The Bowl Championship Series’ worst nightmare is taking place for the second year in a row.
Again, three teams — BCS No. 1 Southern California, No. 2 Oklahoma and No. 3 Auburn — virtually are deadlocked for a shot at the national championship in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 4.
Hearing the national media talk, one would assume USC deserves one of those spots in Miami. The Trojans’ fans were showing off their oranges during their 41-10 blowout of Notre Dame on Saturday.
It was almost a flashback to last season when those same great West Coast patrons were flashing five-pound bags of sugar in front of the camera. That sugar tasted more like Sweet’N Low.
The Trojans will be tasting oranges instead of lemons this year unless USC loses to metropolitan rival UCLA. The BCS made sure of that, taking out all objectivity and making the human polls worth two-thirds of those rankings.
USC is riding last year’s wave to this year’s title game, and the main argument heard for the Trojans is they’ve won 20-in-a-row. Nine of those victories came in 2003, and there’s no way they should be carried over.
But that’s exactly what the BCS has allowed USC to do as they are ranked No. 1 in both polls because they started the season there and haven’t lost a game since.
Granted the Trojans do have some quality wins on their schedule, including BCS No. 4 California, No. 19 Arizona State and No. 12 Virginia Tech. Too bad the quality-wins component doesn’t exist this year because the system was tailored to USC’s schedule, which appeared to be weak when the season began.
But since we’re talking about this year, Oklahoma and Auburn both have comparable quality wins, but most consider these two teams tied for the No. 2 spot. As the old saying goes, a tie is like kissing your sister. Such an activity in the states of Oklahoma and Alabama might be considered the norm, but these two squads really are high class.
The Boomer Sooners defeated No. 5 Texas, No. 20 Texas A&M, No. 21 Texas Tech and No. 24 Oklahoma State. Don’t look for Oklahoma to pick up any style points against a 7-4 Colorado squad.
The Plainsmen-WarEaglesTigers don’t have a mascot identity, but they have definitely put their mark on college football this season with wins over No. 7 Georgia, No. 11 LSU and No. 15 Tennessee.
With such comparable schedule difficulties, it’s too challenging for humans to sort out which team should play for the national title.
Auburn also will face an inferior Tennessee team with a less than adequate Rick Clausen at quarterback in the Southeastern Conference championship game.
This whole issue could be resolved if one of the top three teams is knocked off, but we’re probably looking at coaches and writers making the final decision.
LSU coach Nick Saban, who has a vote in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll, said he would like to see Auburn playing in the Orange Bowl during a press conference a few weeks ago.
If Saban can’t put his biases aside, what makes anyone think that the other coaches in that poll or sports writers in the Associated Press poll can accomplish the feat. Yet this is what we’re depending on to set up the most important game of the year.
The BCS is just like your annoying, know-it-all uncle. He argues that his system is best, using jargon that no one can understand. In the end, he solves no problems and everyone in the house starts hunting for earplugs.
But finally, the house becomes peaceful again when he leaves and the same must be done with the BCS.
Give us a 16-team playoff system and a committee that decides which teams will be included.
So root for USC, Oklahoma and Auburn to win their final games. If the BCS nightmare continues, maybe our playoff dreams will come true.