Congratulations to the Alabama Crimson Tide.  They marched east to the Georgia Dome in Atlanta and disposed of Tim Tebow and the Florida Gators in the SEC championship game with a suffocating defense and an offense led by Greg McElroy, playing the role of Tim Tebow on this particular night.  With the win, the Tide now rolls west to play in the BCS championship game in Pasadena on January 7, 2009. 

Congratulations to the Texas Longhorns, also on their way to the BCS championship game.  Playing in the new Taj Mahal, Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, they dominated the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the Big 12 championship game 13-12.

Dominated?

Two words a bit more accurate that describe the Longhorns victory would be stumbled and bumbled.  At game’s end, I wondered aloud if the right team from Texas would be playing in Pasadena.  In fact, let’s just get it on the table:  I don’t believe the Longhorns belong in the BCS championship game.  But their name-brand goes a long way in the business of big-money bowl games.

TCU, come on down!  You’re the next contestant on The Name Recognition Ain’t Right.  Thanks for playing along this season.  Now go be happy in a BCS bowl and tell the country how thrilled you are to be there.

Might the team most worthy to face Alabama in the Rose Bowl be from the state of Ohio?  I’m not referring to Ohio State, although they’ll be in Pasadena a week earlier as this year’s Big Ten beat-down representative taking on Oregon in the traditional Rose Bowl.

The Cincinnati Bearcats have to be thinking “why not us?”  Why not them indeed.

And what of Boise State.  They, too, like TCU, Cincinnati, Alabama and Texas, finished the season undefeated.

Five undefeated teams but come on – can we talk?  You and I both know only two ever really had the opportunity of playing for the national title.  As long as ‘Bama (or Florida) and Texas stayed unbeaten, those were your championship combatants.  And we knew that months ago. 

The only drama would have been Texas being bypassed.  Mack Brown would have held a press conference on the South Lawn of the White House demanding a Congressional Hearing.

This system we have set up to determine a national champion in the NCAA’s Football Bowl Subdivision (Division 1) is beyond ridiculous.  Supporters will argue “it’s the best we have right now.”

No, it isn’t.  It’s the one college presidents want to keep in place.  Throw in a few coaches and athletic directors, too.  And why not add in some bowl committee members for good measure.

This is about forgoing the obvious and staying with the old.  In the battle of Logic vs. Old School, the latter wins every time.  Tradition and the way things should be done, courtesy of the good ole boys network.  The guys in the white suits that run the Rose Bowl.  The folks in Chicago that sit in the Big Ten office.  None of them want a playoff.  Why?  Because they believe the hallowed tradition of the Rose Bowl will suffer.

You can get similar answers, depending upon who you speak with, from the decision-makers at the Orange, Sugar and Fiesta Bowls.

Alabama and Texas are both fine football teams.  But this year, more than any other in recent memory, begs for a playoff.  Five undefeated teams and you’re telling me, without any semblance of doubt, that either the Crimson Tide or the Longhorns are the best team in the nation?

Every year we get this kind of scenario but this season it’s off the charts. 

Some will insist this is what makes big-time college football “fun.”  Baloney.  Is it fun for TCU?  How about Cincinnati?  Is Boise State laughing?

I’ll watch the game on January 7 just like everyone else.  And no matter who wins, I’ll wonder what it might have looked like having an eight-team playoff that included Alabama, Texas, TCU, Cincinnati, Boise State, Georgia Tech, Florida and Oregon.

What amounts to a one-game, winner takes all, playoff decided by computers and human polls falls far short of what the vast majority of college football fans desire. 

The game may end up being one for the ages, but it’s an archaic system that needs to go away.

Photo credit stolenbyme