Saturday (Very) Quickie: BCS Buster?

UPDATE: OH WOW, WAS I WRONG.

*****

South Carolina is going to beat Auburn. Oregon State is going to beat Oregon.

I am not saying that in some sort of lame "reverse-jinx" attempt. I am not saying that to be a contrarian.

I honestly believe that South Carolina is playing better than any team in the SEC right now -- including Auburn, a team the Gamecocks nearly beat back in September.

What Auburn's D did to Alabama for a half? South Carolina's D did that to Alabama for a complete game. Marcus Lattimore is the best RB in the league -- perhaps the country. Steve Spurrier is entirely familiar with the pressure of an SEC title game.

And I honestly believe that Oregon State's fearlessness -- no, hostility -- toward Oregon makes them unlike any team Oregon has faced this season.

Then layer in that Oregon State gets the game at home -- it will be a rougher environment for the Ducks than LeBron faced in Cleveland the other night.

And then let's circle all the way back to the beginning of the season, when Oregon State went to Texas to play TCU and to Idaho to play Boise.

Oregon isn't better on defense than TCU and is arguably no better on offense than Boise. Yes, Oregon State lost both -- but they are toughened up for the challenge like no team Oregon has faced this season.

(UPDATE: 1:42 p.m. ET. OK, I'm starting to get a little nervous about my pick of Oregon. By the way, I should say that I'm actually rooting for both Oregon -- because I love Chip Kelly and really want to see his offense tested against an SEC D in the national-title game -- and Auburn, because I think Cam Newton is the best player in the country and find the whole Newton scandal to be the most dominant storyline of the season; it would be fitting if he played for the title.)

If you hate the BCS, you should be liking what I'm saying. So if Auburn and Oregon lose, what then?

TCU will be in the national-title game. And they will be playing the best 1-loss team in the country: Auburn, which went through the toughest schedule of any contender.

And people will go bananas, even though putting Oregon or Stanford or Wisconsin (or Boise or Nevada or Ohio State or Michigan State) makes even less sense than Auburn.

That would be the ideal, at least. The alternative -- unbeaten Auburn vs. unbeaten Oregon -- is a lot less messy... a lot less fun, frankly.

It is the final Saturday of a college football season defined by Cam Newton's brilliance on the field and scandal off of it; by Oregon's hurry-hurry-hurry-up offense; by the kind of improbable results that make the college season so unique (defined by Boise's implosion last week).

Enjoy the day, and root for one more week of the unexpected.

-- D.S.