Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2003 | 8:40 a.m.
On Jan. 4 Oklahoma will play Louisiana State in the Sugar Bowl, which the Bowl Championship Series touts as the national championship football game. There's just one problem. The University of Southern California is ranked No. 1 by separate coaches' and football writers' polls. USC has been left out because the BCS formula used to pick the top two teams -- a complex mix of polls and computer rankings that would make even a physicist dizzy -- has ranked it No. 3.
It's not just the dispute involving USC that undermines the integrity of this process. The policies set by the BCS, which is made up of the major conferences, are terribly unfair because they make it virtually impossible for schools from smaller conferences to compete for the national championship. Greed motivates the major conferences -- they don't want to share money from the big bowl games with mid-size to smaller conferences. College football is incredibly popular with fans, but this controversy could irreparably damage the game's reputation. The championship should be decided on the field, through a playoff system, and not by a computer or a subjective poll.
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