good “I told you so”. First, to Gary and the bitter guy going by “Peter Carroll” (so clever): Illinois embarrassed themselves in the Rose Bowl. They were completely overmached by USC and had no business playing in ANY BCS bowl. On their best day they were the third-best team in the Big-10, which on its best day was the fourth-best conference in the NCAA this season. Playoff talk aside, the BCS selection process is BS. Anyone who understands college football understood before the game that a healthy USC would very likely destroy the slow, plodding 1-dimensional team Illinois put on the field this year (you’d think someone would have taught Juice Williams how to throw with a spiral by now… btw, the same horrible Juice Williams tossed 4 TDs against Ohio St.). Still, the BCS went for this bogus matchup denying fans a potentially great game against Georgia, Oklahoma or Mizzou. Yes, there are some selection rules linking conferences to bowl games, but if they can adjust those rules for the Rose Bowl, they can certainly do it for the rest. Second, To Polish Guy: Hawaii?! What?! Hawaii was a fraud this year and Georgia exposed them. Again, the BCS screwed the fans, trying to recapture the magic of last year’s Fiesta Bowl (and failing miserably). Since all the BCS needs for a sellout and good ratings is one blue chip team in a contest, we got these 2 lousy bowls. Just like Illinois had no business being on the same field with USC, ditto Hawaii and Georgia. Poor Mizzou should have been in the Fiesta... at least that game could have been watchable. Most importantly, however, what does "your my NUMBER ONE guy" mean and what constitutes it working?

You hit it directly on the head, El G. The Hawaii fiasco yesterday made me eat a little crow myself. I thought they would have at least been able to make the game watchable, but they looked awful. Hawaii has a distinct advantage during the regular season, because they play the majority of their games at home. Visiting teams party their asses off, getting lei-ed left and right, and think the trip is a vacation, so Hawaii usually ends up playing teams that are hungover from Mai Tais and Rum Runners with sand in their shoes. So, it was actually good that Georgia stomped them. It shut a lot of people up, maybe even Polish Guy.

Being right all the time is no fun when its so easy.  

Once again OSU has embarrassed itself and its fossilized conference on a national stage.  This did not have to happen.  This horrible team had no business playing in the championship and everyone knew it.

Damn the BCS to hell to subjecting us to one of the worst post seasons ever.  Damn the Big-10 for producing 2 of the worst BCS games of all time this year.

Let's hope next year, or the year after at the latest, we get the +1 game.  Imagine USC. v. LSU!  That's what this year's championship coulda/shoulda been. Oh well.  

BUH-bye Big-10, thanks for coming.

Man, I have to agree with you El G. The Buckeyes looked like a very overmacthed team and the game was almost unwatchable. One of these days the BCS will get it right, but they sure blew it this year!