The BCS Computer Must Have a Virus

Maybe the problem with the bowl championship series is that the computers aren’t paying attention.

“Those seven BCS computers apparently didn’t get to see Kansas State’s demolition of Oklahoma,” wrote Jeff Gordon of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “Perhaps the computers were busy playing chess over the Internet.”

Who’s to blame? Pete Carroll, in an interview with KMPC’s Mark Willard, said before Saturday’s victory over Oregon State: “Don’t blame the computers. I don’t know much about computers, but I do know they are programmed by human beings.”

Trivia time: Who holds the Oregon school record for best career rushing average? (Hint: Think Trojans.)

The fun part: Kansas State defensive coordinator Bobby Elliott, a former Iowa and Iowa State assistant, told Sean Keeler of the Des Moines Register: “We don’t take pleasure in upsetting everybody’s plans, but I think we take pleasure in upsetting the No. 1 team in the county and winning the [Big 12] championship.”

Granddaddy a dandy: Profirio Frausto, a member of the Rose Bowl operating company, told The Times’ Sam Farmer: “If you have one game to watch, are you going to watch USC-Michigan or Oklahoma-LSU? Come on.”

Frausto, calling the Rose Bowl the national championship game, also said: “I guess BCS stands for bowl championship seconds, because their game is for second place.”

Late-night fodder: Jay Leno led off his monologue Monday night with BCS jokes. Getting right to the point, he said BCS stands for “Boy, Computers Suck.”

Leno also said: “Believe me, people are outraged about this. I mean, that Florida thing, that was just about the presidency. This is college football!”

Opinions everywhere: New Orleans Hornet guard Baron Davis, from UCLA, weighed in on the BCS mess as a guest on Fox Sports Net’s “Best Damn Sports Show Period.”

“This is a sad day for college football, isn’t it?” he said. “I was pretty disappointed to see [USC] not be able to come down here to New Orleans to compete for the national title.”

“They are to me probably the best team in college football right now.”

And then this: Reader Albert Cadenas, in response to foxsports.com’s Randy Hill calling the BCS “smash-math football,” says, “It’s smash-mouse football.”

Comedian Jim Greene told the San Francisco Chronicle: “Bill Callahan just called the BCS the ‘dumbest system in America.’ ”

Trivia answer: John McKay with a 6.1 yards per carry average in 1948 and ’49.

And finally: It’s “World Poker Tour Ladies’ Night” on the Travel Channel tonight at 9 and one of the featured competitors is 5-foot-2, 100-pound Jennifer Harman.

“It’s a ruthless game,” Harman told USA Today. “You suck their blood, then go bowling with them afterward.”

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Larry Stewart can be reached at larry.stewart@latimes.com.