Utah Screws The BCS - Big Time !

The college Bowl Championship Series (BCS) is not having a good season. It is supposed to use several polls and computer statistics to pick the best two college teams in the nation, and pit them against each other to get a national champion. In most years, it works fairly well. But this year has been a disaster for the system.

The system has been tweaked several times to insure a better result, but this season has made the BCS into little more than a joke. The BCS picked Florida and Oklahoma as the top two teams amid a lot of disagreement. Many people thought Texas should be ranked ahead of Oklahoma, since they had the same record and Texas beat them handily during the regular season.

Others thought Southern California should be considered since it had the same record, especially after they took powerful Penn State apart in the Rose Bowl. But it is Utah that is making the whole system look like little more than a bad joke.

You see, the BCS never really considered Utah to be a contender, even though they finished the season at 12-0. The BCS ranked five teams higher than Utah -- and all of them had lost a game. Even though Utah was undefeated, it was not considered powerful enough by the BCS to play for the mythical national championship.

So they threw Utah a bone, and let them play Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. Everyone expected Alabama to roll over Utah and embarrass them. But that didn't happen. Utah easily beat Alabama (who was ranked #1 by the BCS for five weeks this year until they were defeated by Florida in the SEC championship). In fact, Utah defeated Alabama by a bigger margin that #1 ranked Florida did.

Now we are left with a big mess. It doesn't matter whether Florida or Oklahoma wins the championship, that championship will be tainted. How can an undefeated team (Utah) who has shown they can play with the best teams, not be given a shot at the championship? How can Texas (who beat Oklahoma) not be given a shot at the championship? How about So-Cal?

The large-college presidents have a lot of pitiful excuses why they can't have a play-off system and determine a real champion on the field, but it is all bullshit! All of the smaller college divisions have a play-off system, and if they can do it, so can the bigger colleges. It all boils down to money. The current bowl system has been very lucrative -- even for a lot of schools with mediocre teams.

Frankly, I don't even care whether Florida or Oklahoma wins their scheduled game. I would not consider either one to be a national champion, and I believe there are a ton of people who agree with me. The only way I would believe either team is better than Utah or Texas, is if they beat them fairly in a real game.

Thank you, Utah! You have shown us once and for all that NCAA Division I Football needs a play-off system. A real play-off system -- not a one or two game mythical joke.