By Michael Hollingshead
I have never been so embarrassed for someone else in my life.
In fact, I don''t even know the sad individuals who were responsible for this mess, but I feel pain for them in a personal way.
Not only did the BCS computer geeks successfully put the second and third best teams in the national championship game, but they did it with a shameful 'it-wasn''t-our-fault' arrogance.
Just blame the computers.
It''s almost as if they''re trying to convince themselves there is no controversy and America is happy that USC isn''t the BCS champion.
Intelligent.
All right, let''s be honest. I''m not the first to try this hand. Every sports writer in America has sat down at their computer and written their little piece about whether or not the BCS blew it.
In an extremely unofficial poll, which I calculated myself, 97.9 percent of all those columnists agreed that the BCS has got itself into a fix that it can''t get out of.
Now it''s my turn to jump on the ship.
As Mike Tranghese and his cohorts sat in front of their computers that fateful day in December, they were praying that somehow the computers were going to spit out two teams everyone would agree belonged in THE game.
Turns out, the computers did pump out two very deserving teams. Unfortunately, neither one happened to be ranked No. 1.
Southern California was left out of the 'national championship game' because a few of the teams they blew away couldn''t register .500 seasons.
In jest, it came down to just a few points in the BCS formula, and had BYU, Notre Dame, Arizona, Stanford and Arizona State (all USC opponents who finished with losing records) mustered up enough skills to win at least one more game, the Trojans would have made it into the big game.
How pathetic is that?
USC, a team that blew every one of their final eight opponents away, and finished with a No. 1 ranking, had to rely on the records of all the teams they beat to garner one of the top two spots in the BCS rankings.
To add insult to injury, USC showed the nation why they''re No. 1, dominating Michigan in the Rose Bowl, moving the ball at will and scoring 28 points on the Wolverines'' praised defense.
The final score was 28-14, but anyone who watched the game knows USC manhandled the Wolverines. You could see it in Michigan quarterback John Navarre''s eyes and Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr''s helpless expression.
And now, after the official title game between LSU and Oklahoma, there is a nasty taste in the mouths of college football fans. (The game ended after press time). After a great season of Larry Fitzgeralds, Boise States and fallen champs (Miami, Florida State and Ohio State), something still feels wrong.
There is no dispute that LSU and Oklahoma are great teams, and I have no intention to downplay what they have accomplished this season. However, the title game simply lacked what it needed most: the best team in the nation.
ABC and ESPN did their best to hype up the BCS title game, but they just couldn''t make it as exciting as the Rose Bowl. After USC put the finishing touches on Michigan, the idea of a championship game still yet to be played was almost an after thought.
In a world that is so quick to put the blame on others, it''s nice to know that, at least this time, the blame is well deserved. The BCS screwed up, but what''s even more astounding is that they''re too proud - or too greedy - to do anything about it now.
They''ll have us believe that USC was a great team, but they were only No. 3, when they don''t really believe it themselves. It''s almost as if they''re afraid to challenge the computers.
And so the 2003 college football season ends as it begins: with the BCS under major fire.
What changes will be made to the system and when will they be implemented? Nobody knows. I guess you could just leave it up to the computers to come up with a solution; that really seemed to work.