The BCS gives you this year’s SHAMpion…

Thank God college football season is over.

I can’t remember the last time I uttered those words, but for some reason they’ve never rang truer than this year.

Bar none the most unfulfilling and lifeless season I can remember in my lifetime. So bad that the hated Gators win over the Sooners didn’t even phase me. This year’s title game merely meant that Florida and Oklahoma won the beauty contest. Congrats, I guess.

The SEC and Big XII were more popular than the Pac-10 and Mountain West. Oklahoma was more well-liked than Texas, the team that beat them. Florida was on top of the world after knocking off top-ranked Alabama; a win that lost its luster after an undefeated, left-out-of-the-mix Utah did the same thing – in more impressive fashion, no less.

The BCS was created to eliminate this exact thing we’re dealing with today – an undisputed champion. 119 Division I schools, yet only 66 are included in the BCS. Big time, big money schools are invited to the dance while the 55 less pretty programs aren’t invited to the biggest party of the year. Money, clout, popularity and earning potential are the criteria.

If it sounds more like a fraternity than college football, that’s because it is.

The sound you hear? The wind being let out of this fan’s sails. A college football enthusiast since I was knee-high, this is the first time I’ve been let down by the game itself. Coaches have let me down. So have players. Opposing teams have broken my heart. Holidays have been ruined due to untimely losses.

I can live with all that because it was honest. Miami didn’t show up or get a lucky bounce. Other times the other guy was simply better. It’s the nature of the game.

No, for the first time I feel duped. I never loved the system, but I’ve reached my breaking point.
I’ve seen behind the curtain. It ain’t pretty. Right up there with finding out about Santa or realizing you’ll never be a rock star.

TV revenue and ad sales are the name of the game. Our president elect and the almighty Tim Tebow combined couldn’t change the minds of the powers that be . Expired contracts are our only hope. TV deals are up in 2013. Only then will the “P” word finally hold some clout. Maybe.

Florida won and Oklahoma lost.

So did Utah. Texas, too. Alabama, Texas Tech and Penn State all had one loss apiece going into bowl season.

Polls-schmolls, no one wants to play Southern Cal right now. Probably the best team in the land, but the Pac-10 doesn’t have the clout of the SEC or Big XII, so no invite to the ball. The west coasters also lack a conference title game, which burned SC in the past.

Sounds like it’s time to reel in Utah and BYU. Call it the Pac-12, have championship and go toe-to-toe with the ‘big two’ when it’s time for computers and biased people to crunch numbers or vote.

Unless you’re from Gainesville or Norman, this title game was a snoozer. All hype, no substance. Oklahoma’s high-flying offense looked great against lesser teams, but stalled against Florida in a ten-point loss. Similar to a ten-point loss they had against Texas, the Big XII team who lost the ‘popularity contest’ and was a dropped interception away from a title game berth.

As for the Gators and their potent O, a mere 24 points against the Sooners and their 65th-ranked defense? No big returns by the self-proclaimed fastest team in football, against a foe knocked for weak special teams play all year?

This wasn’t a national championship. It was like watching two friends play a video game.

Go to ‘create a player’ mode and build a 6’3″, 240-pound quarterback/fullback who runs over people. Make the fastest receiver virtually possible and sub him in as your running back, since you have no ‘real’ ground game.

Tebow and Percy Harvin together combined for 231 rushing yards while the Gators three ‘traditional’ backs amassed 20 yards on 11 carries.

Emmanuel Moody, the former Trojan and current Gator made headlines this week talking about Florida’s speed being superior to Southern Cal’s. Too bad it’s the only press he’d get after one carry for zero yards in the title game. To think this kid left Los Angeles because he was buried on the depth chart. I bet Moody never expected to be a non-factor due to a quarterback and wide receiver getting more carries.

Get ready for two more years of insignificance in that system, E. But hey, at least y’all are super-duper fast, right?

Run the option. Rely on gimmicky shovel passes to an undersized tight end and some overhyped, unnecessary ‘jump pass’ for the game-winning score. Blech. It stinks.

Bring back the traditional balanced attack the game employed the past few decades. College football used to be a mini-version of the NFL. These days, it bears a closer resemblance to a game of Madden between frat brothers and for the first time in my life, I’d rather watch the NFL Playoffs than the college football’s bowl season.

Truth be told, the spread offense is ruining the college game. It’s great if you’re a Gator and you just won another mythical national championship, but it’s nonsense if you’re an outsider who simply wanted to to enjoy an exciting finale against the supposed “nation’s best”.

For the record, yes, I’d rather Miami be where Florida’s at today. Two ‘championships’ in three years and a Heisman-winning quarterback. That’s a no brainer. Still, your team winning doesn’t eliminate the fact there’s something gravely wrong with college football these days. This game was anticlimactic and truly had no meaning.

Not after watching Colt McCoy leading his snubbed Texas bunch back over Ohio State. The Horns at home while the Sooners team they beat didn’t come to play.

Not days after seeing Utah upend Alabama. The same Crimson Tide the Gators used in their argument to defend their spot in the title game. Florida beats Alabama and the talk is, “we beat #1”. Utah does the same thing and it’s, “we already took the wind out of their sails”. How convenient.

Florida/Oklahoma felt pointless after watching Southern Cal field a junior NFL squad, manhandling Penn State with ease. This season started with SC looking like an absolute machine. One bad half of football in Corvallis and their dream season, derailed.

Like Florida, a ten-game win streak ensued – but without all the Tebow-esque fanfare. The Trojans weren’t a sexy enough pick for the BCS this year. Their one loss deemed more hurtful that Florida’s or Oklahoma’s, with no rhyme or reason.

If there was ever an argument for an eight-team playoff, this was your year. Florida. Oklahoma. Texas. Southern Cal. Utah. Alabama, Penn State. Texas Tech. Set it up and let them all duke it out. A couple SEC teams. Three Big XII squads. The Pac-10’s best. A Big Ten school and the smaller Mountain West rep.

The United Nations of college football and everyone gets their fair shot.

As the confetti fell, Barack Obama again let his feelings be known. “If I’m Utah, or if I’m USC or if I’m Texas, I might still have some quibbles,” he said. “That’s why we need a playoff.”

Help us Barack and do it soon. You’re our only hope.

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