BCS: What does the B stand for? Bowl or baloney

Dec. 7, 2003.

It certainly wasn't close to being Pearl Harbor, but it was "a day that will live in college football infamy."

BCS pundits have been forced to defend the indefensible since Sunday. USC, the No. 1 college football team in American as determined by both the coaches and the media, was left out of the national championship game. Instead, Oklahoma, fresh off a four-touchdown loss the night before, was rewarded with an invitation to play LSU in the Sugar Bowl.

How did that happen?

Well, that's what this article will try to answer — plus 19 other questions about the Bowl Championship Series, including what all this all means to Utah, BYU, Utah State and the rest of Division I-A football.

1. First off, how did USC get the shaft?

Call it revenge of the nerds. It was primarily BCS's seven computer programers that kept the Trojans out of the would-be title game. The two so-called "human polls" put USC No. 1 after the voters witnessed Oklahoma getting trounced by Kansas State. The computers, however, apparently didn't watch Saturday's games. Five of the seven still had the Sooners No. 1 on Sunday.

USC, on the other hand, was No. 1 in just one computer, third in five others and even fourth in one.

The Trojans were also hurt by BYU — and Hawaii and Arizona and Notre Dame. USC beat all those teams, but their "strength of schedule," another factor in the BCS equation, was damaged just by playing them.

2. Is it true that USC would have been in the Sugar Bowl if Hawaii would have beaten Boise State late Saturday night?

Believe it or not, yes. The Trojans would have gotten just enough credit in schedule strength to finish in the No. 2 spot in the BCS rankings if either Hawaii or Notre Dame (which lost to Syracuse earlier in the day) would have won on Saturday. That's how close this was.

However, it would have been at LSU's expense, rather than Oklahoma's. There still would have been controversy because the No 1 Trojans (according to both major polls) would have been playing the No. 3 Sooners in the Sugar Bowl. LSU supporters would have been understandably upset.

3. What happens if USC beats Michigan in the Rose Bowl?

Then the very thing that the BCS promised to help college football avoid — the split national championship — will happen. The Associated Press media pollsters will keep USC atop their poll. The USA Today/CNN rankings will have the Oklahoma/LSU winner at No. 1 — even before the poll is taken.