What a mess. The final BCS standings are in and the team that gets to play Miami in the Rose Bowl is none other than the Nebraska Cornhuskers, who not only failed to win their conference championship but also lost their final game by a score of 62-36.

If anyone has a complaint, kindly raise your big puffy hand.

If Nebraska's bid isn't bad enough, remember that it could easily have been even worse.

		Maybe Oregon is right. Maybe Colorado is right. Maybe Nebraska is. Which of those teams really is the second-best in the country? Who knows? No matter how many statistics and ratings go into the BCS formula, it's still just guesswork.

Last week, Brigham Young University considered filing a lawsuit against the Bowl Championship Series because the BCS snubbed the then-undefeated Cougars. Too bad BYU's embarrassing loss to Hawaii rendered the lawsuit moot. Because the one thing college football needs most is an antitrust suit thrown into the BCS formula.

Of course, Tennessee could have made it all so simple by beating Louisiana State over the weekend, but the Vols' loss put Nebraska in the Rose Bowl and left Colorado and Oregon whining that they deserved to get slaughtered by Miami instead.

And deservedly so. You go 10-1 and win the Pac-10 title, as Oregon did, and you naturally feel you belong in the Rose Bowl. You beat a team by four touchdowns in the final game of regular season, as Colorado did, and you don't expect the team you whipped to get invited to the national championship game.

Maybe Oregon is right. Maybe Colorado is right. Maybe Nebraska is. Which of those teams really is the second-best in the country? Who knows? No matter how many statistics and ratings go into the BCS formula, it's still just guesswork.

	Joey Harrington and the Ducks have some other hand signals for the BCS.

That's why it isn't any better than the old system. True, it was a flawed system. Lord knows, the two polls reflect nothing more than a collection of personal opinions and biases from sportswriters and college coaches, surely the motliest collection of judges since Jamie Farr, Jaye P. Morgan and Charles Nelson Reilly were "Gong Show" panelists.

The key, however, was everyone knew it was a flawed system and accepted it as such. Like a talk radio show on abortion, the polls provoked spirited argument, but they didn't settle anything. Nor did they have to. No one tried to make it out as if there was anything more at stake than bragging rights. Half the fun of college football was arguing over who the polls shortchanged for the national championship.

Besides, even under the best circumstances, the BCS doesn't settle the issue any more definitively. It still has to arbitrarily pick two teams for the championship game, and those faulty polls from the old system still play a big factor in things. The BCS doesn't change the inherent unfairness in attempting to choose a national champion, it just tries to put a stamp of authenticity on its brand of guesswork.

Fortunately, the only thing college football fans know for sure is the only thing they need to know this season. Miami is the best team in the country (this just in -- the 'Canes just scored another touchdown against Washington).

In fact, the 'Canes are so good that even if they lose to Nebraska, I'm betting the BCS computers still pick them No. 1.

Jim Caple is a senior writer for Page 2.