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It's easy to defend the current system because even with its enormous flaws it's a huge improvement over the "old" one.

Think about how the bowl games would have shaken out this year under the system that was in place before the BCS . . .

#1 Ohio State (Big 10 champions) would be forced to play in the Rose Bowl against #7 USC (Pac-10 champions).

#2 LSU (SEC champions) would go to the Sugar Bowl against an invited team (maybe #3 Virginia Tech).

#4 Oklahoma (Big 12 champions) would go to the Orange Bowl against an invited team (maybe #5 Georgia).

#6 Missouri would play in either the Cotton Bowl or the Fiesta Bowl -- probably against #9 West Virginia (for the Cotton Bowl) or #10 Arizona State (for the Fiesta Bowl).

#8 Kansas would get invited to either the Cotton or the Fiesta to play West Virginia or Arizona State (depending on Missouri's selection).

. . .

Now -- If #1 Ohio State loses to #7 USC, and #3 Virginia Tech beats #2 LSU, you'd get the same controversy about the national championship that you have now with the BCS.

And take it one step further, too. Even if Ohio State were to WIN against USC, you could still have a legitimate case where #2 LSU wins the national championship by dominating the #3 team. This is basically what happened back in 1994 when Nebraska won the national title over Penn State because Penn State beat 9-4 Oregon in the Rose Bowl while Nebraska beat a much stronger 10-2 Miami team in the Orange Bowl.

It's easy to defend the current system because even with its enormous flaws it's a huge improvement over the "old" one.

Nope. The dispute still exists. If they win thir bowl games - Oklahoma, Hawaii and Georgia fans will still claim that they got screwed. The only people that universally acknowledge the winner of the BCS Title game as national champion is the media. Since when is the media accurate and when did FReepers start giving a rip about what they thought?

It's easy to defend the current system because even with its enormous flaws it's a huge improvement over the "old" one.

Exactly right. Great post. The BCS is designed to eliminate the scenario where the #1 and #2 (in rankings) teams are locked in to different bowls because of automatic conference tie-ins. That's the promise the BCS gave us, and it has given us that game when conditions permitted.

When there is no clear #1 and #2, the system breaks down. It wasn't designed for that. Be happy with what you have and don't keep dreaming about a 16 or 8 team tournament that is never going to happen.

At the very best, we may one day soon see the New Year's Bowls, on a rotating basis, serve as national semifinals.

And that's as far as it needs to go.