This has to be the screwiest college football season in history.  Attribute it to parity or the BCS qualifications or league expansion,  consolidation or whatever you want.  But when West Virginia, who pounded the tar out of a decent UCONN squad 66-21 a week ago and then turns around and loses to a team coached by one of the most inept head coaches in football history, it just makes you scratch your head. 

One day, after Pittsburgh announced that Wannyball was good to go until 2012, the Panthers pulled off an upset in a year that saw Appy State shock Michigan and Stanford stun USC (and for that matter Cal.)  Memo to Rich Rodriguez: It's always good to have a backup quarterback ready to go (you might want to call Les Miles and ask him about that.)

Meanwhile, down in Texas, Missouri, which had a much tougher road to hoe to get to New Orleans, fell flat against Oklahoma, the only team to beat the Tigers all year.  Now who plays for the national championship?

If this doesn't scream "we need a playoff in college football, nothing will.  Here's some evidence as to why:

• #3 Ohio State was bulletproof the last two weeks having ended their season on November 17th against Michigan.  That loud beeping sound you hear is the Buckeyes backing into the big game.
• #4 Georgia lost to Tennessee earlier in the year and did not win the SEC East, thus did not go to their league's championship game.  How do you justify having a team play for a national championship that didn't even play for it's league title?  This is all Kentucky's fault for not getting the job done against Tennessee.
  
• #5 Kansas is a fraud and as one they should play in the Cotton Bowl against the other frauds.
• #6 Virginia Tech is your most likely BCS winner and OSU's opponent.  Unlike Georgia, they played in their championship game (even if it only was the ACC) they beat BC twice and have had a pretty decent two loss year. Unfortunately, one of those came at the hands of the team right below it in the BCS standings and it was a huge loss.  Of course, if you analyze everything with a computer, it might lead you to. . .
  
• #7 LSU has lost twice this season and picked the worst possible time to lose its second game because it was too close to the end of the season and there wasn't enough time to make it up.  That, and they really didn't beat the best team in the SEC East (Georgia) they beat Tennessee. Without a playoff system in college football, timing is king and LSU had lousy timing. There is a 50-50 chance that they get leapfrog over VA Tech, Kansas and certainly Georgia to grab the number two slot.
• #8 USC has been one of the best teams in the country in November, but losing to Stanford, even early on in the season may be a death knell.  They'll destroy Illinois in the Rose Bowl though.
• #9 Oklahoma, like LSU, suffered a loss too late in the season to Texas Tech, although beating Missouri twice in the same years helps their cause and their faint championship chances.

So, while you can come up with a compelling argument for or against these teams, an eight team playoff would solve all the problems.  Everybody that deserves to play for the big game gets to.  There are no hard feelings, no conjecture and no "if we had a chance at 'em, we'd kill 'em."  This way, everybody gets an equal chance at the big prize instead of trusting to fate.  That's the right way, isn't it?

Meanwhile, the blind squirrel just found a huge acorn.

Lightning Round

• All this stuff about what a great conference the Pac 10 is pretty much ends up on the cutting room floor.  First Cal, who started the season at number ten, loses to Stanford.  Then Oregon, helpless without quarterback Dennis Dixon, falls to Oregon State.  Then Washington, which was nationally ranked earlier this year, drops the ball against Hawaii.
• Les Miles is staying at LSU. And he's pissed off angered at ESPN.  Let's see who has the last laugh.  There are several theories in play here, but it's apparent that a deal was done with Miles Friday night and the whole Miles to Michigan thing was a moot point come Saturday morning.  Truth be told, you are sometimes much better staying where you are and writing your own story than going to a place you think you want to be and writing a story there.  Les Miles is running a tremendously successful program at LSU and going to Michigan, while giving him warm fuzzies and making him filthy rich, isn't necessarily the best or wisest thing to do.  Besides, Michigan low balled him anyway.
• Why would the Milwaukee Brewers be interested in Scott Rolen?  He's a third baseman, a position that they have adequately covered by rookie of the year Ryan Braun and he's a tremendous clubhouse lawyer.  And why would the Cardinals even think of trading a player with the potential of 30 hrs and 100 RBis to a team on the rise in their own division?  No way this trade goes down.
  
• Going into the winter meetings which begin tomorrow in Nashville, rumors are flying that the Cubs and White Sox will engage in a bidding war for Japanese star Kosuke Fukudome.  In almost any case, I would yield to the Cubs, but the Sox have a solid track record of working with Japanese players and that probably is a consideration (although Cubs manager Lou Piniella managed Ichiro).  I think both teams will lose out on him and he'll sign with a left coast team.
• The Fudge Packers go back to the future to purchase some Elderly Hillbilly Insurance.
• Chicago Blackhawk fans are returning to the upper deck at the U.C.  We'll see next month if it is a result of the team having some success and some exiting young players or the result of a 25% ticket sale.
• Don Imus returns to the air tomorrow.  TV talk shows across the country are sure to dial up Al and Jesse for the obligatory reaction piece.  How about this one, TV networks.  Leave the guy alone and let's all move on.  He said a dumb thing, he paid the price, now he has a chance to resume employment.  Not all of us get opportunities so easily, so just leave the man alone and let him do his job.
• Where I live, the weather absolutely sucked yesterday. So did the coverage.  Our FUD news word of the day: Treacherous.  Yes it was, but someone ought to by Channel 4 a thesaurus for Christmas.