Fernando GalloMissouri

The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) might be the worst idea since naming bowl games after their sponsors. How proud would you be to play in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl? That’s its real name – no joke. Instead of letting the teams decide who will win the championship on the field, college football takes the votes of biased sportswriters and coaches in the Associated Press and Coaches’ polls, then combines them with some computerized rankings to decide which two teams get to play in the championship game.

Sometimes they get it right, but there have been a couple of instances where undefeated teams got left out, or the computers just flat-out mess the whole thing up. This year, that’s not going to happen because this season has made about as much sense as wearing a parka to the beach.

Some of the schools currently ranked in the BCS’s top 25 are Boston College, Cincinnati, Illinois, West Virginia, Missouri, Connecticut, Brigham Young and Kansas. That sounds more like my picks to make the Sweet 16 of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament than contenders for the football championship.

The only undefeated team left in the rankings is Hawaii, but the Warriors play opponents like Nevada and San Jose State and can’t be seen as a legitimate contender. Kansas was undefeated until Saturday, when the Jayhawks were upset by Missouri.

So undoubtedly, we will see a couple of one-loss teams play for the national championship in January. Missouri is sure to be one of them. The Tigers must still face Oklahoma in the Big 12 Conference title game, but should be able to beat the Sooners. If they do, there are few teams with one loss that can leapfrog them in the rankings.

Their opponent will probably be the Mountaineers of West Virginia, who are hot after their 45-point thumping of Connecticut. West Virginia only has one game left to play, against unranked Pittsburgh, so they will make it to January with only one defeat.

Missouri will beat West Virginia in the least spectacular college football championship of all time. The rest of us will probably end up watching USC and Ohio State in the Rose Bowl instead.

Victor Nieto West Virginia

As a college football fan, it’s hard to buy into the Big East football programs after the departure of there most valued schools (Miami University, Boston College) a few years back, but it’s even harder to ignore the recent surge of quality and expectations that this conference has achieved over the past two years.

In my eyes, West Virginia is a good team, but in no way do they match the talent, prestige and viewing power that a USC, LSU or Florida team has, but come January none of that will even matter.

By virtue of default and the stupidity that is the Bowl Championship Series, the best teams will not be in the running to earn a potential national championship this football season, but West Virginia will. Granted, the Mountaineers are a better team than last year and as I stated earlier, the Big East has made tremendous leaps in its quality of play, but if any one of those teams played in the SEC or the Pac-10, they would be lucky if they became bowl eligible (seven wins).

If there was a season that screamed for college football to change its postseason format to a playoff, this would be the year. Call me selfish but I would really like to see the best teams face off against one another to determine who is the best and not waste my time enduring a West Virginia vs. Ohio State match up for the national championship.

Coach Rodriquez has been a godsend for the Big East and has made a name for his team in the football world as well as giving West Virginians something to look forward to besides the basketball season.

The Mountaineers have arguably one of the best players in all of college football in quarterback Pat White, who may be the best option quarterback since Nebraska’s Eric Crouch, but outside of White, the team is composed of good to marginal players. However, the sad part about it is that the marginally talented Mountaineers team will still be enough to outlast an untested Buckeyes team on route to a national title.

Andrew Eggers West Virginia

Speed is a valuable weapon in college football and this year, the No. 2 ranked West Virginia Mountaineers are a prime example because they look like a track team with helmets on.

They run the ball down opposing teams’ throats like it is going out of style. The funny thing is that the teams know they are going to run the ball constantly and they still can’t stop them.

Led by junior quarterback Pat White, West Virginia steam-rolled the No. 20 ranked Connecticut Huskies this past weekend 66-21. White dissected the Connecticut defense scampering for 186 yards on the ground with two touchdowns and threw for 107 yards with another score. The Mountaineers as a team rushed for a season-high 517 yards against the Huskies.

He isn’t a huge threat to hurt opposing teams with his arm – he has yet to throw for more than 200 yards in a game this season – but it is his legs that make him so dangerous. When he gets into the open field, he has the ability to make defenders miss and cut back against the grain to break for big yardage.

With his play this season, White has definitely put himself in contention for the Heisman Trophy, which is given to the best college football player in the nation. White reminds me of Michael Vick when he was in college.

White isn’t the only weapon the Mountaineers have though. Junior tailback Steve Slaton is a monster when it comes to running the ball. He is extremely fast, and like White, he makes defenders miss or just runs right by them on his way to the end zone.

In West Virginia’s 11 games this season, Slaton has 17 rushing touchdowns and has compiled a little more than 1,000 yards. Whenever this guy touches the pigskin, I hold my breath because he might just take another one to the house.

The 10-1 Mountaineers’ only loss came against South Florida Bulls who were ranked No. 18 at the time.

I predict they will meet the No. 3 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes in the national title game. I am calling for an upset when the No. 9 ranked Oklahoma Sooners take on the No. 1 ranked Missouri Tigers in the Big 12 title game next weekend, which would end the Tigers chances of playing in the Fiesta Bowl.

Galen Kusic West Virginia

With a few major shake – ups in the BCS picture this weekend, there is only one undefeated team left. The Rainbow Warriors of the University of Hawaii, led by Heisman candidate Colt Brennan are still undefeated after a victory over Boise State to put them at 11-0. Kansas couldn’t overcome two missed field goals and an interception in the endzone to lose to Missouri (now ranked number one) 36-28. LSU lost their second triple overtime game of the season to the Arkansas Razorbacks and the amazing running attack of Darren McFadden and Felix Jones. So now that there is only one undefeated team in a conference that gets little respect nationwide (WAC), who really is number one? More importantly, who should play for the BCS National Championship?

West Virginia won the Big East championship this past weekend with a 66-14 drubbing over the 20th ranked UConn Huskies. That puts them at the number two ranking, and a chance to play for the national title. I mean, why not? West Virginia has been solid all year and with a ground attack that put up 517 yards rushing against the Huskies, Quarterback Pat White and runningback Steve Slayton are ready for a chance at the title if they can beat Pittsburgh in the last game of the season.

It is ridiculous that there isn’t a playoff for the NCAA title. Every other division has one, including the former Division 1-AA division. Why isn’t there a playoff? Not only would it create more revenue for television and colleges involved – but it would create more interest in a sport that consistently year after year has a highly debated national champion.

Why not have 12 teams compete in a playoff for the title? Instead of having all of these meaningless bowl games in a month span in which the top teams prepare for the BCS games, why not KEEP those bowl games and have playoff games leading up to a national championship at the beginning of the year? It would keep teams sharp, it would create a more competitive environment, and it would allow teams that don’t always get a chance because of school size, exposure and politics to play for a championship that could rightfully be theirs. If we can’t learn from Boise State’s amazing upset victory over Oklahoma last year in the Fiesta Bowl, will we ever?

This years champion I predict will be the West Virginia Mountaineers. A strong running game and two of the most talented offensive players in the nation will prove that they can play with anyone, and will eventually be the champion.

However, I still think LSU can beat anyone in the country. Two triple overtime losses is tough to swallow – but that is just another reason why there should be a playoff.

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