BCS = Musical Chairs

For all the college football fans that have been begging for a playoff system to be implemented – well, you still aren't going to get it, but this season should give you your best reason to whine about it yet.

The game of musical chairs that has been the 2007 College Football season concluded Saturday with more confusion than ever. No. 1 Missouri lost to Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship Game and No. 2 West Virginia lost to Pittsburgh.

Let me repeat that:

No. 2 West Virginia, favored by 28 points, lost to a team coached by DAVE WANNSTEDT. Goodbye National Title hopes and goodbye dignity.

But really, could it have ended any other way? The No. 1 team has fallen this season more times than I even care to count. The team's we thought were great ended up being not so great. I can't even tell you who belongs in the National Championship game right now.

I mean sure, I can tell you who I THINK should be in it, but earlier this year I thought USC was the best team in the nation. Then when they lost, I thought LSU was. Then when they lost, I thought Florida was. When they lost, I thought Ohio State was. When they lost, I though it was LSU. When they lost, I thought it was West Virginia. Now that they've lost, I think it is... well, you get the point.

So what are we left with? A bunch of uninspiring pretenders to the throne.

LSU: I'm supposed to believe that a team that lost its No. 1 ranking twice this year deserves to play for the title of all titles in college football? That a team who just lost AT HOME to an unranked team last week, with its season presumably on the line, deserves to play for the national championship? What kind of world do we live in where LSU can plummet to No. 7 one week and be right back in the National Title hunt the next?

Georgia: There is no way a team that couldn't even win its own conference championship should be allowed to play for the championship of the entire college football world. Then again, with their No. 4 ranking in the BCS and West Virginia and Missouri both falling, they are technically next in line to move into that spot with Ohio State. I'm not saying they deserve to be in it, but if the BCS and Voters are going to have other teams jump them just because they didn't win the SEC, then why even put them ahead of those teams in the first place? Why not just vote Georgia below them to begin with and not have to have this ridiculous “Oh, wait, they didn't win their conference? Well dangit, time to move them down” stuff as if the voters didn't realize that fact until just this week.

USC: THEY LOST TO STANFORD. I mean, you can make a case that they're playing better than anyone in the country, but then again you can make that case for just about any of the handful of teams at the top of the rankings. But still, the fact remains: THEY LOST TO STANFORD.

Oklahoma: They certainly have a strong argument, being the team to knock off No. 1 ranked Missouri. I don't know if beating Missouri is really such a grand accomplishment in the eyes of voters though, regardless of what Missouri was ranked heading into the game. Oklahoma's loss to Colorado is hard to forget. Much like USC and pretty much every team on this list, they have all the talent in the world but found a way to screw it up one or two times along the way this season.

Virginia Tech: They're sitting pretty at No. 5 and may be the beneficiaries if Georgia, as expected, gets knocked down for not winning the SEC. Does Virginia Tech vs. Ohio State sound exciting to anyone? Anyone? Bueller? I think there's people in Ohio and Virginia that would even be bored to tears by this game. SEAN GLENNON VS. TODD BOECKMAN = $$$$. Not really. Virginia Tech has a good chance of getting into the game but I don't think anyone wants to see that. They certainly have a decent enough resume, although the ass kicking at the hands of LSU earlier this year still looms large.

Ohio State: Why does it feel like these guys ALWAYS luck out and back into the national title game? Oh wait, because they DO. Nobody outside of Ohio wants to see this team in the National Championship game. They really don't have any signature wins this year in a terribly overrated Big 10 conference. Unfortunately, their spot is pretty much locked in. I expect them to get blown out by whoever they play.

Kansas: Heh.

You can make an argument for any of these teams as to why they deserve to go, but you can make equally good arguments for why they don't. Fact is, no matter which two teams make it to the title game, it's not going to be a game that will allow college football fans to sit back and say, “I'm definitely watching the two best teams in the country play right now”. Expect the arguments for a playoff system to get louder than ever next year.