It's not the ending the BCS needs, but it's the one it deserves

My friends, we have a logjam at the top of the college football world.

When the BCS was put into place in the late 90's, it was created with the purpose of putting the two best teams in college football on the field together to play for a national championship.

Well, that's all fine and dandy, but what if we can't figure out who the two best teams are?

I laid out the reasons why I think college football needs an expansive playoff system before this season started, but this year is the best case yet.

Let's look at the top.  If the season were to end right now, Alabama and Florida State would play for the national title in the BCS Championship Game, and it would be a great game featuring two great teams worthy of that honor.  Alabama is the two-time defending champs who have yet to lose in 2013, and the Seminoles have absolutely dismantled everyone they've played, including two top ten victories by 37 and 27 points.

But that'd leave Oregon out, even though they started the year ranking No. 2 and are beating opponents by an average of 38.7 points per game.  It'd also leave out Ohio State, who hasn't lost a game in two years.

This scenario seems more fitted for next year, when the BCS is scrapped and the "plus-1" formatting, or 4-team playoff, comes into effect.  

However, that 4-team playoff would still leave many deserving teams out.

Take Baylor for instance.  They're No. 6 in the country, undefeated, and are averaging over 63 points and over 700 yards per game - and they're not even remotely in the BCS championship picture, and would be out of the 4-team playoff.

The only way to go wrong in the
Oregon-FSU debate is to
only pick one

So would an undefeated Northern Illinois team, who's only loss last year was the very Florida State team mentioned above (with the exception of the Seminole's starting quarterback against NIU being the Buffalo Bills current starter instead of this year's freshman sensation).  

Fresno State would also fall into this category, as they're trying to be the 2013 version of conference rival Boise State.

And none of that seems fair to me.  Baylor is obviously the most compelling case being from a major conference, but how are the Northern Illinois' and Fresno State's not even given a chance?  You can't tell those kids every game matters, because when they go out and win them all, they'll still end up playing in some shit bowl game in front of 20,000 people at 2:00 p.m. on Christmas Day on ESPNU.

I haven't even brought up any one-loss teams yet.  There's Stanford, currently ranked No. 5 (ahead of undefeated Baylor), who slipped up on the road against Utah.  Yet if they beat Oregon this Thursday night, what'll that do? Does that suddenly mean they're good enough to play for a championship and Oregon's not?  Would Stanford leapfrog Ohio State (which remember, hasn't lost in TWO years) and be the new No. 3?

And what about other one-loss teams like Clemson, Missouri, and Oklahoma, who all lost to very good opponents, but are now out of the picture.  Does losing one game, out of the 12 or 13 they may play this year, suddenly mean they're not one of the best teams in the country?  One off night by a quarterback, one team playing out of their minds, one missed kick, and POOF! It's all gone.

Why would NIU get punished
for winning all their games?

BCS supporters protected the system by saying it "makes every game matter".  Does it really?  Tell that to those one-loss teams I just mentioned, who have to go on the rest of the year simply playing for pride.  Yes, some of them can win conference championships, but chances are you don't remember who won the Pac-12 in 2008 - even though you sure as hell remember the 2005 USC team that lost to Vince Young and Texas in the national championship game.

And tell that to small conference teams, who beat everyone they get put on the field with and still have nothing substantial to show for their seasons.

Trying to hide behind this thin veil of preserving the regular season is blasphemous.  Fans don't care after their team loses two games because they can't accomplish any of their goals, and players don't put forth the same kind of effort because the games mean so much less, if they mean anything at all.  

Yes, there's still a few weeks left the season and all of this mess could still be sorted out.  And yes, this year is loaded with many unusually good teams and a 4-team playoff would work much better than the BCS.  

But to make college football the best it can be, for all involved, let the players decide the champion of their sport on the field, instead of us trying to guess who it should be off it.