Nothing Like Messing With All the BCS-ing

Go ahead and enjoy it. Just don’t buy into it.

Don’t think for a minute that today’s college football feast is part of some great master plan, or that it’s a sign that the bowl championship series works.

One of the best games on the slate wasn’t even supposed to be played today. Tennessee-Florida was scheduled for Sept. 15 but was postponed after the terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon earlier that week.

It’s reminiscent of that Showdown Saturday in 1998 when the UCLA-Miami game postponed by Hurricane Georges became a part of a memorable Dec. 5 that reshaped the Fiesta Bowl picture. At least that day provided resolution.

Now this season that should be building toward a climax could have more questions than ever by the time the action finishes today.

If Florida loses and Miami loses at Virginia Tech and Texas loses to Colorado in the Big 12 championship game, who should play in the Rose Bowl?

If Oregon beats Oregon State today and Tennessee goes on to win the Southeastern Conference championship, how could you leave a one-loss champion from those two strong conferences, or Big Ten champion Illinois (10-1), out of the mix?

Should the Rose Bowl invite Nebraska, a powerhouse for most of the season that didn’t get to play in its conference championship after getting shredded by Colorado?

Maryland, anyone?

Doesn’t Brigham Young, which could go undefeated against a schedule everyone else thinks consists of nobodies, deserve a chance to play somebody?

And why are Bob Saget and Gilbert Gottfried still on television? Didn’t we get rid of them? Is the BCS responsible for this too?

The tentative Rose Bowl matchup entering this weekend was Miami vs. Florida. That would be a great game. But I actually hope it doesn’t hold up.

Every time the BCS lucks out and gets a desirable pairing for its “championship” game, officials thump their chests and crow that the system works.

Every year that we don’t get a desirable matchup or a clear-cut champion, it only weakens the BCS case.

Bring on the chaos.

And please spare me the talk that all of the squawking is good for the game. A lot of good it did Miami last year when the Hurricanes were shut out of the Orange Bowl and their shot at a national championship.

All of the academic arguments against a playoff system are being undone by the schools themselves. Forget the claim that a playoff would mean too many games. Nebraska and Oklahoma would have played 14-game seasons if they had made it to the Big 12 championship game.

And don’t think for a minute that the administrators care about how games interfere with classes. Conference USA let its teams play on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday, all in the name of television exposure.

Colorado State will play in the New Orleans Bowl on Dec. 18. That’s four days after finals’ week ends. So they’ll have to worry about the North Texas blitz package while they’re studying physics and Aristotle.

The NCAA never worried about midterms and finals (for those on the quarter system) for its successful basketball tournament, but that hasn’t stopped them from hauling out the academics excuse for stopping a football playoff. And they never have addressed why a playoff works perfectly fine for every other level of football except Division I-A.

(Speaking of the NCAA, how generous of the powers-that-be to deny UCLA’s appeal on behalf of DeShaun Foster. He already missed two important games and must live with the knowledge that his mistake contributed to the collapse of UCLA’s season. That’s punishment enough for a guy who didn’t steal a car or drive one while intoxicated. He drove a vehicle that didn’t belong to him. He didn’t commit a crime, didn’t hurt anybody, so why hurt him, the Bruins and their fans?)

Wasn’t the bowl system supposed to entice alumni to spend vacation time in comfy locales during the winter? What do you think are the chances of a large contingent of UCLA fans would want to spend New Year’s Eve in Boise, Idaho, for the Humanitarian Bowl?

I love Seattle, but why hold a game there in December, which is the city’s rainiest month of the year? Stanford deserves better.

We’re fewer than three weeks from the start of bowl season, but is anyone excited? Even the NBA regular season looks more appealing right now.

So go ahead and settle into the couch today. This will be about as good as it gets. A season that doesn’t end for another month will reach its peak on Dec. 1.

Nice system.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com.