BCS the best and worst of college football

As you may have noted from past posts I am both a fan and a hater of the BCS. I hate it because it is unfair and doesn't result in a true national championship. I love it because it gives me something to talk about from now until January.

In the past I have been known to blast the BCS because it isn't fair to mid major conferences, but after last weeks Utah game I'm starting to see some flaws in my logic. First of all I think Utah got shafted during their undefeated year to have to play Pittsburg and the Boise State - Oklahoma game was one of the best games I have ever seen so nothing has been messed up too much with the mid major rules yet. The fault lies in the conferences themselves. Utah is now a top 25 team for beating Michigan. Sure they got them in the Big House and they played a pretty good game, but only a team from a midmajor college can go from an almost loss over a mediocre Michigan team to delusions of an undefeated season and a BCS bid. If Florida, or USC, or even Nebraska squeaks by an overmatched Michigan team you won't hear people talking about a dream season in the making. Each of these teams have numerous hard games down the road. Who do the Utes have to look out for now? That's right BYU. The same BYU team that will be in the BCS mix if they can get by UCLA and Washington.

Just for a second look past the UCLA-Tennessee game. We're talking about UCLA and Washington. These are not your PAC10 powerhouse teams here. Utah, BYU, Boise State, Hawaii (the Rainbow warriors set us back years with their recent bid, USC-Georgia, Illinois-Hawaii would have been much easier to stomach) have to play 1 to 3 games against BCS conference schools and if they win those they can usually punch their own ticket to the Fiesta Bowl.

The current system rewards outstanding play in mediocre conferences (see Ohio State, Illinois and any Big Least school) and punishes excellent play in outstanding conferences (except for LSU last year). When BYU and Utah finish the season with 3 losses between them one of them will get play in a BCS game and they will probably be facing a team from the Big Least or the ACC. Even if they happen to win that game it won't mean anything to anyone outside of Utah (and the scattered BYU grads across the country). On the other hand one of them could go through the season and punish their opponents by an average of 18 points a game and then be rewarded in January with an opportunity to play a major college football team from the Big Least or the ACC and nobody would care.

I've said it before and I'll say it again the 84 Cougars can not happen in today's system, and truth be told I think the majority of the college football viewing public prefer it that way.