By the time we reached Santa Barbara, and the USC football team had jumped out to a big lead on the Oregon Ducks, it was becoming clear that I would be celebrating my favorite weekend of the year. “BCS Chaos” is what I call the holiday that marks the Saturday each fall when it becomes abundantly evident that the NCAA is a pathetic enabler of a terrible system that supposedly determines a champion.
Stephan kicked the car into high gear as we calculated that we could make it home to see the final five minutes of our friend, an Oregon Duck supporter, dying a slow fan-death at the hands of the Trojans. But the nearer to San Luis Obispo we got, the closer the game got. As we pulled into Poly Canyon Village, USC was driving into Duck territory with four minutes to go.
Yet, by the time we dashed from the car to my apartment, the Trojans had fumbled the ball back to the Ducks’ potent offensive, and they were on the move. We mercilessly taunted our present Duck as the announcer foreshadowed the coming field goal and Oregon’s hopeless kicker, but as the ball careened away from the goal posts, BCS Chaos was in full affect.
Following Iowa State’s lead (and saving their basketball team much shame for losing to the Mustangs), the Trojans knocked off the team that appeared to be a lock for national title game. But the night was still young. Oklahoma, which looked like the new national title contender, tied Baylor on a touchdown with less than a minute to go.
Then Bob Stoops got greedy. He took one of his three timeouts after Baylor didn’t move the ball on first down and the Bears Robert Griffin III scrambled for a big gain. A couple plays later, Griffin again burned the Sooners with a 39-yard touchdown pass that brought the student section out on the field.
Deadspin.com caught this Baylor fan storming the field on crutches, something I wouldn’t normally care too much about, except this girl was clearly trying to one up our very own Eric Tucker who rushed the field on crutches after the Mustangs shocked the Gauchos on Oct. 14.
Why do I enjoy BCS Chaos? First, once the Huskers are out of the running I just want to spite everyone by having their team lose. Second, it moves the NCAA closer to recognizing common sense and instituting a playoff.
Rivalry weekend was far less exciting as LSU and the Honey Badger (aka Tyrann Mathieu) cruised to a victory over the Razorbacks of Arkansas and the rest of the Top 10 won in convincing fashion. Now with only championship week left and Alabama in the clubhouse, college football has two teams from the same division (the SEC West) “Occupying the BCS” in the top two slots.
We BCS-haters can only pray that LSU falls to Georgia leaving the coaches and computers less than a day to figure out which two teams deserve a shot in the final game. I think that a convincing win by Oklahoma State or Oklahoma should give the Cowboys a chance to play LSU because the Crimson Tide already had their shot.
Setting up a rematch between the Tigers and Alabama would be the only thing dumber than the BCS, but unfortunately that’s the sports world we live in.