As the Florida Gators continue celebrating their second BCS National Title in three years, you have to wonder about the BCS and how they seem to still not get it quite right.
I do believe that Florida is the rightful champion this year, but the BCS continues to boggle the mind with its flawed system.
We can continue to complain about a playoff system, but we can file that in the "not gonna happen" file. So I compiled a list of what I believe are the five biggest oops from the BCS.
5. Kansas goes to BCS game over Missouri (2007)
The Missouri Tigers were No. 1 heading into the Big 12 Championship game against No. 9 Oklahoma...and they were the underdog.
They had just beaten the No. 2-ranked Kansas Jayhawks—yes, those Jayhawks—to win the Big 12 North.
After the Sooners beat the Tigers, Missouri lost their shot at a National title. They dropped to No. 6 in the BCS Standings with two losses. Kansas was down to No. 8 and had a much weaker schedule, and their only loss was to Missouri.
However, when it came to choosing between those two teams to determine who was going to a BCS game, they selected the Jayhawks.
The Tigers had to settle for the Cotton Bowl against the Arkansas Razorbacks, while Kansas got all the BCS glory and faced the No. 3 Virginia Tech Hokies. The Jayhawks proved that they were worthy of a BCS win, beating the Hokies, while the Tigers blew out the Razorbacks.
4. Four undefeated teams—who plays for the championship? (2004)
The USC Trojans, Oklahoma Sooners, Auburn Tigers, and Utah Utes all finished their regular seasons without a blemish.
Who in the world plays for the National title?
Well, Utah plays in a “weak” conference, so let's get them a consolation prize and put them against a mediocre Pittsburgh Panthers team in the Fiesta Bowl.
Auburn started the season at No. 18 in the polls. As hard as the SEC is, their low ranking in the beginning just couldn’t get enough strength to muster a shot at the National title, as USC played Oklahoma for the championship at the Orange Bowl.
The Sooners got blown out by USC, 55-19. Three teams finished undefeated, but USC’s preseason No. 1 ranking helped a lot, as they held on the whole way through.
3. Texas gets the shaft (2008)
How do you beat the No. 1 team in the country, and yet they play for the national title and you don’t?
It was the question on everyone’s mind as the Texas Longhorns finished No. 3 in the BCS behind an Oklahoma team that was No. 1 despite being beaten by Texas.
Texas was No. 1 until getting upset by the No. 7 Texas Tech Red Raiders by a last second touchdown from quarterback Graham Harrell to receiver Michael Crabtree.
After the loss, the Coaches' poll dropped Texas from No. 1 to No. 7—behind Oklahoma, who was at No. 4.
As Texas did what they could to rebound their way into the top two again, the Longhorns found themselves back at No. 2 in the BCS. But the Sooners starting putting out 60 a game.
Because Oklahoma was winning big, the Longhorns were all of a sudden being ignored. The win against the Sooners meant nothing to the BCS, and Oklahoma went to the National Championship game after obliterating the Missouri Tigers in the Big 12 championship.
Texas did play in the Fiesta Bowl, but it left many questions to be answered wondering if they should have gone to the title game instead of the Sooners.
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