Leave the BCS alone!

I haven't written a blog entry in five months for a variety of reasons but I just can't take it anymore. I love college football. It's my favorite sport, bar none. This should be my favorite time of the year. The regular season is ending this weekend and I'm pumped. Can Missouri prove its worth? Can West Virginia do what their supposed to, and wipe the mat with Pitt? Is Ohio State still alive? It should be beautiful.

Alas, it is not. Why? The scourge of the earth known as the Mainstream Sports Media. The columns and talking heads have already started but you're going to hear more of it in the coming weeks. The BCS sucks, you will hear over and over again. You will hear how college football needs a playoff or it will become irrelevant. You will hear moaning that Missouri or West Virginia aren't deserving because they haven't won titles before, as if years of titles are a necessary prerequisite for winning a title. In the end, they will all be wrong. Very, very wrong.

In fact, the BCS is arguably the best thing that has ever happened to college football. It was a sport that for decades crowned "mythical" national champions. How many years were we deprived of a true national champion before the BCS? If the BCS had always existed, those old debates would have been settled: Miami/Washington in 1991, Penn State/Nebraska in 1994 and Michigan/Nebraska in 1997.

For all the talk about how the BCS is essentially a popularity contest, this year has proven that mantra completely and totally wrong. In fact, it is those same columnists deriding the BCS for being a popularity contest who now want it to be a popularity contest. This bozo on CBSSportsline wants Ohio State vs. USC for the title because, well, it would get the best ratings. Say what? Voters have chosen Missouri & West Virginia #1 and #2 right now because they deserve more. It has nothing to do with the names on their jerseys or the logo on the helmet, it's about how good they are and who they've beaten.

The beauty of the BCS is the fact that the college football season is a playoff. You don't need to be flashy or get attention, you just have to win your games. In my opinion, the BCS only failed once in 2004 when undefeated Auburn got left out. Of course, it was the first time in four decades three major college teams went undefeated. The other years? No problems. Why? Win your games. Once you start losing, you are now at the mercy of voters and computers.

USC thinks it's the best? Probably shouldn't have lost at home to Stanford. Georgia's playing well? Maybe losing by three touchdowns to Tennessee wasn't a good idea. Ohio State, ya feeling a little jobbed? Losing at home to a team that lost to Iowa doesn't make me sympathize with you for a second. Even last year when Michigan fans were crying a river they didn't get to play Ohio State again for the title. Hey Wolverines, you should've thought about that the first time you played. A victory over Ohio State and you wouldn't have to whine.

The real beauty in the system is how it evolves throughout the season. LSU was playing its regular season finale with absolutely everything on the line. You want a playoff? Fine, watch LSU rest its starters. I'll take the BCS and one of the best sporting events of the year. Who didn't watch LSU/Arkansas? What sports fan didn't talk about it?

You want proof the BCS works? I got proof, thanks to the Sports Media Watch blog. Missouri/Kansas did a 7.0 rating. That eclipses the average for the MLB playoffs and nearly doubles the ratings for the NBA playoffs and NASCAR's Chase for the Cup. That LSU/Arkansas game? It did a 5.1, blasting past those "playoff" races for NASCAR and playoff games for just about any other sport. Why the interest? Because college football has spent the last three months building to this.

So why do writers, mostly national and NFL writers who pay attention to college football one week a year, want a playoff so badly? Because it's what everyone else does. The uniqueness of college football is lost on them. They've been so programmed to watch playoffs that it's what they want. They clamor for March Madness, but forget that college basketball is ignored for four months. They believe a playoff would crown the best team, when it usually just crowns the hottest team at the moment.

Look at the arguments for Georgia and USC. Are they playing the best right now? Maybe. But is that what sports has become? We ignore the regular season? College football is the only sport in the country that crowns its champion based on the whole season. What you did in September and October means something in December. You want to be a champion? You have to be a champion from day one.

It's really simple: if you want a playoff, you're not a true fan of college football. A successful season in college football is something different for each of the 119 teams. You think Indiana fans care about a playoff when they just want to play a bowl game for their late coach? You think the Air Force seniors, making their first bowl appearance in their careers, give a flying youknowwhat if 2-loss USC must suffer in the Rose Bowl? Does Illinois want a playoff with the top 8 teams to satisfy sports writers or does it want a chance at the Rose Bowl?

And you know what? For all the negative press, the BCS has become an institution, a rallying cry, the definition of how success in college football is measured. Ohio State is a success because they've played in BCS bowls five out of the last six years. That's success. It's those three letters that every team strives for.

It dawned on me that the BCS is good for college football when UConn played South Florida this year. Yep, I'm a UConn season ticket holder and we rushed the field that day. The most amazing thing happened, thousands of students and fans -- the same people who supposedly hate the system -- started chanting, "B-C-S! B-C-S!" But wait, I thought it was evil?

It was hammered home to me as Hawaii put the final touches on Boise State Friday night. It wasn't just a few thousand people, it was 50,000 strong in Aloha Stadium. "B-C-S! B-C-S!"

I hope the college presidents stick to their guns and keep the BCS. Forget a playoff. The ratings, attendance and fan interest show the BCS is working. Don't listen to sportswriters who aren't even fans of the game. Listen to the fans. Let the NFL fans have their playoffs, don't let them ruin college football's uniqueness. Let college basketball have its one month of relevance and four months of obscurity. Give me a regular season that's worth a damn. Give me Arkansas/LSU on the day after Thanksgiving. Give me a Missouri/Kansas game with an atmosphere that pulsated through the television screen. Give me enough bowl games through the holiday season that I can't keep up with all.

Most of all, give me the BCS. Give me the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day. Give me two teams at the end of the season that earned it beginning on Labor Day weekend. Crown a real champion. And keep fans from Connecticut to Hawaii chanting three little letters that roll off the tongue perfectly.

B-C-S! B-C-S!