Florida or Michigan, who deserves a shot at Ohio St.?

	Chris Leak (12) and the Gators went through what was considered the nation's toughest conference. But are they title-game worthy? Paul Abell/US PRESSWIRE
	RELATED • Florida drops Arkansas to win SEC crown
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ATLANTA -- The first eight years of the BCS provided us with chaos, controversy, excitement and outrage. For this, its ninth edition, America's favorite postseason beauty pageant has added a new component: suspense.

On Saturday, we watched football -- gripping, edge-of-your-seat football between USC and UCLA, Florida and Arkansas. Now, on Sunday night, we must watch a Fox television show to find out which team, Michigan or Florida, will earn a trip to Glendale.

It will be a lot like an American Idol finale, only with no duets, no Ryan Seacrest holding Urban Meyer's hand and no 1-800 number for the viewers to state their preference. Instead, a panel of voters ranging from Jim Tressel to Brentson Buckner, along with a set of computers with names like Colley and Masey, will decide which finalist -- Wolverines or Gators -- is worthy of a national-championship date with No. 1 Ohio State.

It's a crazy, it's screwed up -- but it's a heckuva lot of fun.

As confetti rained down on the Georgia Dome field Saturday night and the Florida Gators celebrated their 38-28, SEC championship game victory over Arkansas, Mike Slive, current coordinator for the BCS and commissioner of the Gators' conference, was asked his thoughts about this latest, bizarre BCS twist. The normally loquacious Slive simply smiled and shrugged his shoulders. "We'll find out [Sunday] night," he said. "I'll let you know what I think then."

Past BCS "selection Sundays" have included such highlights as a team reaching the title game over a team it lost to during the season (Florida State, 2000), a team reaching the title game that lost its last regular-season game 62-36 (Nebraska, 2001) and a team finishing No. 1 after losing its conference title game 35-7 (Oklahoma, 2003).

So what's it going to be this year, football fans? The team that went out and won its conference championship in convincing fashion Saturday night or the team that hasn't won a football game in three weeks?

The reality is, the Michigan/Florida debate strikes at the heart of an issue that's never been formally addressed by the BCS: Is the title game supposed to match the two best teams in the voters' eyes or the two most deserving. Because it's hard to argue against the Gators in terms of the latter.

Florida beat teams currently ranked fifth (LSU), ninth (Arkansas) and 16th (Tennessee) in the BCS standings. Michigan beat No. 7 Wisconsin, No. 10 Notre Dame and ... unranked Penn State.

The Gators beat seven teams that finished the season with winning records and nine that are bowl-eligible. The Wolverines: Four and six.

But most of all, Florida won what most consider to be the toughest conference in the country this season. Michigan finished second in a conference whose fifth-best team was Purdue.

"I think the country wants to see the Southeastern Conference champion against the Big Ten conference champion," a politicking Meyer said Saturday night. "I think that's what this is all about."

The one argument in the Wolverines' defense: Their only loss was to Ohio State. One other argument against Michigan: It lost to Ohio State.

"Another team [Michigan] had a shot," said Florida's coach. "We deserve a shot."