FanHouse CollegeFootballIsBatcakes

As if anybody needed any proof that college football is completely batcakes, here it is. As we head into the final weekend, where all six BCS conferences will be playing, we don't really know who will grab the ten big-money bowl bids. There's a team in control of its own destiny and, in a way, everyone else's.

No, not either of those two. Alabama's getting a BCS bid no matter what. Florida only misses out if it loses to the Citadel, or to Florida State, and then loses to the Crimson Tide in Atlanta. Color that scenario unlikely.

Not one of those three either. There's a limit of two teams per conference in the BCS, so one of the Big 12 South's power trio gets left out no matter what happens in the next three weeks. If Missouri shocks the world in Kansas City, two of them get left out.

And relax. Nobody in the Big Ten will get to the title game, barring some unbelievable post-Thanksgiving train wreck the likes of which we haven't seen since, um, last season.

So who is it? Who's the mystery team that could be the kingmaker? Upon whom does the fortune of entire teams and conferences depend?

Ah, November, that great, daffy season when we all look deep into the eyes of the BCS and run away screaming. Amidst the falling leaves and the damp, icy winds, a fan's fancy turns lightly towards playoffs.

Or maybe not so lightly. Even though somebody other than the Big Ten gets to embrace epic failure in the title game this season, we're still not satisfied. We still have the creeping sense that something will be left unsettled on the field.

Most playoff plans are completely batcakes. Some include too many teams; some include too few; some actually think the bowls are interested in becoming playoff games. (Like anybody can afford to travel to, say, Shreveport, Tempe, and Los Angeles on successive weekends without a 21-day advance purchase.)

I found one plan that comes pretty close to being workable. It comes from Pete Fiutak at College Football News, who made it pretty simple:

8 teams, 6 BCS-league champions, the top ranked non-BCS champion, the top ranked at-large team. America, it's your turn to get what you want.

I have a couple quibbles with that plan, but it's more realistic than any others I've seen. Even Fiutak admits his plan isn't going to happen, though. But why?

And so the slaying of the giants begins again in the fantasyland of college football. Grab the Tums, as tonight's going to be a wild ride. They'll be celebrating in the sleepy hamlets of Iowa tonight as the Hawkeyes have slain BCS No. 3, previously undefeated Penn State.

The fans wore green for tailback Shonn Greene and it brought them luck. Iowa intercepted Penn State with just over three minutes left and methodically drove down the field setting up a short field goal for shaky Daniel Murray. Murray had been 1/3 on field goals on the year, but they called his name and he delivered.

OK so it was a twisty, windy sort of kick but it went through the uprights and by rule is "good", three points and enough to provide the winning margin, 24-23. The seeds of Penn State's demise were planted in their last performance against Ohio State that relied on a late Terrelle Pryor fumble to save the day.