BCS Bowl Selections: West Virginia's Orange Bowl Berth Shows System Is Broken

BCS bowl games are supposed to showcase college football's best teams. So how is it possible that four Top 10 teams were unable to secure a bid while the No. 23 squad gets a trip to the Orange Bowl? Something just doesn't add up.

A major issue with the BCS is all of its different rules that would take three days to completely sort out.

For example, if TCU would have moved into the top 16 in the final standings, they would have earned a BCS bid, but since the Horned Frogs finished No. 18, they didn't. Should two spots really have that large of an impact? Probably not, especially after seeing some of the ballots voters sent in.

You can't blame West Virginia for taking advantage of the Big East's automatic bid, but to say they are one of the nation's elite teams is laughable. If there's a stipulation that a non-AQ team must be inside a certain cutoff, why isn't there one for power conference teams?

The questions could go on and on.

What all of them illustrate is that the BCS continues to be flawed. While it accomplishes the task of making every regular season game matter to some extent, it doesn't do the deed of creating optimal games for fans to enjoy at season's end.

Boise State vs. Arkansas would be a lot better than West Virginia vs. Clemson. The Broncos and Razorbacks can only blame themselves for losing key games near the end of their seasons, but that doesn't diminish the complete résumé they built.

West Virginia's biggest win came against Cincinnati. That says a lot about the Moutaineers' BCS worthiness.

Even though a playoff seems like a pipe dream at this point, something needs to be done to ensure the best possible teams are playing in BCS games.

Whether it be adding a play-in format like the NCAA basketball tournament uses or setting a bar that all teams, regardless of conference, must reach to become BCS bowl eligible, it's become painfully obvious change is needed instead of sticking to the status quo.

West Virginia exposed another flaw in a system that's already under a lot of scrutiny, now it's up to the powers that be within the sport to fix it.