The BCS national championship is this Thursday, with the #1 Oklahoma Sooners taking on the #2 Florida Gators.  The winner will be crowned the BCS champion, but will they be a consensus national champion?

In most years since the inception of the BCS in 1997, the winner of the title game was nationally accepted as the best team in college football.  In 2 seasons, though, there was major controversy.  In 2004 an undefeated Auburn team never got a chance to prove themselves against USC or OU.  The year before, the USC Trojans were left out of the title game despite a #1 ranking in the human poll.

This year has been a season full of controversy.  Texas was prevented from playing in the Big XII title game because of a wacky tiebreaking system, despite beating OU on a neutral field.  The USC Trojans were penalized in the polls for their loss to Oregon St, although they arguably have the best college defensive team in a decade.  And what about Utah?  They are the only FBS aka Division I team that will finish the year undefeated after pasting Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.

Thursday’s winner will absolutely be the BCS champion and take home the Crystal trophy, but for the first time ever, they won’t have unanimous votes in the Coaches’ Poll (coaches are mandated to vote the winner of the game as #1 in the final poll of the season). Pete Carroll, Mack Brown, and Wittingham of Utah have all gone on record post-bowl games saying their team was “the best” and planned to vote their team #1. The coaches clearly are dissatisfied. TV ratings have not been as strong for the BCS bowls since adding a 5th game. The AP voters may very well crown Utah the AP national title, thus creating a 2nd split title this decade. Will the presidents finally wake up and acknowledge a playoff is BETTER for college football? What do you think? Talk about it in our college football discussion!

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