This post is part of an ongoing series that recounts the on-the-field accomplishments of elite teams that were left out of the BCS title game.
The USC Trojans had a remarkable 2008 football season. They arranged one of the toughest schedules in the country and emerged largely unscathed.[i] They fielded a prolific offense and the nation’s number-two defense, outscoring opponents 488 to 117.[ii] And they trounced two teams that finished the season ranked in the AP Poll’s top 10—Ohio State (35 - 3) and Oregon (44 -10). The Trojans’ only slip-up was a six-point loss on the road against conference rival Oregon State, a team that finished 2008 as the country’s 18th-ranked team.
By all objective measures, USC’s resume rivaled that of Florida and Oklahoma. Each team had one loss to a quality opponent—Florida faltered at home against Mississippi and Oklahoma dropped one against Big 12 rival Texas. And all 3 teams were conference champions led by elite quarterbacks. The Trojans, however, watched from home while Florida and Oklahoma played in the BCS title game. There was no real explanation for the snub. As USC Coach Pete Carroll put it:
I don't understand how the [BCS] works, I don't really know. Maybe you guys will answer for it one of these days. . . . What is the criteria of the process? Is it to pick the team that has the best season, that has the season that you like the most and feel best about voting for? Or is it the best team at the end of the year, the team that would win a playoff system if you did have it?[iii]
USC’s 2008 season exposed one of the BCS’ fundamental flaws: the BCS arbitrarily crowns champions. Because the 3 teams’ on-the-field accomplishments were effectively indistinguishable from each other, the BCS “drew straws” to determine the title game participants. This is no way to pick a national champion. SC did not necessarily deserve a title-game berth more than Florida or Oklahoma. But the Trojans did deserve the opportunity to win—or lose—the national title on the field. College football needs a competitive post-season playoff that allows the regular season’s best to prove their mettle.
[i] Bruce Feldman, Return of the Weekly Top 10 List, ESPN.com (June 30, 2008); Ted Miller, Pac-10’s Toughest Schedules, ESPN.com (Aug. 25, 2008).