BCS Crisis Alert: Will 2008 Be 2004 All Over Again?

The BCS system was designed to place the best two teams into the national title game.  There is yelling from the rooftops nearly every season about how certain teams got screwed out of playing for the crystal ball, and nearly every year the system gets a tune-up. 

Within the past year or so, talks have heated up about the possibility of implementing a plus one or scrapping the BCS altogether and going with a playoff system. 

While both the plus one and playoff system have their pros and cons, something needs to be done.  Quickly.

There is a distinct possibility that 2008 is going to look a lot like 2004. 

You remember—four years ago, USC and Oklahoma met in the BCS title game in a battle of undefeated teams.  The Trojans smoked the Sooners in the Orange Bowl.      

The Trojans were the undisputed champions of the college football world.  Undisputed, that is, unless you ask some folks in Alabama. 

There was another undefeated team that season: the Auburn Tigers. 

Auburn ran through the SEC undefeated, including a conference championship game against a Tennessee team they had already beaten, and won their bowl game against Virginia Tech. 

There they sat, 13-0, without even a chance to play for it all.

Now I’m not saying that USC wouldn’t have beaten them as well.  The point is we’ll never know.  It wasn’t settled on the field. 

History may be repeating itself. 

Let me give you a “what if” scenario.

What if...USC runs the table as they are expected to do?

What if...Oklahoma runs through the Big 12 unbeaten, including a likely matchup with Missouri in the Big 12 championship game?

What if Missouri is perfect?  Or Texas?  Or even Texas Tech?

What if...Georgia, Florida, or defending national champion LSU escapes a brutal SEC schedule unscathed?

Obviously you can only have one unbeaten per conference, but there's a chance we could have a total of three 12-0 or 13-0 teams.

Who would you keep out?

Right now I think USC and Oklahoma are the two best teams in the country.  But if USC finishes 12-0 and OU or Mizzou or Texas finishes 13-0, could you leave out an undefeated defending national champion? Or an undefeated team like Georgia, who has an unbelievably difficult road schedule?

I know that the season is still young, and these scenarios are long shots.

But what if?