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What others are saying: SI.com writer Stewart Mandel addressed 'the Utah situation'

so the media can no longer defend the BCS, but the bowl system is working, because..

oh yeah, the haves are still getting the lion's share of the bowl revenue and as long as that continues to happen, there is no need to decide a legitimate national champion on the field

Elite media dip wads are part of the reason for this system. Way to go Stewart!

We could have a 12-team playoff with two wild cards, just like the NFL does, and still keep most of the bowl games. Wishful thinking, I know, but it would work great. Start the playoffs right after the regular season, and they would still be done by early January.

Mandel's response to why he won't vote the Ute's #1 in his poll

"Because I don't believe they're the best team in the country."

shows that the BcS hasn't changed ANYTHING. The National Champion is still based on opinion polls and nothing a non-BcS team does will ever matter because they aren't in a BCS conference, and are therefore, automatically ineligible for NC consideration.

After this season, expect the non-BCS infiltrators to be matched with the worst possible BCS teams to ensure that they never have a chance "prove" themselves against the best BCS teams ever again.

The unwritten rule that no team non-BCS team will ever be allowed to win a national championship is proof positive that a playoff is the only way to get the "fix" out of college football.

A playoff system works for the FCS( Football Championship Series), so why not with the FBS? Are these teams in the BCS too good, or do they just a system that works for only those who have been crowned worthy?

It's all about money, not crowning a champion. It's a facade to call it a national championship. It has been proven that every team in the nation can be beaten, with the exception of Utah. People can speculate all they want but we KNOW that Florida and Oklahoma (and Texas, USC, etc...) can all be beaten but for all we KNOW Utah cannot be beaten. Putting all speculation aside, the facts are that Utah is the only team that could possibly be the absolute best team in the nation. All other teams have flaws that were exposed during the season. If it was really about choosing a champion, it could all be fixed easily with a playoff but the facts show that it's about money and it's pathetic to manipulate unpaid athletes this way.

As competitive as the MWC is getting, I do see Mandell's point. The SEC teams are a bunch of (traditional) heavyweights. I mean, their conference championship was a winner-take-all match-up for the chance to go to the BCS championship game.

On the flip-side, Utah easily handled the loser of that close game and were likely robbed of a legitimate chance to play for the whole bag of marbles by an obviously rigged system.

Even so, much progress was made this year by the Utah Utes in a collective effort to level the playing field. Well done, Utah.

From a Cougar fan.

How is it about the money? The money that actually trickles down to the BSC conference teams is peanuts comparted to what they bring in from football revenue.. OK has an $86 million dollar athletic budget.. Big 12 conference gets $17.5 million from the BCS which is split evenly among all the teams in the conference. What does OK end up with? $1-$2 million.. Big deal. They get more than that in license agreements.

The real deal is what playing in the big games do for recruiting, marketing, etc.. At least argue about what it really means to the BCS schools.. Money, it is not.