LSU deserves spot opposite Ohio St. in BCS title game

LSU bounced back from a loss to Arkansas to defeat Tennessee and win the SEC title. Todd Kirkland/Icon SMI

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It took 10 years, but the day is finally upon us.

BCS Armageddon.

In a season of unprecedented ambiguity, where the upsets began from nearly the opening kickoff, it would have been asking way too much for this thing to resolve itself smoothly. Far more fittingly, we've been dealt the most muddled BCS controversy to date by a mile.

"The BCS is going to implode," predicted Kirk Herbstreit during the waning moments of Saturday night's Big 12 title game. "This is as [chaotic] as it's ever gotten. Who are you going to put in there?"

Good question.

We've had arguments over national-championship participants before, but usually they've involved two, maybe three teams tops.

Following this latest, season-ending pair of mountain-toppling upsets -- No. 9 Oklahoma 38, No. 1 Missouri 17; Pittsburgh 13, No. 2 West Virginia 9 -- we're left with the following, mind-numbing scenario: 11-1 Big Ten champion Ohio State ... and a jumble of up to seven other candidates, any of whom could make an argument why they should meet the Buckeyes in New Orleans.

If the BCS' presidents had listened to their commissioners, to ABC executives and to any number of others who encouraged them three years ago to add an extra layer to the postseason, we could at least take the top four teams and let them play it off. Unfortunately, that's not the system we have right now.

The system we have requires 60 coaches poll voters and 113 Harris Poll voters to dub one of the teams worthy of a title shot -- and to make their decision by Sunday morning.

The first question those voters will have to ask themselves is, what exactly are we voting on? Is it who I feel is the "best" team among the available candidates? Or is it the team I feel is "most deserving" of a title shot?

If you go by the "best" criteria, the choice would presumably be 10-2 Georgia. The Bulldogs, after all, were dubbed the "fourth-best" team by voters in all three polls last week, and two teams above them lost. They're indisputably the "hottest" BCS-conference team in the country, having gone since Oct. 6 without a loss. All the other contenders lost sometime in November.

If this were any other week, the voters would move Georgia from No. 4 to No. 2 with hardly a second thought. After all, if Ohio State is going to rise from No. 3 to No. 1 without playing a game, the Bulldogs should be afforded the same treatment, right?

Not necessarily. The two are not in the same boat.

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