Once again, we see the BCS continually set themselves up for failure. We trudge along year after year with the same mindset of fewer voters is better (and God forbid if strength of schedule (SOS) should be included). Why? Who knows but it sure is a recipe for the rich to get richer.

Penn State got taken over on their home field by Iowa and what do we get? A Nittany Lion team that is still ranked in the Top 15--FOUR places in front of the Hawkeyes.

To be fair people are only human, which I feel the need to mention since we forget sometimes but the fact is that even coaches, as well as fans and even the writers, have a tendency to prop the elite on a pillow and keep them there. The Harris poll did the same thing leaving Iowa behind.

What we need, which is the point of this column, is a more comprehensive ranking system--much more comprehensive. If there's 120 teams in the FBS, then why only a little more than half of the coaches voting? Why not all 120 coaches?

The suggestion here is to form a three-part voter poll to go along with the handful of computer polls. What would be extremely fair and hard to argue with is have all 120 coaches vote, then have 120 writers--one from each college town. Maybe the Associated Press would come back to the fold if this came about. For the third, have 120 broadcasters voting.

Think of how many broadcasting teams ESPN alone has. After gathering all the broadcasting teams from every network that covers college football, round out the field with local television broadcasters who actually cover the games. This would make 360 voters total. This clearly would cancel out any voting agendas or just plain wharped thinking and hackneyed logic we've observed over the years.

After the 360 voter-poll strong and the computer polls, I would even add some kind of point-scale system, similar to what some high school systems use with much success. It doesn't have to count for much but it would be there acting as a strength of schedule input. This is something that is sorely needed considering how strong image plays a part in our society. And the rich do get richer.

Does anyone out there really think Ohio State or USC are really Top Ten teams? But there they are in all three major polls (AP, Coaches and Harris) solidly in the Top Ten. And what about Auburn and South Florida? Both 4-0 and both outside looking in but both with impressive victories thus far.

It seems the brass that makes the kinds of decisions that give us systems like this are terrified of something illogical happening--like fairness! As if it's almost offensive to not have Ohio State, USC, Nebraska, Oklahoma, etc., etc., left out of the Top Ten by some poll that would actually make sense.

What Kansas State did to No. 1 Oklahoma several years ago in their conference championship game did as much harm to strength of schedule polls as much as it did to the Sooners. As you might recall, the No. 1 Sooners lost 35-7 but remained in the top spot and went on to compete in the national championship game.

The real problem was with how the BCS reacted, instead of readjusting and re-weighting the system, they did away with it and started all over again with a non-SOS system. This is absurd considering there is no playoff system and now there's no SOS as well? If any sport on the face of the earth ever needed the SOS element it's college football. But the brass panicked and are now forever spooked from numbers, as if there's no great minds out there to figure something out.

Another problem in how the BCS is set up for failure and how the polls willingly contribute to this mess, is rushing the votes out on a Sunday when coaches have barely finished evaluating their own team's performance from the day before. What's the big hurry? Would anyone actually have a heart attack if the polls were to be released on Monday by noon? It's understandable to get the polls released after the conference championship games in early December but in the regular season? And we wonder why we see the results that we do.

If we did have a poll like the one mentioned above, it would surely ask for a change in perception and thought, which is much needed (fans included). We as fans, have been spoon-fed these writer's and coaches-type polls where a team is not supposed to jump ahead unless someone in front loses or fall back unless that team lost. But that's not the way a true ranking system should work and certainly not one that includes SOS with some kind of point scale.

What would happen if a Houston, South Florida and Boise St. were all in the Top Ten now? Nothing, is the answer. The world will continue to spin and, depending on where one lives, the sun will continue to shine and the Ohio State's and USC's of the world will always get out of bed. But as long as we have the wrong people running college football those elites will continue to get out of bed from the top bunk.

Filed by J.D. Long