Zach Rosenfield - AccuScore Analyst

For the past thirteen weeks, I have written this column with a spring in my step and a gleam in my eye. The weekly "Good, Bad and Ugly" is tangible evidence that I have my dream job and provided me a forum to write about the game I love. The past three months has allowed the opportunity to prop teams up and tear coaches down. I took jabs at announcers and called your attention to the nation's most offensive uniforms.
 
However, if you are anything like me, you woke up on Sunday and wondered why you have given so much to a sport whose infrastructure provides nothing in return. Since its inception, the BCS has brought frustration and anger to the days of early December. For the second consecutive year, the system designed to bring us a definitive national championship game has delivered head aches and resentment. The clarity the BCS promised once again delivered chaos, with those three crummy letters having the same credibility of "WMD."
 
The regular season is over with ten teams legitimately claiming they should be in New Orleans on January 7th.  How can you tell me that Oklahoma is better than LSU or vice versa? That Ohio State backing in is more worthy of Georgia and USC's full speed rush into the BCS brick wall? The teams left out will point to Ohio State and LSU finishing their respective season's 1-1, and Tigers and Buckeyes will remind them of Stanford, Texas Tech and South Carolina.
 
Equally disappointing is the BCS failing to produce a head-to-head match up of the teams who got left out. Virginia Tech, Oklahoma, Georgia and USC finished behind LSU and Ohio State and were rewarded with exhibition games against lesser qualifiers. The only interesting match-up is Georgia and Hawaii where the winner becomes “Sugar Bowl Champion” and an immediate after thought.
 
Among the most poisonous ingredients in the BCS recipe are the bowl tie-ins. Why do they exist and who does it benefit? Without tie-in's, the BCS could have presented us #3 Virginia Tech vs. #4 Oklahoma and #5 Georgia vs. #6 USC. Hawaii could have played Kansas and West Virginia could play Florida.  The argument of “tradition” also becomes as credible as ocean front property in Arizona. I don't recall Oklahoma fans tossing tortilla chips on the field when the Sooners played Nebraska each year in late November and last I checked, both the Sooners and Texas Longhorns have recently played in the Rose Bowl.

It’s easy to get fired up about the state of affairs in college football and I am certainly not above that. However, the "Good, Bad and Ugly" has been about looking at college football on a weekly basis and forgoing the view from 30,000 feet. So with that in mind, here are the winners (and losers) from the final weekend of the season.
 
Good
 
Gold:  The college football season has been spectacular. I don’t think it is fair to discredit the best season in history because the powers-that-be do not know how to make it pay off. This was the year of the upset and each week lived up to the hype. No team was able to hold on to the top spot and it is only fitting that we have ten teams worthy of being the champion.  

Silver: The Oklahoma Sooners are the first back-to-back Big 12 Champions and earned that moniker by laying another beat down on Missouri. OU beat Mizzou 38-17 and dominated the Tigers in every phase of the game.  The Sooner victory puts aside any false claims that their mid-October victory against Missouri was a fluke and marks the fifth time in seven years that Oklahoma has won the Big 12.

Bronze: Virginia Tech was able to avenge their previous loss to Boston College with a 30-16 victory in the ACC Championship Game. Unlike their first match-up, the rematch was not played in a torrential downpour. The Hokies showed they are superior on a dry field and have finally figured out how to balance Taylor and Glennon at quarterback. The victory means Virginia Tech finishes #3 in the BCS and can begin wondering about what might have been had they not collapsed in their first match up against BC.
 
Bad
 
Gold: Although Missouri could not punch their ticket to New Orleans, they wrote themselves into history as the worst "number one" in history of the game. The Tigers used arrogance and revisionist history to build their case during their six day stint on top. However, neither the former nor the latter means you can beat Oklahoma in a game that matters. The Tigers were over matched and outclassed by Oklahoma and get to wake up early on New Years day to bore us in the Cotton Bowl Classic.
 
Silver: Not to pile on Missouri, but Chase Daniel can not be ignored. The junior quarterback led Missouri’s arrogance and said he was insulted they Oklahoma was favored in the Big 12 Championship Game. Getting the chance to support his claim, Daniel proved to be an over-hyped and out of control leader. After failing on third downs and failed red zone attempts, he could be seen flailing his arms or spiking his helmet when leaving the field. It's not wonder that Missouri showed no rally in the second half and only managed eight yards in the fourth quarter.
 
Bronze: Did you see all the fans dressed as seats at the ACC Championship Game? When the 80,000 seat stadium is about 40% full, producers need to ditch the blimp shots and hide the long angle lenses. It was embarrassing that the upper deck was not even used and Boston College brought about 163 fans to the game.
 
Ugly
 
Gold: The uniforms in the Civil War were down right terrible. Oregon has made a living on looking ugly and they were joined this past weekend by Oregon State. The two teams looked like they were born out of the imagination of a CFL nightmare and/or left on the cutting room floor of "Any Given Sunday."
 
Silver: Although most of the country was asleep, Hawaii's win over Washington was ugh-lee!  The Warriors are doing their best to fit in with the nation's top programs with their play, but almost took it too far when they came close to giving back their BCS birth. Hawaii erased a 28-7 deficit and are worthy of their Sugar Bowl bid, but it was gut wrenching to watch them come so close to giving it all away.
 
Bronze:  My life now that college football is over. With the season behind us, my Saturday’s will be dedicated to compromising and wedding planning. Two televisions and computer updates take a back seat to registering and shopping for a centerpiece. Marching bands will be replaced by cover bands and the only film I will be breaking down is that of our potential videographer. And the ugliest part of it all...I can't wait and am really looking forward to it!

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