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The Pacific 10 Conference was one of the founding members of the BCS. With the Big 10 they put the honorable history of the "Granddaddy of Them All" the Rose Bowl, in the hands of a computer program than made little sense to anybody, including its proponents.
It could be that in its half decade of existence the BCS hasn't produced a Pac-10 National Champion, so naturally those from the Left Coast are blaming the Bush Administration and some Vast Right Wing Conspiracy and want out.
Tennessee, Ohio State, Florida State, Miami (FL), Oklahoma, and now LSU are proof that the title has been passed around pretty well over the Big Ten, the ACC, the SEC, and Big 12. But the Pac 10 has been left out. Some say it’s a soft conference schedule and overall weak teams that hurts their rankings. And this year, when you look at how many of the conference's bowl eligible teams made it to a bowl and WON, maybe they have something to cry about. (But that does nothing to explain Miami and their Div 1-AA heavy schedule.)
The Pac Ten had seven teams eligible for a Bowl, six or more 1-A wins. Four were invited to Bowls. Two won. The once vaunted UCLA had their lunch eaten by Fresno State in the Silicon Valley Bowl, losing 17 to 9. Oregon lost a nail biter to Minnesota in what may have been the best game of the New Years series, the Sun Bowl came down to whoever had enough left to drive into field goal range for a final score of 31 - 30.
Their two wins were Washington State staving off a late comeback by Texas for a 28-20 win. And USC's domination of Michigan to come off the Rose carpet up 28 - 14.
27 Bowls. 54 teams. Four in, two wins. Some would say for what lauds itself as one of the best athletic conferences in the world that's not a very respectable average.
If you look at the bigger picture. That's about average.
No conference batted 1000. Lots of teams lost the 'big game' and several looked stupid doing it.
Georgia Tech made some people wonder about the name of the Humanitarian Bowl when they stomped Tulsa into the turf 52 to 10.
The only reason West Virginia was in the stadium for the Gator Bowl was to give Maryland somebody to run over, 41- 7.
Navy got sunk by Texas Tech 31 - 14 in the Houston Bowl.
Other games, the Sugar Bowl for one, had closer final scores, but the game was never in doubt. LSU went down the road to New Orleans and simply had their way with Oklahoma. And the Tiger Cheerleaders were better looking than the Sooner's squad too. That counts for something when the final score is chalked against their name.
So does the University of Southern California have anything coming Championship wise?
The short answer is 'No'.
They signed up to live by the BCS, now they have to live With it.
Do the Trojans have any claim to a Share of a National Title.
The long answer is 'Hell No'.
The Pac 10 is in the BCS Pool, let USC tread water until next year.
As for a playoff system.
It works pretty well for Division 1-AA and the other divisions as well.
Delaware finished the season as the last team standing in a 16 team playoff in One Double A. Final record of 15 and 1. That's better than either LSU or USC. And in their championship they cleaned the clock of the Number One Ranked Team, FORTY to nothing. Yes 40 - 0.
Nobody is going to come back and say that Western Kentucky should share the title for this or that reason when they lost earlier in the playoffs.
There was a series of games. You win, you move on, you lose, you go home.
It's that simple of a solution to the BCS / AP poll nonsense.
Maybe it is time to try it.
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