Michigan State, Cincinnati, and Oregon State in the BCS?  Two unbeatens left out of the party?  Two teams not winning their own conferences yet reaching the championship game?  It could all still happen.  AccuScore analyst Jonathan Lee goes over the BCS doomsday scenario and joins the President-elect in calling for a playoff.

Jonathan Lee

AccuScore Analyst

Twitter @thejonlee

Consider the following:
• Thanks to a loss by Penn State last weekend, Michigan State still has a shot at the Big 10 title.  The Spartans need only to beat the Nittany Lions, and have Ohio State lose either to Illinois or Michigan to reach the Rose Bowl.
• Cincinnati is in the driver’s seat in the Big East.  The Bearcats control their own destiny hosting co-leader Pittsburgh before finishing against lowly Syracuse.  Also possible is West Virginia winning two of its final three games and still reaching a BCS game even with four losses overall.
• Like Cincy, Oregon State controls its own destiny in conference by virtue of upsetting USC earlier in the year.  The Beavers still have three tough Pac-10 games left, but could force their way into the big table.
• Even with the prior three scenarios were to occur two teams could still face each other for the national championship without even winning their own conferences.  Several things of course would have to happen.  Florida would have to lose to either the Citadel (unlikely) or Florida State (possible) and then beat Alabama in the SEC title game.  That would knock the SEC champion out of the BCS title picture.  Then a three-way tie atop the Big 12 South would leave two one loss teams out of the Big 12 title game.  The other team could go on to lose to Missouri and be knocked out of the picture.  In this case, the BCS committee would probably be left with a one-loss USC and two one-loss Big 12 South schools, all teams that failed to win their own conferences or even divisions yet could still be crowned national champions.  How crazy is that?  Chaos would ensue, and perhaps force some real change sports fans can believe in.

If all of the above madness were to happen, the slate of BCS invitees could look like this:
Championship game – USC and one of Texas/Oklahoma/Texas Tech
ACC automatic – nearly half the teams in the ACC are still alive, suffice it to say that the ACC doesn’t deserve a spot in the BCS this season but will get one anyways
Big East automatic – Cincinnati
Big 12 automatic – Missouri
Big 10 automatic – Michigan State
Pac-10 automatic – Oregon State
SEC automatic – Florida (with two losses)
At-larges – one mid-major (likely Utah or Boise State) and the other remaining one-loss Big 12 South school

This case would be a ratings nightmare for college football and the networks with Oregon State, Cincinnati, and Michigan State failing to draw any kind of national audience.  Also the mid-major school and the ACC champion would also not be very big draws.  This scenario could also exclude an unbeaten Ball State and an unbeaten Utah or Boise State.  TWO unbeaten teams could be left out of the BCS party, and this doesn't even delve into which one-loss Big 12 team would actually make the title game.  Let’s be honest, no team from the MAC, Sun Belt, WAC, Mountain West, or Conference USA will ever win a national title under the current system no matter what they do.  How can a system that says to half of its member schools before the season, you have zero chance of winning a championship, ever be considered equitable?

Ok, so all of this is unlikely to happen.  In all probability it won’t happen.  But there’s still a chance, and wouldn’t you like to see it happen just to see what the college football powers would do then?  Playoff here we come…

NOTRE DAME FREE-FALLING

This stat best sums up just how bad Charlie Weis has been as head coach of Notre Dame (courtesy of ESPN’s Pat Forde):  “Weis is now 1-16 in his past 17 games against teams that finished the season .500 or better -- or, in the case of 2008 opponents, currently are .500 or better.”

That one win was last month against Stanford (by seven) who currently sits at 5-5 and could easily finish 5-7 wiping that one win off the board.  Weis has been a terrific recruiter despite producing no results on the field so talent is not the issue.  Because of the ridiculous contract Notre Dame gave Weis he is unlikely to be fired after this season.  If next season is not a banner year (read: compete for a national title) then Weis is probably done at his alma mater.  A potential buyout would be very expensive since Weis signed an absolutely ludicrous 10-year $30 million dollar contract extension after a loss to USC of all things.

CANES RISING

Look out for Miami because the ‘Canes are back.  While this team might not be quite national championship caliber, it’s easy to see the building blocks are in place.  Randy Shannon has an extremely callow team with more than 20 freshmen and sophomores dotting his two-deep.  After a 16-14 win over Virginia Tech Thursday, Miami is leading the ACC Coastal division and still have a shot at a possible BCS berth which would be way ahead of schedule.  With the talent and youth overflowing from Miami’s roster, they should be back to being a national power as soon as 2009.