Much like a star recruit might have entering his freshman season at Wisconsin, I had one goal when I set foot on this campus three-and-a-half years ago: the Rose Bowl.
Granted I never had the control over it like the players do, but with all these rules and computer rankings the players hardly have control over it anymore either. I can't help but picture this giant supercomputer called BCS"" sitting in a New York office building with a virus that causes it to spit out nothing but bowl chaos every year.
Couple that with the money-driven supermen that make the BCS rules and somehow the winningest senior class in UW history is left without a BCS bowl game in their four-year career.
Last year the Badgers were 11-1 at this point, but weren't good enough for a BCS game because the BCS supreme court has this law saying that no conference can have more than two teams in the BCS. UW had only one loss while five of the 10 schools that played in a BCS bowl game had two losses going into their bowl game.
Still, Wisconsin was horrible in its timing to finish with only one loss. Its 11-1 record wasn't good enough for Roses a year ago, but this season Illinois is heading to Pasadena with a 9-3 record. The Illini deserve it because they beat Wisconsin head-to-head and finished strong with a big upset over No. 1 Ohio State. Still, it's frustrating when one loss is too many one year but three losses is fine the next.
While the Badgers can't say the BCS hurt them this year, there is one team that may have the best argument in the history of BCS snubs.
If I'm the Missouri Tigers, I'm boycotting the Cotton Bowl. Someone please explain to me how Mizzou went from No. 1 in the country to out of a BCS bowl because they lost to a team they weren't even supposed to beat in the first place. Excuse me? Meanwhile, Illinois and Kansas (who the Tigers both beat) are in the BCS.
Now I know it's a selection process by the bowl officials after the supercomputer with the virus decides the National Championship Game, but are there really that many morons sitting in these bowl offices that Mizzou got passed by all of them? The Tigers lost two games to one team (Oklahoma, who happens to also be a BCS team), they weren't favored in either of those games, and they beat then-No. 4 Kansas the week before.
This supercharged virus computer system just rewarded a team for losing what at the time was the biggest football game of the year. Missouri beat Kansas yet the Jayhawks are going to the FedEx Orange Bowl for sitting on their ass while the Tigers had to go play an even tougher opponent for the conference title.
Heck, if Mizzou had known they would have been better off losing to Kansas, I'm sure they would have been happy to throw the game, get an extra week of rest and head to sunny Miami Jan. 3.
Are these people serious?
Meanwhile, if I hear one Ohio State player complain about the six-week layover between their final regular season game and the National Championship, I will personally dot the ""I"" naked before they take the field against LSU.
Do these players not realize that the only reason they are in this game again is because they get to sit on their couches while the rest of the country actually has to fight to make a BCS bowl? Those teams all knock each other out while Ohio State climbs from No. 5 to No. 1 while not playing a down of football.
It's like if the winner of the first NFL playoff game each year got an automatic bye to the Superbowl while the rest of the teams still had to play the rest of the games.
It's hard to argue that Ohio State and LSU aren't the top two teams in the country right now, but how can you be happy with a system that rewards teams for not playing and punishes teams who are playing their toughest games of the season? Who was more impressive the last two weeks? Missouri, while splitting against then-No. 4 Kansas and No. 4 Oklahoma, or Ohio State, while James Laurinaitis and Vernon Gholston sat on the couch watching film of themselves constantly getting crossed up by the Illinois spread offense?
The only thing that would justify this mess is if we found out that the people running the BCS are the same people that can't figure out how to clear the snow in this city.
Meanwhile, I'm still sitting here waiting for the announcement that the BCS is going to add one more bowl this season so they can fit Notre Dame in there.
If you know how to destroy the virus that has gotten into the BCS supercomputer, e-mail Adam at hoge@dailycardinal.com.
