Don’t blame SEC for BCS mess

There is plenty of reason to be upset at the pairing for this season's Bowl Championship Series "national championship" between Alabama and Louisiana State, but the anger should not be directed at the Southeastern Conference.

The other conferences have only themselves to blame.

It was the SEC, after all, that pushed for a seeded four-team playoff in 2008, but commissioner Mike Slive was supported only by the Atlantic Coast Conference.

So, yes, Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy can be rightly mad about not playing LSU for the BCS title, but if his conference and others had joined the SEC and ACC, the Cowboys would've have had their shot at the national championship.

Which is what makes Monday's development a little comical and yet encouraging.

Big 12 athletic directors voiced their support for a plus-one format -- similar to the SEC's proposal -- through a straw poll. That conference's presidents also would have to support the plan for it to move forward.

Whether that will be enough momentum to convince Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany, a powerful proponent of the bowl system, to change his mind is the question. But at least it's a start.

It still wouldn't have created a more ideal eight- or 16-team playoff, but a final four of sorts would be far better than the mess we have now.

■ HARD FEELINGS -- Texas Christian was left out of a BCS bowl because the Horned Frogs failed to move up two places into the top 16 of the BCS standings.

The coaches' poll is one-third of the equation, and TCU coach Gary Patterson was particularly dismayed when he saw Boise State coach Chris Petersen's ballot.

"I'm more disturbed by Petersen voting us 18th when we beat him (36-35) at home," Patterson told the Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram. "And defensively we didn't even play that well. You're not supposed to show bias."

The Mountain West had a teleconference Tuesday for coaches headed to bowls, but Patterson and Petersen failed to appear despite committing in July to participate.

Boise State offensive coordinator Brent Pease took the place of Petersen, who was traveling to Florida for ESPN's awards show. Patterson, who usually doesn't allow his assistants to speak to the media, was said to be on a recruiting trip, so TCU had no representation.

This should be a good Mountain West rivalry for years. Oh, wait ...

■ SAY WHAT? -- BCS executive director Bill Hancock was grilled Monday on "Gridlock," a daily local sports-talk radio show on KWWN (1100 AM, 98.9 FM).

He insisted the BCS has had nothing to do with college realignment.

OK, so Boise State's interest in joining the Big East Conference is not tied to wanting automatic BCS status?

To Hancock's credit, he walked back the comment a little, but he still defended the indefensible BCS, which makes college football like figure skating, where the winners are decided by judges and not results on the field.

COMPILED BY MARK ANDERSON LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL