One of these coaches may be holding the wrong trophy.
So the final college football contest of the season kicks off Thursday night and it looks like it'll be great: the Oklahoma Sooners vs. the Florida Gators. But don't get it twisted: it ain't college football's national championship. That's because the champion has already been crowned and it's USC. Or Utah. Or Texas.
And therein lies the problem with college football's BCS National Championship Game (the "final contest" mentioned above). It features two teams with one loss, but not the sole undefeated team in the game (Utah). The most dominant team in the country (USC) won't be playing in it. And Oklahoma, which lost to Texas on a neutral field earlier this year, will. We know it's an old argument (even the new Prez is in favor of a playoff system), but just in case you're one of those lobotomized morons that thinks the BCS works, here's a list of the 5 biggest eff-ups of the BCS era.
Click here to see the 5 biggest injustices of the BCS Era
2004: TEXAS COACH MACK BROWN WHINES WAY INTO ROSE BOWL
• Lest you think the 'Plex is some kinda haven for Sooner-hatin' Texas lovers (be easy'we think all'a y'all rednecks), we've got the epically misnamed Mack Brown to start our list. At the end of the '04 season the 'Horns were 10-1 (having lost to Oklahoma earlier) but behind 10-1 California in the rankings until Brown begged his way into the Rose Bowl. The Associated Press was so disgusted with the ploy (and its effectiveness on its voting members) that refused to be associated with the BCS thereafter.
2006: 11-1 WISCONSIN SHUT OUT OF BCS
• The BCS's stupidity in regards to title games and non-BCS schools is well known, but in '06, Wisconsin was the victim of the equally dumb only-two-teams-from-one-conference rule. The rule was meant to prevent the big conferences from monopolizing the BCS, but with Ohio State, Michigan and Wisconsin all having stellar seasons in the Big Ten, the Badgers were sent to a second tier bowl while a paper tiger Notre Dame squad ended up getting shellacked in a BCS game.
2007: OHIO STATE USES BACKDOOR TO TITLE GAME
• In the final two weeks of last year's regular season, the Buckeyes jumped from no. 5 to a spot in the BCS Championship'without playing a game. They promptly proved their title-game worthiness by losing to LSU 38-24. The BCS worked so well in '07 that the team that finished second in the final rankings (Georgia) didn't even play in a BCS game.
2001: NEBRASKA JUMPS OREGON AND COLORADO
• Despite not winning their own conference and being ranked no. 4, the Cornhuskers played in the national championship game after the '01 season, losing to Miami 37-14 in a game that wasn't even that close. The two teams that Nebraska jumped in the polls, Colorado (who beat the 'Huskers for the Big 12 chip) and Oregon, played in the Fiesta Bowl, with Oregon winning easily, 38-16. Not that either team could've beaten the 'Canes that year, which brings us to...
2000: FLORIDA STATE JUMPS MIAMI AND WASHINGTON
• At the end of the 2000 regular season the BCS had a clear no. 1 team to play in its championship, the 12-0 Oklahoma Sooners, with three one-loss teams as possible opponents: Florida State, Miami and Washington. Miami was ranked no. 2 in the country, having beaten Florida State and losing to Washington early in the year on the road. Washington's lone loss came on the road to a 10-2 Oregon team. But the second spot in the championship game went to FSU, not to the Miami team that had beaten them, or Washington, the team that had beaten the 'Canes. Of course FSU was hammered by Oklahoma while UM and UW went on to convincing wins. So how many BCS execs does it take to screw in a light bulb?
