Auburn Knows, and Shows, Who's No. 1

NEW ORLEANS

Bryan Randall, usually the most nimble and elusive of senior quarterbacks, ran out of crawl space. He was chased, hit, upended and intercepted by a defense as complete and aggressive as most in the nation, if not all. Before a late score, his Virginia Tech teammates were beaten down by a superior foe, a team that Tuesday morning should be allowed to chant something much more substantial than, "We're No. 2!"

The Auburn Tigers should be No. 1, no matter what the rest of corrupted college football says.

Before tuning in to the fraudulent, created-for-TV national championship Tuesday evening, remember that no team in the game's history has ever gone 13-0 and not won the title. Before the hyperbole begins in Miami, know that that 13-0 team will not play in the Orange Bowl on Tuesday night.

No, the best college football team in America played at the Louisiana Superdome on Monday night, beneath a cacophony. Auburn staked its claim to a mythical crown that we will never fully know if it deserves because, well, the Bowl Championship Series is a crock.

We knew this, of course. But Auburn rubbed it in, dominating a very good Virginia Tech team for most of four quarters, before hanging on to deal the Hokies a rough end to a resilient season, 16-13, in the Sugar Bowl.

Tommy Tuberville, the coach most of his own boosters wanted out a year ago, did not let his riverboat-gambler mentality get the best of him. He took six sure points early on field goals and showed supreme confidence in his defense. Afterward, he and his players lobbied for votes, which was kind of sad given that no other school has beat four top 10 programs this season.

"A crying shame," he said, if the Associated Press voters did not find it in themselves to give his team No. 1 consideration.

"I've got a subscription to Golf Digest," Tuberville quipped. "Maybe they'll pick us number one."

It's nice of the man to find humor in a senseless system. Oklahoma and Southern California will duke it out in the Orange Bowl in a game to be watched by millions, a game that is supposed to decide the national championship. And all 13-0 Auburn can do is sit back and watch?

Nuh-uh. It shouldn't work like that.

Rather than regurgitate useless numbers, imagine this scenario: What if late Sunday night, after the NFL playoff picture was clear, coaches and the writers who cover their league got together and decided who should play in the Super Bowl?

And they chose Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, based on record, strength of schedule and a computer program downloaded by an imperfect man. And that was that. There was nothing the New England Patriots could do about it. Tom Brady and friends would play the night before the Super Bowl against a team not even among the top five in the league.

Now you know how Auburn feels. Now you know how college football's inane and idiotic system for selecting a national champion works.

The Tigers are the best team in the country. They made this clear all season, becoming the first team to go unbeaten in the Southeastern Conference since 1993. They handled Georgia and LSU, teams picked in various corners to win the national championship. They beat Tennessee twice. They finished 13-0, beating Frank Beamer's Hokies squad that had won eight straight games. Most important, they showed their mettle with their backs to the wall.

Twice Monday night, when the Hokies were headed toward the end zone, Auburn's defense would not let it happen. In the first half, Will Herring came up and popped Hokies quarterback Bryan Randall short of the goal line, pulling him back to make sure he did not cross the plane. Early in the fourth quarter, Randall tried to scramble again -- and Carlos Rogers came up from his corner position and just leveled him, sending the senior end over end until he fell at the 6-yard line.

The pathetic thing is, BCS voters (and computers) will actually hold the close victory against Auburn, because that's what they do -- penalize character. Worse, we buy into that logic: How many casual fans picked up the morning paper, saw 16-13, Auburn, and thought, "They should have won by two touchdowns or more"?

On the morning of Nov. 20, Auburn was tied with Oklahoma for No. 2 in the Associated Press poll -- meaning the Tigers were on track to face the top-ranked team in the nation for everything in the kitty Tuesday in Miami. When the next poll came out, the Sooners had forged ahead based on Auburn's "poor" showing against Alabama.

Think about that. Auburn was down to Alabama at halftime 6-0 in a game the Tigers were supposed to dominate. They went into the locker room with 30 minutes left in their unbeaten season, momentum and the history of a long rivalry against them. Tuberville inspired his team to eventually go ahead, hold on and win, 21-13. And this perseverance was somehow considered a bad week for the program.

"Going into Tuscaloosa and winning that game after being down, I mean, that was huge," Auburn guard Danny Lindsey said after the Sugar Bowl. "I thought that was a great win for us."

Forget the arcane sportsmanship ideals; the system encourages coaches who run up the score and play to embarrass instead of win. There is no bigger indictment on the BCS than a team punished for a comeback victory in the Iron Bowl, one of the sport's most enduring rivalries.

Don't we want to see our champions struggle? Isn't that part of the Patriots' allure in the NFL, their ability to find a way?

"How can we not be the national champions?" Marcus McNeill, a junior tackle for the Tigers, said. "We haven't lost to anybody."

Marcus doesn't get it. The system is rigged. The BCS is corrupt.

But, hey, go ahead and enjoy the Trojans and the Sooners in the Nearly National Title Game. Should be a dandy. Surely one of the chosen two will impress that computer.