Would Obama Have Won an Election Held Only in the BCS States?

We proclaim our college football king from a list of six conferences known as the "BCS" schools, which span almost all of the United States. However, some areas of the nation do not have a school in the states listed under the BCS umbrella. 

The six BCS leagues are the SEC, the Big Ten, the Big 12, the Big East, the Pac-10, and the Atlantic Coast Conference. Some of the states overlap conferences, as in the case of South Carolina, which has both an SEC team in the Gamecocks and an ACC school in Clemson.

But what if we determined the President of the country the way we declare a BCS champion, using only information from the locations of the BCS states? What if we declared Rhode Island, Idaho, New Mexico, and others off-limits, concerning ourselves only with the prospect of a "BCS President"?

Let's examine the horizon conference by conference.

STATES/CONF               ELECTORAL VOTES      OBAMA                 MCCAIN

SEC

SC                                                    8                     0                     8 

GA                                                   15                    0                     15

AL                                                    9                     0                      9

MS                                                   6                     0                      6

TENN                                               11                    0                     11

KY                                                    8                     0                     8

LA                                                    9                     0                     9

ARK                                                 6                     0                      6

FLA                                                  27                    27                   0

TOTALS                                                     93                        27                       66

BIG TEN

PENNSY                                         21                    21                   0

OHIO                                             20                    20                   0

MICH                                             17                    17                   0

ILL                                                 21                    21                   0

IND                                                11                    11                   0

WISC                                              10                    10                   0

MINN                                               10                    10                   0

IOWA                                               7                      7                    0

TOTALS                                                117                        117                       0

PAC-10

CAL                                              55                     55                    0

WASH                                           11                     11                    0

ORE                                               7                      7                     0

ARIZ                                            10                      0                    10

TOTALS                                               83                        73                          10

BIG 12

TEXAS                                          34                     0                   34

OKLA                                             7                      0                    7

KAN                                               6                      0                    6

NEB                                               5                      0                    5

MISSOU                                        11                     0                    11

COLO                                              9                     9                     0

(IOWA COUNTED IN BIG TEN)

TOTALS                                                72                          9                         63

ACC

MASS                                           12                     12                     0

MARY                                           10                     10                     0

VA                                                13                     13                     0

NC                                                15                     15                     0

(SC ,GA, FLA COUNTED IN SEC)

TOTALS                                               50                           50                          0

BIG EAST

NY                                                 31                      31                     0

CONN                                              7                       7                      0

NJ                                                 15                      15                     0

WVA                                                5                       0                      5

(PA, OH, KY, FLA COUNTED ELSEWHERE)

TOTALS                                                58                           53                           5

SUMMARY                                          473                         329                      144       

So there we have it. Even if we chose a President in the discriminatory way we choose a football champion, by excluding a number of states and conferences because they aren't "major enough," Obama wins by a wide margin.

Of course, we could always make room for a wild card candidate who crashes the party by achieving such success in the primaries (regular season) that they must be considered for "BCS purposes".

And the fate of Notre Dame, The Navy, and The Army, who operate as Independents? The states they are located in are included in other leagues, so we must assume "their voice is heard."

One may make a correlation between the top two teams in the "BCS Poll" and the leagues they represent, the SEC and the Big 12, and a huge advantage to McCain by a 129–36 margin regarding the states in those two conferences.

With the election of the President behind us now, we should all look forward and hope for better days ahead for the country. But the "election" (selection?) of the teams to compete for the BCS title has only begun. Let's enjoy the process, and good luck to all from here on out.