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January 6, 2009

MIKE CUMMINGS: Lawsuit may be the answer for fixing that big mess called BCS

Michael Cummings

So, government officials in Utah are thinking about throwing their weight behind an effort to get their beloved Utes crowned the best football team in all the land.

Utah was, after all, 13-0 this season and capped the year with a 31-17 victory over an uninterested Alabama squad in the Sugar Bowl.

So what the heck, let’s all sue the Bowl Championship Series to get Utah its due reward. Nothing like a class action lawsuit to brighten up this overwhelmingly gray January.

Nevermind that none of us really cared about any of this back when Boise State went undefeated in 2006 and beat Oklahoma in what was probably the game of the century so far.

But, really, what does it matter? While we’re here, let’s also include in our demands a clause that splits the 2004 title three ways among USC, Utah and Auburn.

Remember Auburn? Oh, and remember USC, too? Just the other night, their quarterback — not to mention the television analysts and head coach Pete Carrol — claimed nobody in the country could beat the Trojans this year.

(Bringing up Sept. 25 in Corvallis, Ore., is now illegal — didn’t you get the memo?)

So don’t forget to add them to our lawsuit. Plenty of media members have anointed the Trojans as the team with the biggest beef against the BCS.

And don’t forget the Longhorns from Texas, either. On Monday night, after coming back to beat a decidedly average Ohio State team, Longhorns coach Mack Brown announced he’d be voting Texas No. 1 in the coaches’ poll — even if it is technically against the rules.

But hey, that’s exactly what Kyle Whittingham, Utah’s post-Urban Meyer answer to, well Urban Meyer, said after the Utes’ pasting of Alabama.

So, let’s get all of this straight: Utah deserves to win the national championship, and its coach will vote as such, because it was the only undefeated team in the country. And furthermore, the BCS is a big, bad bully because Utah is at a financial disadvantage — forget that $17 million they pocketed for appearing in the Sugar Bowl — since it wasn’t invited to the title game.

Meanwhile, USC also deserves to win the national championship because no one, apparently, can beat the Trojans this season — except, of course, Oregon State, which did so in September.

And yet, Texas also deserves to win the national championship, and its coach, too, will vote as such, because it beat Oklahoma on a neutral site and Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl.

Clearly, none of us want the actual BCS Championship game winner, either Oklahoma or Florida, to be crowned national champion.

Let’s all vote for Vanderbilt.

Madness, I know. But as crazy as the whole lawsuit thing sounds, it might just be exactly what it takes to get people to re-think the lunacy that decides college football’s national champion.

And if it does, I say sign me up for jury duty.

Michael Cummings can be reached by e-mail at michaelc@cullmantimes.com or by telephone at 734-2131, ext. 258.

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