Written by Mike Furlan

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What a crazy college football season!  It will be one I never forget, especially if it ends with another Buckeye national championship.  And the Bucks are now assured of having an opportunity to play for one after Missouri and West Virginia both went down in flames last night.  The Bucks are a lock, but who will be their opponent?  LSU?  Georgia?  USC?  Oklahoma?  Virginia Tech?  Furls analyzes the chances of all these contenders (and others) to get the nod when it is announced later tonight.

As I sit in my office in Charleston, South Carolina typing this, it is hard to hear myself think over the cheering and screaming.  While West Virginia was exposing themselves and the Big East for what they are, a terrible conference, Oklahoma was busy asserting themselves as probably the best team in the country while man-handling #1 Missouri.  All this forces us to address the question, what does that little number next to a teams name mean?  Is it a countdown until their next loss? 

If you ask the sportswriters about this college football season they will tell you that is insanity, and I will agree with them on that.  It is insane that they continue to simply move teams up, regardless of how good they are simply because teams in front of them lost.  It really is a ridiculous system.  Is it parity?  You could make that argument.  Personally, I think it is mediocrity. 

Show me the complete college football team this season; the one that can run the ball, pass the ball, defend the run, and defend the pass.  You can't, that team does not exist, not this year.  All around me, fans scream for a playoff, but their cries fall on deaf ears, for at the root of the bowl system is the root of all evil, money.   

The bowls make a lot of it, and the big bowl fat cats wield the power here.  Even if the university presidents and conference commissioners agree to a playoff, they cannot do anything about it.  As thing stand right now, the current BCS system is locked in until 2010, and the Big Ten, Pac Ten, and Rose Bowl are under contract until 2014.  So while you listen to all these idiots in the media scream and yell about Ohio State playing in the championship game and how the NCAA needs to establish a playoff take a break and relax.  There is no sense in worrying or thinking about something you cannot change, particularly something that will not happen anytime soon. 

Now, lets try to sort out the BCS mess and try to figure out who will end up playing Ohio State.  As we journey through this mess, it will become apparent to you that the cheers that I heard were from campuses around the nation that suddenly had hope and the screams?  Well, that was the BCS selection committee and big bowl fat cats in agony as the worst-case scenario has just unfolded. 

1.  Missouri -  They are done.  You cannot get blown out in your last game and still have any realistic claim to the title game.  Chance of taking one of the two slots?  0. 

2.  West Virginia -  Well it was a close loss; that is better than Mizzou did, but unfortunately, it was to a ridiculously bad team.  I guess someone had to win all those games in the Big East, why not WVU? 

3.  Ohio State -  Idle hands may be the work of the devil, but idle teams do not lose games, and this year, that is all it takes.  Ohio State is a lock, so who gets the other spot?  We have to keep digging to find out. 

4.  Georgia -  Again with the idle hands thing, unfortunately Georgia is officially the third best team in their conference.  How can you rank the third best team in the SEC as the second best team in the nation?  That, in and of itself is a logical paradox.  Actually, Mizzou's loss is not even an hour old and the media clamoring, once so squarely focused against Ohio State, has turned toward Georgia.  I really don't think they will get the nod. 

5.  Kansas -  Again with the conference championship thing, and they didn't beat one quality team all year.  As a matter of fact, the only good team they played beat them soundly.  Not gonna happen Jayhawk fans, but don't worry; the NCAA tourney starts in about 4 months. 

6.  Virginia Tech -  Yes, finally, another conference champion.  They have actually played pretty good lately, and I would actually give them a pretty good shot at getting to the game, except that they were absolutely destroyed by.... 

7.  LSU -  Another conference champion and this year's media favorite.  Hmmm, didn't they just lose to Arkansas last week?  I am not sure that the media could actually jump an SEC team over other simply for winning their conference championship game.  I am not sure that something like that has ever happened.  Has that precedent been set? 

8.  USC -  Speaking of media darlings... Have you heard the media gush over USC lately?  It is rather disgusting.  Let's not forget, USC did lose to a 40 point underdog this year, and probably should have lost to Washington also. 

9.  Oklahoma -  OU should probably be sitting in Ohio State's chair, on the good side of the finish line, if it were not for a concussion in the Texas Tech game.  Think about how many times you have heard that USC was banged up while losing to a miserable Stanford team.  How many times have you heard Oklahoma get equal treatment for their close loss to a pretty good Texas Tech team?  Frankly, I think OU is the best team in the country, but unfortunately they will be pancake blocked  by the two media darlings in front of them. 

If I were to handicap Ohio State's BCS opponent, not who they should play, but who the voters and computers will actually select, I would rank those teams like this: 

1. LSU 40%
2. USC 30%
3. Virginia Tech 20%
4. Georgia 9%
5. field 1%

Hopefully the next time I hear this much screaming and crying it will be from Columbus, Ohio, during the wee hours of the morning on the 8^th of January, and the crying, well hopefully that is coming from one of the other campuses that is celebrating tonight.  Go Bucks!