On Sunday I had to suffer through some clowns on 1050AM WTKA arguing that the current BCS system is ok, and that it breeds a "healthy debate".  What a joke?!  First, like college football isn't strong enough that it needs "healthy debate" to prosper.  Second, can you imagine if a #1 ranked and 11-1 Michigan got screwed like USC got worked over today?  My god.  As Ivan Maisel of espn.com said, "Lloyd Carr would be calling for a Congressional investigation" if the Wolverines were left out of the national championship.  Fans and radio hacks in Ann Arbor would freak out.

So they announced today, after all the BCS components were summated, Oklahoma and Louisiana State will play in the Nokia Sugar Bowl to decide the "National Championship".  Left out in the cold despite only losing once (in triple overtime to a conference opponent), Southern Cal is going to the Rose Bowl to play Michigan.

Is USC more deserving than OU and LSU?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  But that's the problem, man!  The BCS system only works if there are only two top teams that deserve a shot at the title.  Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't.  At a minimum there are three teams this year; some would argue 4-6.

So why not throw out the computers and just use the human polls?  Here's why: the human polls are just as brutal.  There's been a lot of monkey business in the polls in the past (e.g., someone [Phil Fulmer] voting Michigan #4 in the 97-98 final poll), and even today, there are serious questions.  Look no further than the current polls, where, get this, EIGHT voters in the Coaches Poll voted Oklahoma #1 this week.  And TWO AP writers voted the Sooners #1 in the Associated Press poll.  Are you kidding me?  They just lost 35-7 to Kansas State!!

The good news about all this is that this may a nail in the coffin for the BCS which is set to expire in 2005.  Having a major college program like Southern Cal getting worked over this hard may force bowl execs and the TV heads to set up a playoff.

Playoff?  There's an idea.  Maybe there is a reason why every organized sport on mother earth has some kind of playoff.  Actually have the top teams play each other to determine the winner?   Here's to hoping these guys come to their senses and develop a post-bowl season 4 (minimum) team playoff.  All the major bowl games will move back to January 1st (like they are supposed to), and then a four team playoff will occur the next 2 weeks.  For the concern of student athletes spending too much time away from class - this shouldn't be an issue.  Most schools are on Winter break through mid-January anyway.