BCS Rankings Week 12: Teams That Prove College Football Needs a Playoff

President Barack Obama thinks college football needs a playoff. For that matter, so do I and every other living soul under the sun.

Will we ever get one? Probably not. The current bowl system is a joke, but at least it puts money in important peoples' pockets. At the end of the day, that's all that really matters.

But the longer we keep up the outcry for the destruction of the BCS and the installation of a college football playoff, the closer we get to actually having our wish granted. What we must do is let the powers that be know that the BCS just doesn't cut it.

This year, the proof is in the four teams listed below.

Cincinnati (NR)

I have nothing against the Bearcats. Nope, nothing at all. 

The only reason I'm targeting Cincinnati is because it plays in the Big East, and it just so happens to be leading the conference. That means the Bearcats are in line to claim the conference championship, thereby claiming the Big East's automatic BCS bid.

If so, the Bearcats will sneak into a BCS bowl. This despite the fact they may not even be ranked in the BCS Top 25 at the end of the year.

That's good for them, but it's a slap in the face to whichever team gets robbed of a BCS bowl berth so Cincinnati can have it. The BCS bowl system would be bad enough if deserving teams didn't miss out on an annual basis. But they do, and that makes the system even more sucky.

Arkansas (No. 6)

Speaking of teams that could miss out, the Razorbacks are not projected to play in a BCS bowl at the moment. It could certainly happen, but they'll have to win out to make it happen, and that means going through LSU and possibly the SEC Championship Game as well.

Even if Arkansas finishes with two losses, my guess is that the Hogs will still be in the BCS Top 10. But when the chips all fall into place, there likely won't be any BCS berths left for Arkansas to take.

Arkansas fans would cry foul, and it would be very easy to sympathize with them.

Georgia (No. 14)

The SEC is generally accepted as the best conference in the country, but all of the respect these days is reserved for the West division.

The way things are looking right now, Georgia will represent the East in the conference championship game, most likely against LSU.

What if Georgia wins?

The short answer is that all hell would break loose. LSU would be knocked out of the BCS National Championship Game. Conceivably, Alabama would then be allowed to sneak in.

The SEC would then be represented by an SEC team that not only didn't win the conference, but didn't even go to the conference championship game.

That, my friends, would be a PR disaster.

Houston (No. 11)

We've come to know Boise State as being the king of the BCS buster, but this year Houston has its own hands on the crown.

I don't think the Cougars are going to lose this year, which means they are going to be one of, at most, three undefeated teams in the country. As great as it would be to see them get a chance to strut their stuff in the BCS title game, the system is devised in such a way that Houston would be shunned and banished to a lesser BCS bowl.

Conventional wisdom suggests that Houston will be lucky to be there. A playoff, on the other hand, would give the Cougars a chance to prove that they are just as good as any team in the land, if not better.

The BCS will not let them do this.

BCS Rankings for Week 12

Rank	Team	BCS Average
1	LSU	.9933
2	Oklahoma State	.9642
3	Alabama	.9099
4	Oregon	.8755
5	Oklahoma	.8400
6	Arkansas	.7974
7	Clemson	.6935
8	Virginia Tech	.6755
9	Stanford	.6747
10	Boise State	.5959
11	Houston	.567
12	South Carolina	.528
13	Kansas State	.497
14	Georgia	.453
15	Michigan State	.439
16	Nebraska	.382
17	Wisconsin	.333
18	Michigan	.295
19	TCU	.252
20	Southern Mississippi	.245
21	Penn State	.230
22	Baylor	.136
23	Texas	.120
24	Auburn	.079
25	Florida State	.071