C in BCS must stand for confused
The Bowl Championship Series inspires championship-caliber observations.
At the risk of having the alumni association quit bothering me for donations -- please, please, please -- I have to say Illinois doesn't belong in a BCS game.
Missouri does. The Tigers beat the Illini. They had a better overall record. They finished higher in the final BCS rankings.
To have a legitimate bowl system -- featuring the Rose, Fiesta, Sugar and Orange bowls and championship game -- the top-10 teams should play in them.
Missouri is sixth and didn't get a BCS bid. Illinois is 13th and will play in the Rose Bowl.
What's wrong with that picture? Just about everything, that's what. Heck, even Arizona State and Florida finished ahead of the Illini and had to settle for lesser bowls.
Business associations and financial considerations shouldn't determine what happens, but they did.
Even crazier is that the Illini won the Big Ten in 2001 and didn't go to the Rose Bowl, and they didn't win it this season and are going to Pasadena.
Illinois fans must consider this a makeup call. Instead they should consider life's simplest commandment: two wrongs don't make a right.
Why doesn't a matchup of powerhouse programs Ohio State and LSU arouse my interest?
Probably because no college football title game should include teams with combined losses totaling more than 1.
Ohio State and LSU have a combined 3 losses. Sorry, that isn't good enough to merit championship attention.
The Rose Bowl should have OSU and USC, as it would have before this cockamamie BCS concoction was concocted.
That would send Illinois where it belongs: Orlando for the Capital One Bowl to play Florida, which fired Illini coach Ron Zook.
We figure Notre Dame fans are trying to figure out how to ordain the Irish as national champs.
Here's the single-elimination formula.
Ohio State lost to Illinois, Illinois lost to Iowa, Iowa lost to Indiana, Indiana lost to Northwestern, NU lost to Duke and Duke lost to … Notre Dame!
If that isn't enough to give the Irish the trophy, there's more.
LSU lost to Arkansas, Arkansas lost to Tennessee, Tennessee lost to California, California lost to USC, USC lost to Stanford, Stanford lost to … Notre Dame!
Seriously, cancel the games and deliver the trophy to South Bend.
LSU is in the title game because it won a conference title game. Missouri is out of it because it lost a conference title game. Ohio State is in it after not playing in a conference title game.
Some teams played 13 games; some played only 12.
Great system, huh?
If you really want an interesting game, how about any team in the BCS' top 25 against the NFL's Miami Dolphins?
OK, maybe not for the title, but in the Orange Bowl. Then the home crowd could give the Dolphins a fair chance against, say, Hawaii or Kansas.
Otherwise the Warriors or the Jayhawks would have to be favored by a touchdown.
Please, don't get me started on where the Bears would fit into the Bowl Championship Series.
None of this should be interpreted to mean I'm in favor of a playoff.
I'm not, haven't been and likely never will be.
The players play too many games already, the coaches make too much money already, and TV has messed everything up too much already.
mimrem@dailyherald.com