BCS represents college football’s ongoing scandal

If Boise wins out it will be the fourth time in six seasons it has finished the regular season unbeaten with no chance to play for a national championship. Oh, sure, that’s fair.

The next few Sunday nights will be all about debunking Boise. In fact, ESPN may start a brand-new network: ESPN-DB (Debunk Boise). Its major sponsor will be the BCS. As for Houston, it has one potential stumbling block left (SMU) and won’t be ranked high enough to even be considered for a secondary BCS bowl.

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Already last week, the so-called experts were earnestly noting that Boise State was going to start slipping in the rankings because of its schedule. Oh sure, the ACC is full of powerhouses isn’t it? Clemson’s toughest remaining game is this week at Georgia Tech, a team that has been exposed the last two weeks by Virginia and Miami. If the Tigers win out — South Carolina without Marcus Lattimore is a little bit like the Colts without Peyton Manning — they would need to beat a Virginia Tech team in the ACC championship game that they embarrassed a couple of weeks ago.

Stanford’s schedule is a little bit tougher — maybe. It must win at USC on Saturday and then faces its one true test at home against Oregon on Nov. 12. There’s still Notre Dame in the season finale, but that’s also at home. The Fighting Irish will be grittily battling for a bid to the Champs Sports Bowl, so you know they’ll be ready to play that night.

The LSU-Alabama winner will go — and should go — to the championship game. Oklahoma State still has to beat Kansas State and Oklahoma. The nightmare scenario for Hancock is four BCS unbeatens, which is still possible. More likely there will be two, if only because the BCS presidents do have direct connections to the devil, who usually helps make things work out for them.

So, figure the LSU-Alabama winner takes on Stanford or Clemson for the national championship. If both those teams are undefeated Stanford will get the nod (Andrew Luck means better TV ratings) and most of South Carolina’s politicians will demand hearings into the BCS.

Which would be a good thing.

Of course, there is always the possibility that Hancock and the BCS will get lucky and another scandal will break out or, just as likely, Gee will start talking again.

Hancock, who can find beauty in a New Jersey Turnpike rest stop, remains upbeat about everything. In an e-mail on Sunday he wrote: “I do regret that people are talking so much about sports politics instead of athletes. Good grief, the bad news has touched maybe 10 schools out of, what is it now, 1,200 schools. So, 99 percent are doing things right. I know, I know, dog bites man.”

For the record, Hancock really does use the term good grief. And there are 120 schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision, the place from which all money and evil flows. When it comes to the BCS, though, Hancock’s got it absolutely right.

Good grief.

For more by the author, visit his blog at www.feinsteinonthebrink.com.