College football's Bowl Championship Series never fails when it comes to angering certain conferences, universities, players and fans. And far too often, the Pacific-10 Conference schools are the ones being provoked.
Last season the Pac 10's University of California was unjustly rejected by each of the four $14 million BCS bowls. After winning its final regular season game at bowl-bound Southern Mississippi, Cal somehow dropped below Texas on numerous media and coaches' poll ballots, ruining a traditional Rose Bowl match-up with Michigan.
Two years ago the BCS gave the Pac 10's USC some disturbing news. Even though the Trojans were ranked No. 1 in both human polls, the computer rankings were so strong against them that they could not play in the BCS championship game.
Four years ago Pac 10 conference champion Oregon was ranked No. 2 in the human polls, but the Ducks also were crippled by computer ratings and not invited to the championship. Instead, the BCS came up with Nebraska, a team that lost 62-36 in its last regular season game and didn't even win the North Division of the Big 12 Conference.
This season the victim again is the University of Oregon. With one loss and ranked No. 5, to no one's surprise, Oregon is the school shunned by the BCS bowls while Ohio State and Notre Dame are given the two at-large bids.
In the BCS an Eastern bias clearly exists. Whether it's in computer rankings or human polls, Western schools like Oregon will always get the short end of the stick against equally-deserving teams like Ohio State.
This season Oregon also was unfortunate in that No. 6 Notre Dame qualified for a BCS bowl. The Fighting Irish are treated as a special case by the diabolical BCS. As long as they are 9-2 and in the top 12, much like this year, they can and will be chosen every time. Notre Dame guarantees money through good attendance figures and television ratings.
This week Congress was going to step in and examine the controversial BCS. Although there are more important worldwide matters to discuss, and nothing really illegal has occurred, members of Congress have recognized that certain people in America are being wronged. Whether it's an Eastern bias or lack of a playoff, the BCS is causing Americans grief, and hopefully Congress can somehow abolish it forever.
But more than likely, Congress will accomplish nothing with its investigations and proposals. As long as the BCS exists and millions of dollars are at stake, western schools will just have to get used to being the main ones left out.
LEFT OUT
Speaking of being in the West and left out, it's a shame that the Western Athletic Conference's Louisiana Tech was not offered a bowl bid. The Bulldogs finished one game behind first-place Nevada and Boise State, and tied with Fresno State, all of which received bowl invitations. Louisiana Tech won at Fresno in its final game to essentially finish in third place. Tech clearly deserved a spot in the postseason, but got hosed.
HEISMAN TROPHY
Heisman Trophy Winner - In a no-brainer, USC's Reggie Bush eliminated all the suspense with his performance against Fresno State. Texas quarterback Vince Young will be the runner-up while last year's winner, USC QB Matt Leinart, will finish third.