B.S. with a C in the middle

I'm not an avid supporter or opponent of the BCS, actually I'm relatively in the middle on it. I think it's a definite improvement from where we were just 10-15 years ago. In BCS b.c. as it will be commonly referred at GoodBetterBest you were forced to watch certain teams from certain conferences battle it out year in and year out in the big bowls. I like the random match-ups of teams you don't normally get to see play one another now that it's BCS a.d. What I don't like?

These rankings:

Harris Coaches CPU
Rank Team BCS Avg Rank Votes % Rank Votes % Avg % Prev
1 Ohio State 0.9765 1 2800 1.000 1 1574 0.999 3 0.930 1
2 Michigan 0.9735 2 2688 0.960 2 1513 0.961 1 1.000 2
3 Southern California 0.8699 3 2458 0.878 4 1373 0.872 4 0.860 7
4 Florida 0.8495 4 2441 0.872 3 1381 0.877 6 0.800 4
5 Notre Dame 0.8193 5 2267 0.810 5 1273 0.808 5 0.840 9
6 Rutgers 0.7866 7 2024 0.723 8 1082 0.687 2 0.950 13
7 Arkansas 0.7567 6 2234 0.798 6 1248 0.792 9 0.680 11
8 West Virginia 0.6575 8 1864 0.666 7 1113 0.707 11 0.600 10
9 Wisconsin 0.6428 11 1678 0.599 10 928 0.589 8 0.740 15
10 Louisville 0.6408 10 1711 0.611 12 884 0.561 7 0.750 3
11 Louisiana State 0.6028 9 1846 0.659 9 1054 0.669 13 0.480 12
12 Boise State 0.5541 13 1471 0.525 13 830 0.527 10 0.610 14
13 Texas 0.5169 12 1630 0.582 11 927 0.589 16 0.380 5
14 Auburn 0.4678 15 1304 0.466 15 721 0.458 14 0.480 6
15 California 0.4391 17 1033 0.369 17 580 0.368 12 0.580 8
16 Wake Forest 0.4362 14 1341 0.479 14 724 0.460 17 0.370 19
17 Oklahoma 0.3868 16 1257 0.449 16 711 0.451 19 0.260 17
18 Georgia Tech 0.3612 18 936 0.334 18 566 0.359 15 0.390 18
19 Maryland 0.2196 21 567 0.203 21 325 0.206 20 0.250 23
20 Boston College 0.2194 20 600 0.214 20 384 0.244 21 0.200 22
21 Virginia Tech 0.2048 19 694 0.248 19 420 0.267 23 0.100 21
22 Tennessee 0.189 22 397 0.142 23 213 0.135 18 0.290 16
23 Nebraska 0.1021 23 396 0.141 22 228 0.145 0 0.020 -
24 Oregon 0.0873 25 129 0.046 26 72 0.046 22 0.170 20
25 Brigham Young 0.0632 24 325 0.116 24 116 0.074 0 0.000 -

It's hard for me to say this as a diehard SEC fan and apologist, but Florida being ranked #4 is embarrassing and ludicrous (notice the spelling, so I'm not talking about the rapper). What have the Gators done to deserve this ranking? A close win over a Georgia team that at the time was coming off nail biters against Colorado, Ole Miss, and Miss. St.? A close victory over Vanderbilt and S. Carolina? Sorry, doesn't do much for me. I know you play in the SEC and the SEC is sooooooo much more difficult than all the other conferences, but you don't get a pass to be the #4 team in this big mess.

Who should be crying, bitching and moaning like all these other coaches is the biggest Nutt of them all, Houston Nutt. Get it...play on words. Wit wit wit. The Hogs are 9-1 and 6-0 in that vaunted SEC that we all talk about. Their lone loss? A opening weekend loss to the team that currently sits in the #3 BCS slot, the University of Southern Cal. I don't consider that a bad loss regardless of score. Anything can happen opening weekend as teams try to find themselves and their identity. Arkansas is a new team since that opening week loss. They figured out where they have talent...running back. Darren McFadden might be the most underrated, least talked about, great player in the nation. If LSU, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, or Auburn had a runningback blowing away the field in the SEC in rushing yards, you'd hear about him all the time. He'd probably even be a Heisman front-runner. McFadden is lucky to get pub in his hometown paper. I don't get that. He threw a touchdown against Tennessee last week, and he didn't do it on a reverse or gimmick play...he lined up at quarterback.

The point I'm making here is that the system, as much of an improvement as it may be, is extremely flawed still. Arkansas has been dominating good teams all year and Florida has been barely beating everyone, yet Florida sits firmly at the #4 spot. Why? Preseason rankings. The Hogs weren't ranked to start the year, the Gators were anywhere from 3-5. Arkansas didn't crack the top 25 until they were 5-1. They've had to climb from receiving votes, to where they are now. You only have so many games to make it to the top and overcome your deficit, and unfortunately for Arkansas and barring some help, it looks as if they are going to run out of time.

How do we rectify this? Well, the easy answer...playoff system. But, even before hell freezes over or Ole Miss beats LSU, we have to fix what we've got. There has to be a way for a team to not be penalized for writers and idiot coaches underestimating and miscalculating how good they are before the season even starts. Arkansas isn't the only team suffering from gross miscalculations. Look at Rutgers. 9-0 and undefeated in their conference and they just defeated a team that was thought to be a frontrunner for the national championship in Louisville. But, unless USC, Florida, Notre Dame, and even probably Arkansas lose...they won't stand a chance to make it to the championship game. Even with all those teams losing, we could potentially wind up with a Michigan/Ohio St. rematch over a 1 loss Rutgers team getting in. Flawed.

I don't know how to rectify it, but I'm open to hearing your suggestions. I can sit back and actually enjoy it since I don't have a team in the mess, but I know that if Ole Miss or Florida State was in the position Arkansas or Rutgers are this year...I'd be rioting. And for all you Ole Miss and State fans that read this blog, you know it's exactly the situation we would be in if we had 1 loss.