BCS Mess; Football Picks

I don't pretend to be an expert on the BCS and the state of chaos that seems to be the process that determines college football's national champion but that doesn't make me any less mad at the system. The major bowl games -- Rose, Sugar, Fiesta, Orange -- and the BCS National Championship Game have been or seem like they will be disasters. USC's romp over Illinois in the Rose Bowl, followed by a similar beat down of Hawaii by Georgia, ruined my New Year's Day. The Fiesta was another let down as West Virginia cruised past Oklahoma. The Orange Bowl was a close game but the Kansas-Virginia Tech matchup did nothing for me, I barely watched the game. After those four games -- and the pending debacle that the BCS Championship Game could turn out to be with two-loss LSU facing untested Ohio State -- I am ready to scratch my eyes out of my head. I would love to see a playoff scenarion where the higher seeded teams play a first round home game followed by two rounds of bowl games that would determine the true national champion. It would look something like this: FIRST ROUND No. 8 at No. 1 No. 5 at No. 4 No. 6 at No. 3 No. 7 at No. 2 SEMI-FINAL 1/8 winner v. 4/5 winner at the Orange Bowl 2/7 winner v. 3/6 winner at the Fiesta Bowl CHAMPIONSHIP GAME Orange Bowl winner v. Fiesta Bowl winner at the Rose Bowl There are some flaws in this plan (like one major bowl being out the equation every four years, of course that game could host the best two teams not in the "Elite Eight" plan) but it would be a playoff, fans of the top four teams would be forced to travel only twice (which shouldn't be too much of an issue) and the old bowl system could stay in place for the teams not in the championship picture (with the mythical No. 9 and No. 10 teams playing in either the Rose/Sugar/Fiesta/Orange Bowl). Check out Sports Illustrated online today to read Stewart Mandell's piece which should be a tad bit more enlightened than mine. As for the picks... In the NFL -- for the games I picked -- I finished 120-109-6, something that gives me an ounce of pride. In college (picking five games a week except for the last week when I picked four) I finished 25-31-3, not too godd but not completely Loserville. Here are this weekends picks: SEATTLE (-3.5) over Washington Everyone seems to think the Redskins can rise out the wave of emotion left over from Sean Taylor's tragic death. I love their passion but the Seattle defense should be too much for Todd Collins. Jacksonville (-2) over PITTSBURGH The Jags run the ball to well for the Steelers to stop them and without Willie Parker, Pittsburgh can't run the ball enough to keep the Jags off the field. NY Giants (+3) over TAMPA BAY There are many reasons to go against the G-Men: other than Dallas, no team has won the week after losing to the Patriots; their offense has too many droughts to win a playoff game on the road; Tom Coughlin teams generally don't do well in the playoffs. However, Eli Manning showed me something against the Patriots, a level of play I didn't think he could reach. That's enough for me to pick New York. Tennessee (+9) over SAN DIEGO I think the Chargers will win this game but Vince Young and LenDale White will do just enough to keep it close until the 4th Quarter. BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME LSU (-4) over Ohio State Too much speed, too much Glen Dorsey and a two-loss National Champion.