West Virginia is not a football powerhouse.  But the soon to be newest member of the Big 12 next year, is a name.  They’ve been on the BCS stage before.  Remember their 13-9 loss at home to Pitt?  That cost them a berth in the national title game in 2007.  Pat White and Steve Slaton were prime-time names in college football for years.  West Virginia has been here before.

Plus, they’re 9-3 (respectable enough I suppose in the whacky world of BCS automatic qualifying) and they’re ‘wait for it, wait for it,’ actually ranked! Yeehaw.  So after the Mountaineers quietly held on to beat a disappointing USF team in Tampa last night, assuring them at last a share of the comedically mediocre Big East, it kept hope alive that the Big East wouldn’t be the first team to send not only an unranked team to the BCS, but an unranked 5 loss team.

Yup, Louisville completed their season by also beating USF 34-24, assuring themselves of a Big East title as well.  Louisville is 7-5, has losses to both Marshall and Florida International (though FIU is halfway decent this year) and lost 3 games in a row in October.  They might be a nice comeback story, but they’re the nightmare scenario the Big East and BCS has to to be dreading.

So here’s where we stand: All the cards appear to be in Cincinnati’s hands.  The Bearcats (remember them/wish you could go back in time Brian Kelly?) can also clinch a tie in the Big East with a win over Connecticut this Saturday, which would give us a three way conundrum in the Big Least.  Should Cincy drop the ball and allow the Huskies to prevail with a win, it would hand the Cardinals a BCS berth via the fact that they won the head to head matchup over West Virginia.

A 7-5 team in the BCS?  While a team like Boise State (no chance for the BCS), South Carolina, Georgia, Wisconsin perhaps etc. falls to a 2nd and 3rd tier bowl.  People have been clamoring for change.  This could be that moment.  If Cincy wins, thereby creating the afformentioned 3-way tie, the winner of the BCS berth would be awarded to the highest rated BCS team.  Since West Virginia is the only ranked team amongst the group, they’d get the trip to Sun Life Stadium, against either Clemson or Virginia Tech.  While far from a spectacular matchup, it’d be a heck of a lot better than say Clemson versus Louisville (yikes!)

People clamoring for the BCS to whisk their automatic qualifying status away from the Big East may actually get their wish, as the higher ups may be forced to take action should this embarrassment occur.

While far from a star, West Virginia brings credibility to the conference with a 9-3 record.  A 7-5 Louisville team in the Orange Bowl just might bring shame.  And the worst BCS ratings in … history?

SCOTT JACOBS

There’s a reason people love college football.  Say what you want about the playoff system or lack of one in the game, but college football purists have always argued that what makes their game unique is the added importance to a regular season that usually leaves minimal room for error, and lots of room for good, pure chaos.

But that seems to be abscent from the game this year.  Unless of course you consider the wild situation shaping up in the Pac10 where four plus teams seem to still have a crack at a Rose Bowl berth.  But that’s not what we’re driving at.

What happened to the week by week wild top 10 showcases, the games that could completely turn the college football world on its head.  What happened to the Texas Tech’s of the world?  Teams that sort of came out of nowhere to shock the world.  While we’re making Big12 references what about Kansas and Missouri?  What happened to games like those?  Games that showed up on the schedule at the end of the year, but all of a sudden merited the entire nation’s attention.

This season has been by all accounts, boring, predictable, and a bump-free ride to a seemingly foregone conclusion.  Florida and Alabama have drudged through the once again mediocre SEC (ya I said it) with the Tide boasting one very nice out of conference win (Va. Tech).  They’re still perfect, although I’d argue that they’re two of the more mediocre elite teams in some time.  Florida has Tebow, Alabama has tradition, and for me, that’s where the excitement with those teams ends.  On the other end of this joyless ride is Texas, a team screwed over by the BCS title game last year (after they played a very tough schedule and beat some very good teams).  This year’s Texas team is nowhere near as impressive and boasts a resume laughable compared to last year’s superior team.

But at number three in the polls, and with two heavyweights at one and two set to duke it out in Atlanta, the Longhorns are in the perfect spot.  Win out and no one will screw them over this year.  The question is, with just one win, ONE! over a ranked team (Oklahoma isn’t ranked) are they even worthy?

While you ponder that, consider this: It’s one thing to have two titans land on a crash course to play each other in the championship game.  It’s another to have three rather underwhelming teams with great defenses monopolizing the damn polls for a good 95% of the season.

This has been just an abysmal year for huge mega games on a week to week basis.  Remember last year with the Big12?  I mean wow, that was great.  Texas, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma all jockeying for positioning.  No one in the Big 6 of the BCS conference world went undefeated last year.  This year we could be looking at three.  But it’s been about as enjoyable as watching paint dry.

Cincinnati is in the mix, but playing in the lesser-thought-of Big East hasn’t helped their cause.  The ACC could argue that Georgia Tech is a nice team that deserves some more pub, but, who are we kidding, can anyone from that conference truly be taken seriously as a championship team?

TCU and Boise State are both undefeated and both knocking on the BCS door. The Horned Frogs are fourth and could vault into the championship game if hell freezes over.  The Broncos beat Oregon.  And uh, yeah, did we mention it was the first week of the season?

No one boasts a resume that just blows your mind.  Who has Florida played?  O right, LSU.  And they get Alabama in the title game, but that’s not part of their REGULAR season schedule.  How about Alabama?  We love to pat them on the back for their game against the Hokies, but the rest of their non conference schedule: North Texas, FIU, and Chatanooga reads like one big joke.  UF and Bama have one thing to hang their hats on: they both beat LSU… who barely just beat Lousiana Tech.

As for Texas, well they did beat UCF, which just beat Houston!  Yeah, send ‘em to Pasadena.

It would never happen, but what if a team like Cincinnati, which has arguably played better teams this year, leap-frogged the Horns?  I’m not saying they’re better, but they sure as heck seem to play much better competition.  Their non-conference slate:  Oregon State and Illinois (okay so the Illini suck, but that’s not the point).

The point is this: college football needs CHAOS!  What happened to two loss teams still being in the mix?  Parity is needed.  Dictatorship is what it feels like.  Florida needs to lose to FSU, Alabama needs to get taken out in the Iron Bowl by Auburn.  Texas needs to be uphended by Texas A&M (Hey it could happen, no?)  All of a sudden the BCS title game picture would be crystal clear with fuzziness.  UF and Alabama would be anything but locks for the title, even with a win over each other.  The Horns would probably be dropped entirely from the discussion, because HELLO!  they haven’t beaten anyone.  All of a sudden the Cincy’s, TCU’s, Boise’s, and even Georgia Tech’s of the world would have a chance.

And that’s what this season needs.  A chance.  A chance to stir the pot.  This season has gone way too long going according to plan.  We need some glitches to send the final few weeks spiraling out of control.

So here’s a plea to the underdogs taking on the self appointed big dogs: knock em down a peg would ya?  And make this season a whole lot more interesting.