dreaming of december madness

the big non-surprise this week was that one of the major bowls, the fiesta bowl, turned out to be full of corruption, including illegal campaign contributions and using fiesta bowl money to pay for visits to strip clubs and country club memberships.

imagine there were no bcs. and a 16 team playoff. where we got to decide a real national champion in college football. it's easy if you try.

based on the final regular season bcs standings, we would have had the following teams this past year:

1 Auburn
2 Oregon
3 TCU
4 Stanford
5 Wisconsin
6 Ohio State
7 Oklahoma
8 Arkansas
9 Michigan State
10 Boise State
11 LSU
12 Missouri
13 Virginia Tech
14 Oklahoma State
15 Nevada
16 Alabama

yes that includes four sec teams. the sec is the football corollary to the big east's eleven teams this year. the difference is that the sec knows how to win, while the big east knows how to let other teams win, which is generous of them.

it also includes a school from idaho (boise state), nevada (nevada), and lets ohio state continue to pretend like its football program matters!

so the first round would include iron bowl 2 (!!!), an intriguing virginia tech/stanford matchup (how good are each of those teams really?), and lsu against ohio state (the unraveling sweater vest vs. the mad hatter).

(yes i will take two stabs at ohio state in two sentences).

now imagine it went something like this year's ncaa hoops tourney.

the vcu of this group? alabama. the butler? boise state of course. the uconn? wisconsin. the kentucky? arkansas.

so would be our final four if things went the way of the hoops tourney: alabama vs. boise state and wisconsin vs. arkansas.

crimson tide vs. blue turf. cheese vs. pork. and the possibility of an all sec championship.

down with the bcs! long live the playoffs!