MNC Wednesday has reached yet another flash point in the corrupted history of college football, as the powers that be ignored all established precedent and rationale in order to attempt to line its own pockets and those of its financial brokers hidden behind closed doors somewhere dark and murky.

This was the end of the Bowl Championship Series, in truth, as we then got the College Football Playoff within three seasons—which has proven itself no less corrupt, of course, but still, it was a step in the right direction that was needed. Change is often slow coming, even when it is desperately mandated by popular demand.

Enjoy this analysis, if you can … it still makes our stomachs turn that this sort of bullshit ever happened.

The 2011 MNC: The BCS shoots itself in the foot—and the heart

Here is the Associated Press Top 10, including final record with key bowl results:

1. Alabama (12-1): Won BCS Bowl, 21-0
2. LSU (13-1): Lost BCS Bowl, 0-21
3. Oklahoma State (12-1): Won Fiesta Bowl, 41-38
4. Oregon (12-2): Won Rose Bowl, 45-38
5. Arkansas (11-2): Won Cotton Bowl, 29-16
6. USC (10-2): No bowl
7. Stanford (11-2): Lost Fiesta Bowl, 38-41
8. Boise State (12-1): Won Las Vegas Bowl, 56-24
9. South Carolina (11-2): Won CapitalOne Bowl, 30-13
10. Wisconsin (11-3): Lost Rose Bowl, 38-45

First thing first: The Crimson Tide did not win the SEC, or even a division within that conference. It cannot win our mythical national championship for this reason. Yet at the same time, Alabama still ruined the Tigers’ chance at a legitimate MNC by beating LSU in a bowl game rematch that no one outside the Confederate states wanted to see.

So, amusingly, both teams are out. That leaves the Cowboys—winners of the Big XII and possessors of a better SOS rating than either Alabama or LSU prior to the bowl selection process—as our top dog in this fair, objective, and transparent analysis. The Ducks won the Pac-12, so Oregon advances, while the Razorbacks obviously did not win the SEC, either.

The Trojans were laughably given a postseason bowl ban (while inanely, mind you, Auburn was not), and they handed the Ducks their second loss right before the end of the regular season. USC also was barred from the Pac-12 title game mindlessly, so while the Trojans were unable to claim a conference title, we’re going to advance them anyway, due to corruptive factors already discussed elsewhere (and linked to above).

However, if we do that, it theoretically eliminates Oregon, since USC beat the Ducks head to head. This is a unique situation, and it may not matter in the end, but we’re going to keep both teams since we want to do the right thing in situations where the NCAA clearly did not want to do the right thing.

What about the Broncos? We point out, again, that the BCS was so afraid of Boise State, it shunted the school to some random bowl game no one would watch. But we will advance the Broncos, because we do the right thing. Are there any other teams to consider? The Houston Cougars went 13-1 with a bowl win over Penn State, but they lost the Conference USA title game to Southern Mississippi, which finished 12-2 and gets advanced here.

What a mess for the BCS, as you can see above. In the final analysis, however, we still have 5 teams to scrutinize more closely, as we are prone to do here. These are the respective SOS ratings for our surviving teams, after applying the criteria above:

  • Southern Mississippi: 13 Division I-A opponents, -4.60 SOS rating, 103rd of 120
  • Boise State: 13 Division I-A opponents, -1.79 SOS rating, 74th
  • USC: 12 Division I-A opponents, 3.49 SOS rating, 23rd
  • Oregon: 13 Division 1-A opponents, 3.23 SOS rating, 27th
  • Oklahoma State: 13 Division I-A opponents, 7.67 SOS rating, 3rd

We can see this is no contest: The Cowboys were the best team in the country, and the BCS did itself and the nation a completely corrupt disservice by putting a team like Alabama—that failed to even win its division—into the “championship game” … and again, this was the last straw for the “integrity” of the system in place at the time.

We will reiterate that Oklahoma State had a better SOS rating than the Crimson Tide did at the end of the regular season, and Alabama already had lost on its home field against LSU. The title game, therefore, should logically have featured the Cowboys and the Tigers, but for what can only be explained as open deceit and fraud, the BCS put Alabama into the title game thinking it would get better TV ratings, etc. That logic failed on all levels, though.

Sidebar: Six times now, we have stripped an unworthy Crimson Tide squad of an AP MNC, making it by far the most overrated program in the sport’s history. Isn’t it interesting when you put mythos aside and just look at facts, objectively, what you discover? Definitely.

Either way, this is the first MNC for Okie State, by our estimation, and it’s a darn shame the corrupt BCS didn’t give this team a chance to earn it on the field when the boys from Stillwater were the best team in the country on (sabermetric) paper when all was said and done.

Congratulations to the 2011 Oklahoma State Cowboys, the mythical national champion!

Check in every Wednesday for a new feature on the mythical national championship on The Daily McPlay!