As the college football season prepares for its dramatic finish it has once again provided a plethora of interesting sub plots away from the field.

For example…..

At the end of the Clemson – South Carolina football game, Gamecocks play-by-play man Todd Ellis said “As Coach Spurrier says, ‘We may not be LSU or Alabama, but we ain’t Clemson, folks.'”

Apparently Spurrier has denied that the quote is accurate, not, however, before a reporter attributed the quote to Spurrier as well and asked Clemson Head Coach Dabo Swinney about his thoughts regarding Coach Spurrier’s comments.

His response was, as Barney from TV’s How I Met Your Mother would say, legen…..wait for it….dary.

“They ain’t Alabama. They ain’t LSU. And they’re certainly not Clemson. That’s why Carolina’s in Chapel Hill and USC’s in California and the university in this state always has been, always will be Clemson.”

Swinney also denied that a Clemson – South Carolina rivalry exists, instead referring to it as a domination.

You may or may not be a Swinney or Spurrier fan, but you have to admit the guys are solid gold when it comes to providing funny quotes and internet fodder.

Once again the biggest story surrounding college football’s national championship game has little to do with X’s and O’s, coaches, players or personnel. Instead it’s all about the BCS and how imperfect the system is.

I am no BCS supporter, but everyone needs to remember how broken the system was before the BCS. Having said that, there is one major change that has to occur if the BCS is ever going to be taken seriously.

The BCS must, I repeat MUST stop using the Coaches Poll as a part of its formula.

The Coaches Poll is a joke and anyone that knows anything about college football knows that the head coach of a college football program has little to no time to watch football games that do not include their team or a team they will soon be playing.

So long as the SEC and Big 12 coaches had a say in who deserves to play for a national championship then no one could expect an unbiased selection.

It seems to me like a common sense decision.

Despite how they got to the decision I think the two best teams in college football ended up being selected to play in the Allstate BCS Championship Game. I believe if Alabama and Oklahoma State played on Saturday that the Tide would Roll.

Of course I also thought that Boise State didn’t stand a chance against the Oklahoma Sooners a few years ago and I think we all remember how that wound up.

The search for a new football coach at Carolina seems to be nearing a conclusion and while Larry Fedora from Southern Miss appears to be the front runner as of now, nothing has been made official as of yet.

Between the coaching search and the NCAA nearing their decision it appears that the next month promises to be an exciting one in Chapel Hill.

 

David Friedman is a long-time contributor to Roanoke-Chowan Publications. A Bertie High School graduate, he and his wife currently reside in Wilmington. David can be reached via e-mail at dave@gate811.net.