"BCS mayhem thanks to Rutgers?"

Here in Sydney, I could hear the celebration coming from Jersey. Heck, I could feel the celebration, as 45,000 scarlet-red drowned out the sorrows of 137 years of mediocrity (the last time this team played an important game was when they won the first ever college football game over Princeton, 6-4, in 1869).

Rutgers – yes, Rutgers! – had just beaten Louisville, the No. 3 team in the country, the No. 3 team in the BCS, a team that likely would have ended up in the Fiesta Bowl Jan. 8 if not for Rutgers.

Thank god for those Scarlet Knights. What would BCS Haters do without ‘em? Now, because of their comeback from a 25-7 deficit, because they somehow found a way to shut out the Cardinals in the second half, a week after those same Cardinals dumped 44 points on West Virginia, the previous No. 3 team, the BCS is all messed up.

More messed up than The U right now. And that’s saying something.

Poor Rutgers. No matter how many congratulations cards they receive in the next few days – on the weekend, when football is supposed to be played – they won’t be the new No. 3 team in the BCS. No, that’ll go to some one-loss team. That’s all I can tell ya.

Florida? Auburn? Texas? California? USC? Notre Dame? Wisconsin? Arkansas?

Oh, my, let the debate begin, folks.

All of the above teams, as well as the Scarlet Knights – if they manage to win out against Cincinnati, Syracuse and West Virginia – could make a case to play the loser of the UM-Ohio State game Nov. 18 in the BCS title game.

As could the loser of the UM-Ohio State game.

Folks over at the BCS studios must be saying, “Here we go again,” because this could get ugly.

Here’s the worst-case scenario:
- the UM-Ohio State game is very close, making the loser a candidate to play in a rematch on Jan. 8
- Rutgers wins out, taking each game convincingly
- Texas wins out
- Auburn wins out, finishing 11-1, but not making the SEC championship game
- Florida wins out, and then faces Arkansas, which also wins out, in the SEC championship. The winner of that finishes with just one loss.
- Cal wins out, including a blowout victory of USC, finishing 11-1
- Notre Dame wins out, also torching the Trojans, to finish 11-1
- Wisconsin wins its final two games, against Iowa and Buffalo, by scores of 63-0 and 70-0 so its fans can argue for that BCS bid

If this all happened – which really is quite possible, except for the Wisconsin scores (the Badgers run the ball too much) – that would leave seven teams deserving of a chance to play the UM-Ohio State winner in Glendale.

The loser of the game; Rutgers; Texas; Auburn; Florida/Arkansas; Cal; and Notre Dame.

Wouldn’t that be fun to sort out? Right now in the BCS rankings Florida is just .02 ahead of Texas, which is just .19 in front of Auburn. The next three teams – USC, Cal and Notre Dame – are all within .13 of each other, before there is a significant drop-off to No. 10 West Virginia.

As far as one-loss teams are concerned, it’s tough to call, but I might have to say that an SEC team has the advantage. If Florida wins out – against South Carolina, West Carolina (cupcake!) and Florida State (cheesecake this season) – and beats Arkansas or Auburn in the SEC title game, I see them going to Glendale. If Auburn wins out and gets to play in the title game due to an Arkansas loss, and, of course, wins the title game, the Tigers are going.

Texas needs three things: It needs to win out, including a tough after-Thanksgiving clash with A&M and the Big 12 title game (probably against Nebraska). It needs Florida to lose. And it needs Auburn to lose or not make the SEC title game.

For Cal or ND to make it, I believe they need Texas and the SEC schools to lose. Ditto for the loser of The Game. Unless it’s really, really close and appears really, really well-played on both sides.

And for Rutgers to make it, well, we shall see.

Just don’t count ‘em out. If they can come back from a 25-7 deficit, they can surely find the top of a crippled system.

Yes, the crying in mid-December should be even louder than the cheers coming from Jersey late Thursday night.