Like it or not, folks, the first week of the Bowl Championship Series standings for collegiate football has arrived, and with that arrival comes the ruckus of controversy that I have waited for all summer long.
The BCS is a selection system that pairs, or attempts to pair, the top two football teams in the nation for an undisputed national championship game.
A computer system ranks the teams by taking into account the wins and losses, strength of schedule and other factors.
With all the factors the computer plugs the information into a magical formula that I and the majority of most football fans dare not to understand.
You may ask, why not leave it up to real people to decide the outcomes, not computers?
Well before the BCS came along the problem of split champions plagued the college football world when the coaches’ poll determined the champion.
In no other sport that I know of can you have two champions, except for little league baseball.
This first week of BCS standing could prove to be the catalyst for controversy as LSU was knocked out of the No. 1 spot by Kentucky, and No. 2 California was defeated by Oregon State all on the same day.
If the deadline for a BCS championship were today, one team would be on the outside looking in.
The strength of schedule in that magical formula would determine which of the three unbeaten teams still in the mix for a national championship would, in fact, play for it.
The top three teams in the current BCS standings are the last three unbeaten teams in college football.
Ohio State has the potential to finish the season undefeated with their remaining schedule only consisting of one ranked team – Michigan.
The surprise of the year, South Florida also remains unbeaten, and has a great chance of finishing the season that way with only one ranked team on their remaining schedule – Cincinnati.
Hailing from the non-powerful Big East conference may be the only blemish on the South Florida résumé as January rolls around.
The last unbeaten team in the BCS polls and division 1-A college football is Boston College, which comes from the newly remodeled Atlantic Coast Conference.
The remaining schedule for the Eagles includes a road game against a tough Virginia Tech team next Thursday night.
The last few weeks have been just a sample of the craziness that this year in college football will produce.
The BCS always has a way for controversy and I expect this year to be no different.

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