Postgame Tailgating: The Real Problem with the BCS

Steve Malinchak (7) celebrates Pittsburgh's 13-9 upset win over No.2 West Virginia.  (AP Photo/Jeff Gentner)

There are clothes everywhere, both dirty and clean—I can't even tell which are which anymore.

Shoes are scattered all over the place—just pairing the right two together is a task in itself.

Everyone who knows me has come to associate my room with utter chaos.  And it's been that way for awhile—probably long enough to merit calling my dirty room a "tradition."

Sort of like the BCS—we've come to know it for its messes as well. 

Just as I can't tell which clothes are clean, the BCS can't determine which teams are good.

Just as I can't pair two shoes together, the BCS can't decide on a Championship Game matchup.

And Saturday certainly didn't help.

With Missouri's loss to Oklahoma and West Virginia's loss to Pittsburgh, the college football landscape has been turned upside down—a fitting conclusion to a wild season.

A University of Hawaii fan wipes his eye while holding a sign during Hawaii's recent game against Washington. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)

Hawaii is the country's only undefeated team, while Ohio State and Kansas are the only one-loss teams.

All three programs have been criticized for their weak schedules—both in and out of conference play.

So is the BCS rewarding weak schedules? 

You tell me.

All I know is that 10 teams have completed their seasons with only two losses. Add Hawaii, OSU, and Kansas to that mix and you get a total of 13 teams who've won at least 83 percent of their games.

Granted, the BCS can't control which teams finish with what records—but the system does absolutely nothing to help sort out the mess.

If anything, in fact, it thrives on the chaos. 

BCS supporters will argue that parity is great for college football—and I agree.  There's nothing better than watching SEC teams beat up on each other.

The only problem?

The BCS picks just two teams to play for the title. 

Out of 119.

Can you imagine if the NCAA Basketball committee picked just two teams for March Madness—or even if they picked just eight?

There would be problems galore, kind of like, oh...the current BCS system.

The problem is the exclusion of 98 percent of eligible teams from championship play.

"But we have tradition-filled bowl games, Robert..."

Tell that to the losers of the BCS lottery. Tell that to the coaches and players of equally deserving squads. Tell that to fans around the country who will continue to wonder if the BCS Champion could've beaten so-and-so.

BCS people, listen up: Tradition is great...but tradition always starts somewhere.

The 1902 Rose Bowl wasn't full of pomp and circumstance—it wasn't a tradition yet.

The NIT Basketball Tournament didn't have tradition when it began—in fact, journalists came up with the idea.

The tourney emerged from a need, from a yearning for better competition—from the desire to create an ultimate stage for the best of the best.

The ten year-old BCS system isn't the tradition, college football is. 

College football will have it's tradition no matter what—BCS or no BCS.

While my bedroom and the BCS do have some qualities in common, there's one key difference:

I can clean my room anytime I please. But the BCS refuses to get its house in order.

Have fun watching the BCS Championship game this January. I'll be cleaning my room.