Dandy Dozen: BCS making a mess of title chase

An overwhelming majority of college football fans agree that the Bowl Championship Series is a poor way to run a postseason.

Forget about the possible antitrust lawsuits and whether the dollars are properly distributed, it simply does a poor job of producing good football games and a clear cut champion.

With the table set for more controversy this season, here are the top 12 BCS messes — examples of how the system to crown a national champion has broken down.

1) 2001, Husker Don't. Eric Crouch and the Cornhuskers were undefeated and first in the BCS standings when Colorado handed them an epic beatdown. CU won 62-36 and Nebraska was eliminated from Big 12 title contention. But when Tennessee lost in the SEC title game two weeks later, Nebraska rose to No. 2 in the BCS standings and "earned" the right to play Miami for the championship. It was 34-0 Hurricanes at half in the Rose Bowl and Oregon fans are still wondering how their team got left out.

2) 2003, Splitsville. The Sooners were being talked about as one of the great teams in college football history — until Kansas State trounced them 35-7 in the Big 12 title game. That wasn't enough to keep Jason White and Oklahoma out of the BCS title game. Southern California, the No. 1 team in both polls being used by the BCS at the time, was left out. LSU beat Oklahoma in the championship game, USC beat Michigan in the Rose Bowl. The AP voters stuck with the Trojans as No. 1. The coaches, contractually obligated to vote for LSU, made the Tigers No. 1. Want to see an LSU fan boil? Just mention the 2003 USC national championship — then duck.

3) 2004, Three's a Crowd. The season ended with three perfect teams from power conference — Southern California, Oklahoma and Auburn. All had perfectly reasonable cases to play for the national championship. But in a system that only rewards two, the BCS might as well have thrown the three names in a hat and picked two. Somebody was getting .... let's say slighted. It ended up being Auburn. And when Matt Leinhart and the Trojans blasted Oklahoma 55-19, it only infuriated Tigers and SEC fans even more. Oh, one more thing. Utah finished the season unbeaten, too.