With all the turmoil and unrest around the world, it seems trivial to have a heated discussion about how college football runs its post season. But that's what columnists are for, right?

On January 3, the Miami Hurricanes and Nebraska Cornhuskers will play for the national championship at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA. I could say the University of Miami will play the University of Nebraska, but college football has a lot more to do with big business than academic pursuits. Many institutions lose money by sending their football teams to bowls. There are travel expenses, lodgings, food and so on. That is not the case with the Bowl Championship Series games. Each team (and their respected conferences) share millions of dollars for playing in these nationally televised events.

Miami got to the championship game the old fashioned way--they beat everyone they played. They are the only team in Division I to go undefeated for the season. The only problem is that they have to play another team for the championship game. Every other college football team lost at least one game, so which team with one loss should get the honor?

Until their final game of the season, the Cornhuskers appeared to also be ready to roll into the title game undefeated. Then they went to Boulder, where the Colorado Buffaloes completely dismantled Nebraska, winning the game 62-36. This loss not only ruined the Cornhuskers hopes of not only a national championship, but they did not even win the North Division of the Big Twelve Conference. Colorado went on to avenge its earlier loss to Texas in the conference championship game. So Colorado is the team to play Miami, right? Wrong.

In addition to a loss to the earlier Texas, Colorado also lost its opening game of the season to Fresno State, giving them the dreaded two losses. Other teams had golden opportunities to claim the coveted #2 spot to play Miami. The Florida Gators, Tennessee Volunteers, and Texas Longhorns all had the chance in the final week. All lost.

Meanwhile, there was the Oregon Ducks, who lost but one game during the middle of the year. They were hardly considered in the computerized BCS system. There were the Brigham Young Mormons (I mean, Cougars) who had not lost a game all year, but were told by the BCS that they played too weak a schedule to be considered for any of their games. BYU promptly lost its final game to Hawaii 72-45. The Maryland Terrapins, who lost one game and played a schedule equally as weak as BYU, will play in the Orange Bowl and get millions more dollars than the Cougars.

So what did the computerized system decide in the end? Nebraska was considered the #2 team in the country. They were one-twentieth of a point (.05) better than the #3 team, the Colorado Buffaloes. The Oregon Ducks were listed at #4. Make sense?

According to the BCS system, undefeated #1 Miami must play #2 Nebraska, who is also #2 in the North Division of the Big Twelve Conference. Hmmmm, I really think that the big complicated computerized system is really a couple guys saying "I want Miami to play Nebraska."

The solution, of course, is a play-off, just like the pros have. The top four teams could play, and the team that can win two is the best team in the country. But that would be far too easy and definitive.

If you leave it up to a computer to decide who the best two teams are, there's a good chance you'll get one of the teams wrong. Just to make the whole season a wash, I'm rooting for Nebraska. My grandparents went to school there, and a Cornhusker victory would prove that everybody wins and everybody loses.

Some people complain about lengthening the season and putting strain on college students, but I make the point one more time, this isn't about students or academia. It's about money and football. Happy New Year.

Chris Jungle is once again not bowl eligible.