WAC and PAC: Both Lack an Attack

There really is a big difference in college football conferences. The bowl season makes that painfully obvious. Regular season records simply don't tell the whole story about how a team will fare against the best from other conferences. As if college football isn't dynamic enough already, the bowls make things even more unpredictable.

Consider that all the ESPN talking heads had Oregon beating Ohio State. Well, it wasn't a blow out, but the Buckeyes made duck soup in the Rose Bowl. I simply don't understand why the experts were so enthralled with Oregon anyway. They lost to BSU, Stanford and now Ohio State. It seems to me they have been over-rated all season. A top 25 team? Yes. A top 10? No way. The PAC-10 is 2-5 in bowl games and is starting to look almost as weak as the WAC.

The WAC continues to get shelled in bowl games. Fresno gave one away. Nevada, missing their defensive coordinator and five starters including two 1,000 yard rushers, looked just awful against SMU. Idaho managed a 1 point come from behind win over mediocre Bowling Green. If BSU falls to TCU, the WAC will have secured its reputation as the doormat of 1A. Nevada's awesome offensive stats mean very little if they can't beat anyone outside the WAC and UNLV.

The powerhouse conferences like the SEC really are stronger. Just look at how Florida totally dominated Cincinatti. It looked like the Varsity against the JV.

For BSU fans, its time to get nervous. BSU's only "quality" wins were against Oregon, a team we now know is a three loss, over-rated squad that should never have been in the top ten, and Nevada, a offensive powerhouse only in the WAC. The rest of the Bronco schedule is a cream-filled cupcake tour-de-farce.

All of this argues for a national playoff in my opinion. As long as some non-BCS teams continue to have undefeated seasons with weak schedules they will continue to make hay about how great they are and how they deserve to be in the championship game. The bowl season is an equalizer. But a national playoff would be the great equalizer.

The winner of the Fiesta Bowl will claim they could be national champions. And, for all we know, maybe they are right? We don't play for the national championship. We anoint the champion with an arbitrary determination that the powerhouse conferences automatically deserve it. And, based upon bowl outcomes, it appears they do. But unless the BSU's, TCU's and Cincinatti's actually face off against powerhouse conferences, we will never know. Maybe BSU or TCU is the uncrowned champion? On the other hand, a one loss Florida might just make those undefeated teams look as hapless as Cincinatti.

Wouldn't you just love to see TCU vs. Texas and BSU vs. Alabama? What's one more week?