The 6-year-old experiment in computer intelligence known as the Bowl Championship Series has short-circuited.

The University of Southern California, ranked as the best college football team in the country by both sportswriters and coaches, will not play in the national title game.

The top three big-time college teams each have one loss: USC (11-1), Oklahoma (12-1) and Louisiana State University (12-1). All three have a legitimate claim on the title. But it will be Oklahoma and LSU in the Sugar Bowl.

The BCS relies on a complex computer program to rank teams, using a laundry list of variables. The highest BCS-ranked teams then meet in a bowl game to determine the undisputed national champion. At least that’s the idea.

Oklahoma was a dominant team all year and waited until the last weekend of the season to stumble. What is it they say about the mighty and falling down? Oklahoma was blasted in the Big 12 Championship game by Kansas State, 35-7.

USC and LSU, also playing on Saturday, won impressively.

So, naturally, the computers put Oklahoma and LSU in the big game. USC goes to the Rose Bowl to face No. 4 Michigan. Imagine, the runner-up in the Big 12 is playing for the national title.

The idea behind the BCS was to crown a single champion and avoid split decisions or co-champions – put math to work and develop a formula that makes sure the best team, with the best record, wins the title.

That might not happen this year. If USC wins, the coaches and sportswriters aren’t likely to drop the team’s ranking, regardless of what happens in the Sugar Bowl. That means a split decision is very possible. The BCS backers have to be pulling for a Michigan win, just to validate the beleaguered system.

This college football season will end a game too soon. The winners of the Sugar Bowl and Rose Bowl should play, winner-take-all, for the title.

That’s not going to happen.

What Division I college football needs is a playoff system. The issue of who’s the top team in the country should be settled on the field.


Lessons to learn
What were they thinking?

We just keep coming back to that question.

A group of 10 students and two adults from Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School on a camping trip got stuck out during the weekend’s blizzard and were ferried out of the woods by the Maine Warden Service.

Thankfully, the campers were found safe on Route 113 near the New Hampshire border.

The Warden Service spent hours searching for the group on Sunday and finally found them by using an airplane Monday.

While we have no doubt that the adults on the trip are experienced in the great outdoors, we have to question the decision to go camping when a record-breaking winter storm is headed toward the area.

Undoubtedly, these young adventurers learned important lessons about the woods and themselves. Hopefully, they also learned to take weather forecasts seriously when planning outdoor activities.
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