Killing Time, Killing the System: The Current BCS

So we have some time between the Heisman Trophy presentation and the highly anticipated San Diego Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl (by the time it kicks off, if you're like me you're just happy to see college football on). So in that time rather than putting forward a computer simulated playoff. I'll take a look at every possible system that could determine a National Champion in college football and weigh its pros and cons. I'm probably wasting the same amount of energy but its mid-December and quite frankly, there's nothing else to do. So let's start with the current Bowl Championship Series

How it Works: A combination of poll and computer rankings called the "BCS Rankings" sort out the #1 and #2 teams in the country to play in the "BCS National Championship", after that four bowls (Fiesta, Orange, Sugar, and Rose) select from conference champions not in the BCS National Championship and four at-large teams of the bowls choosing. Bowls are autonomous to select what teams they want as long as each conference champion is represented.

How it plays out this year:
BCS National Championship: LSU vs. Ohio State
Fiesta: West Virginia vs. Oklahoma
Rose: USC vs. Illinois
Orange: Kansas vs. Virginia Tech
Sugar: Hawaii vs. Georgia

Why it Works: In the end, the winner of the BCS National Championship is either the consensus best team in the country all season long or just beat the consensus best team in the country all season long while other major bowls go on to keep their identity or tradition.

Why it Doesn't Work: Its arbitrary but that point's been beaten to death. The new system has diluted somewhat New Year's Day as just two of the BCS games are played on what is supposed to be college football's showcase day. While Howard's Rock, Script Ohio, and The Third Saturday in October are great traditions in college football, the conference tie-ins to bowls is draconian and detrimental to the games themselves. For example, the Rose Bowl selected three loss Illinois over two loss teams Georgia and Missouri to uphold a tradition only the Tournament of Roses committee cares about any more and for that the Rose Bowl is worst off and leaves this system to be mocked even more.