Southern Cal Wins Orange Bowl

Well, I guess the point of contention is now moot. USC has soundly defeated Oklahoma in last night's Orange Bowl, shooting down any chances of Auburn sneaking in and getting a richly deserved share of the national title. Oh wait, you knew I was talking about college football, right? But seriously, there were three--count 'em, three--unbeaten teams at the end of the season (including bowls). Hats are off to USC, Auburn, and Utah for running the gauntlet. Hats are also off to Oklahoma and Boise State for undefeated regular seasons. Having five unbeatens before the bowls perfectly illustrates the farce the BCS has become. And if not for a dropped interception in the 4th quarter against Miami, a sixth team, Louisville, would have made those waters even more muddy! I'm a purist. I don't believe in a playoff for Division 1-A. But this sytem is, as many people have remarked to me, B.S. without the C. Too many teams get left out, all the other bowls are rendered meaningless, and teams from "lesser" conferences get completely cut out of the picture. Tulane running the table with no BCS bid a few years ago is proof of that. Boise State and Louisville, despite top 10 rankings, are this year's proof texts. I am biting the bullet. It is past time we had a playoff in Division 1-A. Let's have a playoff involving conference champions only. That would make winning the conference more meaningful, for starters. It would also give teams incentive to win their conference and not the polls. Rivalries in the conferences would take on even greater meaning. And perhaps most importantly, such a system could completely do away with the polls as a measure of a team's "worth." Don't give me any guff about "runners up" or "one- or two-loss teams with no conference championship." If you're not good enough to win the conference--one loss or no--you're not good enough to be in the playoffs. No wild cards here, folks! Money ceases to be a motivator, instead the goal is a conference championship. Yes, I know this does away with the bowls. Perhaps it is time the bowls faded away.