Well, an eventful weekend of college football ended with Arkansas reaching #7 in the latest BCS poll. I was surprised by the relative ease with which they dispatched Tennessee on Saturday night, even though Tennessee was somewhat banged up coming into the game. They Hogs were again impressive on both sides of the ball, but still need one more win to reach the title game with Florida. That win should come easily this weekend at Mississippi State. The LSU game Thanksgiving weekend would provide them the opportunity to go undefeated in conference in the SEC regular season, something that they’ve never done.

Florida has looked less impressive in their last two games, and I feel good about our chances against them in the SEC championship game. Some are now saying that Arkansas looks like the best team in the SEC, and I would agree with that (yes, they look that way). I hope that it’s true. A win over MSU and Florida would say just that. A win over LSU as well would leave no doubt. The next three weeks will tell the story.

There’s also now talk of the BCS championship game if they win out. They will, however, need not only to win out - a tall order in itself - but also would need a fair amount of help from the teams ahead of them. Rutgers (6) would need to lose, and I believe they will to West Virginia. Notre Dame (5) would need to lose, and they could easily fall to USC. If Arkansas wins out, that would mean beating Florida (4) so they’d be out of the way. And USC (3) would also need to lose, and I still believe either Cal or UCLA will provide that loss. The remaining question is whether or not the loser of this weeks “1 vs 2″ Ohio State/Michigan game would remain ahead of Arkansas. That’s a tough call. All in all, I’m not too concerned because I just don’t think it will happen. That’s a lot to fall into place, and the most difficult obstacle will be winning all of our own games.

However, let me take this opportunity to give my opinion on an OSU-Michigan rematch. I’ve heard it said my some (including one of my favorite sports personalities, Tony Kornheiser, and as recently as yesterday morning by Mitch Albom on ESPN’s The Sports Reporters) that if OSU and Michigan play a very close game, that they should remain 1-2 and end up in the BCS title game. This would probably include Florida and USC losing at the least, because otherwise I think they’d have to jump the loser otherwise. Albom made the comment that some people don’t want to see this game twice in a row, but if they’d played the second week of the season, people wouldn’t be as vocal against a rematch.

I will agree with Albom on that last statement, but here’s the reason and also the reason that I don’t want to see a rematch: if they’d played in early September, it would not be the same game. Teams that played in early September are not the same as they are today. Arkansas is a prime example. They are clearly playing much better than they did early in the month of September (especially considering their starting quarterback was hurt to start the season, and Darren McFadden was not completely healthy until several games into the season.) But the Michigan and OSU teams that play this weekend will not be much different than the ones that play in early January. They won’t even play another game before then.

There was a lot of talk about Texas until their loss this weekend. Yes, they played OSU the first game of the season and lost. But, had they remained in position to pass Michigan (assuming Michigan lost to OSU), then they should have the advantage over Michigan for a rematch with OSU because the team OSU played in September is not the same Texas team playing now. All of that is, of course, moot now that Texas lost. But you see my point (hopefully).

Granted, some will say that the BCS should be putting the two best teams in the game, and if those two teams are OSU and Michigan, then they should be there. But should they if they just played in the last game of the season? I say no. This is their chance. All of the other top teams are playing another game, too, and most of them have two more games remaining. So, it seems to me Michigan and Ohio State have their shot, and it’s this weekend. You lose, you go home. Someone else - USC, Notre Dame, Florida or Arkansas, Rutgers, etc. - gets a shot. If Ohio State is truly the best team, why should Michigan get two chances to beat them? (or vice-versa) And why would the second be the one that decided the champion? The loser this weekend should be done. Period.

The problem could easily be solved with a playoff. Now, one other thing someone mentioned on ESPN is that the next few weeks will actually be somewhat of a playoff. Of the current top eight BCS teams, they all play one of the others. OSU-Michigan, USC-Notre Dame, Florida-Arkansas (assuming Ark wins one more game), and Rutgers-West Virginia. So, four of those teams will lose. At least one team will not (OSU-Michigan winner). Of the other three teams, if any manage to win out, they should be considered first, above the OSU-Michigan loser. This is the way it’s always been in college football - you lose late in the season, you lose your chance at the big prize. Their have been exceptions (Nebraska and Oklahoma in recent years), but the BCS hasn’t fixed the same old problems that have always existed like some seemed to have envisioned that it would. Yes, the next few weeks will eliminate some of the teams, similar to a playoff, but chances are there will still be some controversy at the end, just as there often is this time of year.

Therefore, regardless of what happens, I will continue to despise the BCS. I want a playoff where we get to see who can get it done on the field instead of who can one game in which the participants are selected using a clearly flawed system.