When the NCAA adopted the Bowl Championship Series rankings to determine it’s national champion it was heralded as an incredible, groundbreaking decision. Previously, the national champion was decided by votes from sportswriters and coaches. There were 10 previous occasions where teams split the championship because of separate polls choosing different teams. The B.C.S. was supposed to take care of that problem with a sophisticated system, based on polls and computer rankings, that would pit the two best teams against each other for the championship.

Ten years later and the B.C.S. has failed to do what it had promised, provide a convincing champion every year. Many around the nation are calling for and end to the B.C.S altogether, or at the very least, a playoff involving the top 8 teams. In 2004, USC was left out of the B.C.S. Championship Game, somehow falling to #3 in the rankings. When favorite Oklahoma lost to LSU in the Sugar Bowl, LSU was crowned B.C.S. champion, but USC was voted the AP National Champion. The controversy that was supposed to be silenced by the B.C.S. roared again.

This season, there are undefeated, Division 1 teams while two 1 loss, Florida and Oklahoma teams play for the title. Alabama was ranked #1 until they lost their last game to now #1 Florida, while Oklahoma lost to 3rd rankedd. One would think Alabama would have the edge over Oklahoma, but a rematch would throw the world of college football into chaos. The only way to get a definitive answer would be to implement a playoff system.

Each Divison 1 team plays a couple lowly opponents every year. These games are laughers where the margins of victory are sometimes in the 70’s. Also, there is a gap of a month between a team’s last game and the Bowl Games. Cut out one regular season game, and start an eight-team playoff in mid-December. A three game playoff would only add one game to the schedules of the champion and runner-up, and a lot of credibility to the NCAA and eventual champion. Nobody can deny the winner of such a tournament. Those are the situations when true champions are revealed.

Joe Paterno spent most of the past college football season coaching from high above the field. With a bum hip, he was unable to walk the sidelines and instead sat in the coaches box, talking to players and assistants through a headset or phone. The longest tenured coach in NCAA history’s future was in doubt. On November 23, a day after clinching the Big Ten title, Joe Pa underwent hip replacement surgery. Less than a month later he was rewarded with a contract extension.

Taking in to account his 16 years as an assistant coach, 2009 will be Paterno’s 60th season with Penn State. His 43 years as head coach is far and away the most in college football history. At 81 years old, he is also football’s all-time winningest coach. Even with such a resume, his 2007 salary was reported at $512,000, well off the $4 million Alabama’s Nick Saban makes a year. Terms of his new deal have not been disclosed, but the extension runs for 3 more years, through the 2011 season. With his rehab coming along nicely, Paterno will be back patrolling the sidelines in Happy Valley next season.

While many coaches have become victims of an inability to alter their game plan and strategy, Paterno’s coaching style has evolved with the game. It is rare for a coach to last 10 years in college football, let alone 4 decades. Some believed that if the game couldn’t get the best of him, his health would. A couple years back, in a game against Wisconsin, Paterno’s leg was broken after being taken out by a falling player. He was back coaching at the next practice.

While coaching from the skybox this past season it seemed coach was getting farther from the game, with the next logical step being retirement. Instead, the grizzled veteran has been put back together and will be returning to the scene of the action. Paterno will coach one more game from the box, the Rose Bowl against USC on New Year’s Day. Come next season though, expect to see Paterno lead his team out of the tunnel for the 44th straight year.