Bowl Selection Sunday | by Jay

There's been so much griping over the past couple of weeks by media and fans of other schools about Notre Dame getting "special" treatment by the BCS (reaching a fever pitch after ND's cardiac comeback last Saturday). We largely ignored the discussion here, as it seemed premature: there were a raft of important games left to play, and the picture hadn't been sorted out yet.

After the Virginia Tech implosion yesterday we can finally take out the earplugs. Everyone with a gripe about ND can now refocus their ire towards a flawed system that would give a four-loss Florida State team a guaranteed slot in the Orange Bowl. With the at-large selections, the bowls at least have some freedom to weigh the merits of the eligible teams and make their own selection; with the automatic conference berths, you're stuck with a 8-3, #21 Pittsburgh (2004 Fiesta), a 9-4, #14 Florida State (2002 Sugar), a 8-3, #14 Purdue (2000 Rose), or this year's Seminole entry.

Some worthy team, one of the best eight in the country, is going to be playing in a crummy, second-tier bowl game this year, and there's nothing we can do about it.