Non-BCS teams settle for scraps

With the football national championship finally in the books, the debating is done for another year. Or is it? Should LSU really have been playing for the title with two losses? Should Ohio State — which rocketed from fifth to first in the BCS standings without playing a game — have been playing for the championship at all?

Should Britney Spears be sterilized?

This much seems clear: Hawaii didn't belong in the title game. The Warriors were undefeated until they ran into Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. "We can play with anyone!" is the cry of non-BCS teams every year.

Maybe not: Georgia 41, Hawaii 10.

So there is some logic to the argument that an undefeated mid-major doesn't necessarily deserve to play in the championship game.

Still, if you're a BYU fan, you have to wonder why there's not a better system for teams that win their conference. The Cougars won 10 straight, including a perfect conference record. Who do they get in a bowl game? A .500 UCLA that was the fifth qualifier in the Pac-10.

What, was the cast and crew of "We Are Marshall" unavailable?

It will never be fair that conference champions end up playing fifth-place teams in bowl games. A national playoff, featuring the conference champs from the 11 Division I leagues, plus five other teams, is the most reasonable answer. Not everyone would be happy, but at least teams would know if they won their conference, a national title was attainable.

But in the absence of a true playoff, BYU and Utah probably ended up where they belonged. To borrow a shopworn sports phrase, they are what they are — the top end of a low-end conference. Despite indignation over BYU's opponent this year, it took a freakish play at game's end for the Cougars to escape. Meanwhile, Utah nearly blew a comfortable fourth-quarter lead against Navy.

They weren't exactly glamor opponents, but what is a MWC team supposed to do?

Other than Hawaii, name a single non-BCS team that got a great bowl opponent. Southern Mississippi, of Conference USA, did draw Cincinnati of the Big Least, er, East, in the Papajohns.com bowl. Big deal. And Ball State, of the Mid-American Conference, got Rutgers, the fifth-place Big Leaster. But neither of those opponents is enough to make you want to spend your savings.

The Cougars, Utes and other mid-major programs probably got what they deserved this post-season: a game against an unspectacular opponent.