Bowl Chaos Sunday: What Now?

Have we officially seen it all?

The top two teams have fallen for a second straight week. Yet another indispensable QB has been knocked out at a most inopportune time.

Oh yeah, and how ‘bout that Oklahoma team that decided to show up yesterday? 

Yes, the Sooner squad that—for all but one-and-a-half games—showed why they’re a force to be reckoned with this season.

But even I’d be kidding if I said I expected Sooner Nation be in this position on the day after yet another Black Saturday. In this the oddest of college football seasons, it’s only fitting that it comes down to this.
 
Yes, the BCS will be a big mess once again. Yawn.
 
Bob Stoops has made his opinion abundantly clear: His team just beat the #1 team by 21 points on a neutral field. ‘Nuff said?
 
I guess we'll have to see which game the voters want. But if one thing is clear, it's that this system HAS to change. Enough is enough. Let’s take a look at the probable rankings at this point:
 

   1. Missouri (11-2) – LOST to Oklahoma
   2. West Virginia (11-2) – LOST to Pittsburgh
   3. Ohio State (11-1) – IDLE
   4. Georgia (10-2) – IDLE
   5. LSU (11-2) – BEAT Tennessee (SEC Champions)
   6. Virginia Tech (11-2) – BEAT Boston College (ACC Champions)
   7. Kansas (11-1) – IDLE
   8. USC (10-2) – BEAT UCLA (Pac-10 Champions)
   9. Oklahoma (11-2) – BEAT #1 Missouri (Big 12 Champions)
  10. Florida (9-3) – IDLE

 
#1 and #2 lost, so #3 and #4 will move up, right? Well, not so fast.

Georgia coach Mark Richt was quick to point out last night on GameDay Final that winning your conference has never been a requirement to play in the national championship game.

But it’s incredibly hard to justify allowing them to jump another conference champion when they got drilled by Tennessee—by Tennessee!—and didn’t even win their own division.

And then there’s Oklahoma. How far up do they go after winning the Big 12? True, they beat the #1 team, but does anyone actually think Missouri is the best team in the country?
 
So who’s next? LSU? Va Tech? Oklahoma?

(To make things a little easier, we’ll exclude USC—no one else has a loss comparable to that of the Trojans to the Fighting Harbaughs.)

Most experts seem to agree that LSU will take the leap and play Ohio State for the national title. But that’s probably not going to sit all that well in one certain state in the heartland. Nor should it.

We can argue until the end of time whether the SEC is the toughest conference, and about how LSU already got shafted in 2004, and how Oklahoma has gotten multiple chances at the national title and without taking advantage, and how, heck, they had as golden an opportunity as ever this season and didn’t seal the deal—though Coach Stoops may take issue with that.

And then there’s Georgia! Maybe the hottest team in the country right now, and possibly the most improved.
 
Bottom line is, someone’s going to get screwed. Big surprise there. OU Linebacker Curtis Lofton said after last night’s game that he’d be happy "wherever we end up." But if you believe him, you also must have believed Nick Saban.
 
It simply is time—for something better, something more logical, and something more.

How about a plus-one game? Ohio State, LSU, Oklahoma, and Va Tech duking it out in a four-team tournament of sorts. Ahh, one can only dream...