The Arena

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The talking heads are already second-guessing the computers, the human voters and anyone with an independent thought.  

And surprise, surprise, the Texas Longhorns are crying foul. Welcome to the imperfect system we know as the Bowl Championship Series. Since its inception, the BCS model was supposed to deliver us a No.1 vs. No.2 matchup to determine the unquestioned national champion at college football’s highest level.  

Who knew it would be so difficult determining the top two teams at season’s end?  In the past several years, we’ve seen an undefeated BCS conference school left out of the party. But mostly we’ve been left to scrutinize the worthiness of one-loss teams.  

This season will be no different with 12-1 Texas being left out of the BCS title mix in favor of Big 12 South counterpart Oklahoma and SEC champion Florida, both 12-1 teams. Adding extra insult to the Longhorns snub is the fact they actually beat the Sooners by 10 points on a neutral field back in October.

Who said timing wasn’t everything?   We could drift off into how the Longhorns’ problems began a couple weeks ago when a silly tie-breaker bylaw in the Big 12 rules propelled OU into the Big 12 title game after UT, Texas Tech and the Sooners ended up in a three-way tie at the end of the regular season. We could also find humor in how the Longhorns suddenly want to change the rules now that they don’t work in their favor (they were left out of the championship mix by a margin of 0.0181 in the last BCS poll).   But the real issue is a broken system. The BCS model we have now is like a complex puzzle that seems to be missing one final piece to make the picture complete. Talk about frustration.  

The BCS brain trust, also known as the college presidents, came close to making all the pieces fit a couple years ago when it was announced a fifth BCS bowl game had been added to the mix. It’s what most of the college coaches, players and media had been clamoring for for years, a plus-one model pitting the top two bowl winners in a winner-takes-all showdown. No more debates, split titles or crying foul.  

But that’s not quite what happened. There is an inexplicable fifth game each year at one of the four BCS sites pitting two at-large teams but we’re still without that one game that ties it all together for that playoff so many crave.  

That’s what is needed maybe more this year than ever. Just think if the Sooners and Florida met in Miami’s Orange Bowl and then No.3 Texas and No.4 Alabama battled in the Fiesta Bowl with the winner of both bowls to meet in the fifth game _  a real BCS championship game.   Who would be able to argue with the national champion then?   But then again what would the talking heads have to pontificate about for the next nine months? Who would own the right to whine about being left out? And perhaps most important, what would we debate intently in the barbershop aside from who would you rather be trapped on an secluded island with: Beyonce, Rihanna or Ciara?

So finally we find ourselves thanking the imperfect system we have.

This story is filed under: Sports