If Joseph Heller was still alive today, we think he would be amused by the current rankings system in college football. Of course, Heller was the brilliant author of the book Catch-22. For example, here’s a passage from that great work:

“Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t, but if he was sane he had to fly them.”

You see, these lines remind us of the way the BCS works. The pre-season ranking don’t matter at all, except that they really do. Make sense? This year in college football is an excellent example of how messed up the college football ranking system really is.

If you look at the pre-season rankings for this year’s top-5 in the BCS, here’s what you will find…

–Texas was ranked 11 in the AP and 10 in the coaches poll.

–Alabama was ranked 24 in the AP and not ranked in the coaches poll.

–Penn State was ranked 22 in both polls.

–Oklahoma was ranked 4 in both polls.

–USC was ranked 3 in the AP and 2 in the coaches poll.

Oklahoma and USC, of course, each have a loss already this season.  However, their lofty pre-season ranking gave both of those teams the luxury of taking a loss.  For both of them, it was to best to lose early.  Already, it seems voters have forgotten that just 4 weeks ago, USC was trailing Oregon State 21-0 at halftime.  USC ended up losing by 6 in a game in which they were owned by the Beavers.  But that was 4 weeks ago, and most voters are idiots, with the memory of a 2 year-old.

Because of where they started, the margin of error for both the Sooners and Trojans was immensely greater than it was for any of the top 3 in the BCS right now.  Starting out ranked lowly or unranked, neither Alabama nor Penn State could afford this early loss.  If Alabama lost at Arkansas in week 4, the Tide was done.  All hopes of a national title were out the window, even if they did run the table.  Or let’s say that Penn State lost to Oregon State in week2 (yes, the same Oregon State team that beat USC), Penn State’s chance of playing in Miami in January - gone.

So, a team like Alabama has no margin for error.  The Tide has to win every week to have any shot at a title.  You have to win to get noticed, then keep winning to not be forgotten.  Should Alabama lose a game down the line here - say at LSU - then Alabama has no shot at a national championship.  In the end, you could have 11-1 USC in a title game and 12-1 Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.  Why?  Because USC was ranked higher in the pre-season poll.

And the example is the same with Penn State.  What if they beat Ohio State this week, then fall the next week at Iowa?  They are out of the picture.  For Penn State to have any shot at a title, they have to finish undefeated.  And all because they started at no. 22.

But this is how college football plays out these days.  USC or Ohio State is ranked highly in the pre-season, lose a game in September, drop about 6 spots in the polls, then slowly climb their way back up by beating crappy teams.

We do wish Joseph Heller was alive long enough to witness the BCS.  What a book he could have written.