Twice the fun, twice the controversy

USC's slight creates two top-notch bowls, one heck of a headache

Nick Saban says he sees few problems with the BCS. Jamie Squire/Getty Images

Why all the glum faces out there in college football land today? Why all the ranting and raving clogging up the airwaves and the message boards?

Don't you see what we've stumbled into here? Why have just one national championship game when you can have two? Double the flavor, double the fun.

Face it, folks. We can sit here and bash the BCS until we're blue in the face. We can bemoan the silly computers, the strength-of-schedule quartiles and the whole nine yards. Fact is, for all of mankind's advancements over the years, we've yet to figure out the age-old dilemma of how to place three equally deserving teams in a single football game.

"I don't know if anyone will know who the legitimate national champion is," said LSU coach Nick Saban, "unless all three of the teams in consideration get the opportunity to play one other."

So, as college football fans we can do one of two things today.

We can sit around and lament a system that prevented the No. 1 team in the polls from playing for the undisputed national championship. (Personally, I lament the pollsters for not having the cojones to move LSU to No. 1 after crushing a top five team.) Fact is, the system did exactly what it was designed to do, which is select the two teams that, on paper, accomplished the most against the best competition.

Or, we can celebrate these two very fruitful byproducts: A classic Rose Bowl matchup of top-ranked USC and No. 4 Michigan in which the Trojans will be playing for a share of the title, and the near-certainty that this year's controversy will accelerate the growing movement for a one-game "playoff" after the bowls.

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"It's hard to sit here and do cartwheels," said Big East commissioner and BCS coordinator Mike Tranghese. "I understand the USC situation. I have empathy for them. But at the end of the day, I have little doubt that the Rose Bowl game between USC and Michigan will be a fabulous football game."

He's right about that. Anyone with any ounce of traditionalism in his blood can't help but be psyched about this scenario. After two years of watching the Rose Bowl deteriorate into just another New Year's bowl game, the Granddady gets back its tradition in a big, big way this year. No two teams have made more appearances in Pasadena than the Trojans and Wolverines, and as has been the case many times in the past, there are national title implications.

Meanwhile in New Orleans, you've got hometown favorite LSU playing for its first national championship in 45 years against an Oklahoma team that was ranked No. 1 in the country for three months and will be more than a little angry following Saturday's debacle. Whether you think they're the most deserving teams, it's still an extremely intriguing matchup, particularly potential Heisman-winning quarterback Jason White going against the nation's fiercest pass rush.

Together, they mark by far the best tandem of games in the BCS' six-year history.

But then comes the rub.

Despite having what are essentially two semifinal games (No. 1 USC vs. No. 4 Michigan, No. 2 LSU vs. No. 3 Oklahoma), we still might end up with two champions. It wouldn't be the first time, but then those days were supposed to end with the BCS.

It just so happens that the BCS folks currently are involved in ongoing discussions about potential changes in the next contract -- with the exception, of course, of an all-out playoff -- and an extra game already was believed to be one of the possibilities. One of the biggest obstacles holding it up has been concern over preserving the current bowl structure.

If ever there was a year that proved you can have your cake and eat it too, it's this one.

"I think one of the things that's important in maintaining the tradition of college football is making sure every game of the regular season means something, and the bowl tradition is something we should never give up," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said. "But if there is a way of going to a one-game playoff after the bowls, that's something that should maybe happen as we go forward here."

After what happened this year, it may now be inevitable.

Stewart Mandel covers college sports for SI.com.