We are coming to the end of the regular season and, as usual, there is the requisite complaints about the BCS and, naturally, the usual huffing and puffing over a possible playoff and how great it would be.

First off, let’s get one thing clear: College football is imperfect. It is wonderfully imperfect. There’s nothing like it in sports and I don’t like the idea of changing it. For those who want playoffs, I submit to you Sundays and all that comes with it. (A friend of mine asked me if I was going to watch the Cowboys and Packers play the other night. “Not planning on it,” I said. “Why not? It’s a huge game!” said the friend. “It is? So you are saying that the loser won’t be able to win the Super Bowl?” “Well, no. But, it’s a huge game!” “No thanks.” I still have no idea who won.)

So, I will continue to preach against the creeping NFL-ization of the game.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some reforms that can’t take place. I have a few ideas that I think would help the current BCS situation.

1. Schedule Reform

People are always griping about who plays who. You have elite teams playing creampuffs and missing out on winning titles and creampuffs going undefeated and getting no respect. The only way to get rid of it all is to have schedule reform. That means no non-I-A opponents if you want to contend for a title. Everyone’s non-conference schedule should be determined the same way the NFL does it: By seeding teams based on the previous season and giving the weaker teams easier schedules. The top teams would be forced to play a tough OOC schedule and, at the end, there would be no room to complain.

That also means no seven and eight home game schedules. Any team that plays more than six home games should be ineligible for the BCS. Yes, I know, it’s VERY important for teams to turn a buck. Well, if you are an A.D. and making extra money is more important to you than winning a title, then by all means schedule eight home games and don’t win one. Have fun.

Once we get to the point where teams are playing comparable schedules with no distortions due to too many home games or not enough road games, then the bitching about that element of the BCS will decline.

2. Conference Reform

This one is simple. There should be the same amount of teams in every conference. No more of the Big East having eight teams and the SEC having 12 and the Pac-10 having 10. This creates distortions in the schedules which in turn distorts the BCS rankings.

Every major conference should have 10 teams and there should be 12 conferences (mathematically easy with the coming edition of Western Kentucky to 1-A). Then, every conference should play a round-robin schedule, meaning that each team faces every other team within the conference. There would be no conference championship games, so the winner of the conference would be the true winner. Every team would have nine conference games and three non-conference games, which would be determined by the aforementioned scheduling system and a rotating series between conferences (Big Ten vs. SEC; Big 12 vs. Big East, etc.). At the end of the season, there would be 12 true conference champions and the top teams still standing will have truly earned their keep.

I am not against the idea of a plus-one addition to the BCS bowls. Some further tweaking of the BCS would be welcome, too. But until there is schedule reform and conference re-alignment, these distortions will continue regardless of what is done or what is implemented. But no one seems to want to talk about the importance of these issues, even though they really are the main cause of all the dissatisfaction.

It’s not the fault of the BCS, or the bowls, or the polls for all the year-end drama we see. It’s actually the pursuit of easy money by major programs that has caused the national championship process to become harder to decipher for the regular fans who love the game. Simplifying things and making sense out of the schedules and the conferences wouldn’t solve everything, but it would be a good start.

And for once, people might be satisfied that the best team actually won it all.

The latest from Tom Dienhart.

All signs point toward LSU defensive coordinator Bo Pelini being the next coach at Nebraska.

Pelini was one of three people I confirmed through my sources that Nebraska A.D. Tom Osborne interviewed. Buffalo coach Turner Gill and Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe were the others.

Is Pelini really the guy here? I know he is respected in the coaching ranks and that he is of the same defensive lineage as Pete Carroll, but I don’t think Nebraska should resort to on-the-job training for a guy who has never been a head coach (no, his interim stint doesn’t count). Maybe Tom Osborne is trying to save money…

I am 59-61-1 going into the final weekend of the season. Hopefully, I can come out ahead during bowl season. Here are my picks for this week.

Navy (-14) vs. Army–Being a former squid myself, how could I not pick the Middies here?

Navy 42, Army 20

Va. Tech (-4) at BC–I think the Hokies will be too quick and athletic for BC.

Va. Tech 28, Boston College 21

Tennessee (+7) vs. LSU–This will be another close, hard-fought game. The LSU Cardiac Kids squeeze it out.

LSU 30, Tennesee 28

UCLA (+19) at USC–Nineteen is a lot of points and UCLA has Pat Cowan back. So I think UCLA avoids being completely embarrassed.

USC 27, UCLA 9

Oregon St. (Pickem) at Oregon–This seems like a no-brainer to me. Oregon is a shell of the team it once was and OSU isn’t bad.

Oregon State 17, Oregon 13

West Virginia (-28.5) vs. Pitt–This one will get out of hand early and there will be plenty of partying and couch burning in Morgantown on Saturday night.

WVU 41, Pitt 10

BYU (-16) at SDSU–The Chuck Long Rule is hereby invoked. BYU romps.

BYU 38, SDSU 17

Arizona (+7) at Arizona State–Arizona will display its usual late-season toughness and win this one outright in a nailbiter.

Arizona 35, ASU 31

Washington (+13.5) at Hawaii–The Huskies will try to control the ball on the ground, so expect big yardage from Rankin and Locker. Brennan wears down the Husky defense in the end.

Hawaii 42, Washington 35

Missouri (+3) vs. Oklahoma–It’s hard to beat a team twice in one season and the Tigers are playing with great confidence. The Sooners are more talented, but Chase Daniel won’t let the Tigers lose.

Missouri 35, Oklahoma 27

From a Missouri fan:

Mr. Pundit,
Just another quick note…About a decade ago there lived a beautiful princess in England…..yes, she was a princess, but more important than that was that she was the “People’s Princess.” The snooty royalty didn’t think much of her, but the common folk around the world loved her and admired her.

Kerry Hawkins
Columbia, MO

For sure, the national title is the bigger prize here. If that happens, Daniel could always win the Heisman next year, right?

The Football Coaches All-American team is out and one notable omission is Florida quarterback Tim Tebow.

Instead of Tebow, the coaches chose Boston College’s Matt Ryan.

The Football Coaches team is one of five All-American teams that is officially recognized by the NCAA. The other four are The Sporting News, The Football Writers, Associated Press and Walter Camp. If a player makes one of these five–and only one of these five–teams, he is officially an All-American. If he makes all of them, he is a unanimous selection.

All other teams, such as those by ESPN.com, CBS Sportsline.com, SI.com, Collegefootballnews.com, Rivals.com, etc., are not official All-American teams, though that does not stop many schools from pretending they are, which is why you see a lot of bogus claims out there that certain players are multi-year All-Americans and whatnot.

As for Tebow, this should not affect his Heisman hopes. Not every Heisman winner is a unanimous All-American and some barely make the consensus squad. This tends to happen more in years when the race is close or the winner comes on strong from out of nowhere at the end.

I’ll be on KEBC-1340 in Oklahoma City today with Jenni Carlson at 2:20 p.m. PT. Check it out.

Also, I’ve taped a segment on the Speeding Bullet Network discussing the Heisman and college football.

Was wondering about this one tonight.

The media should’ve been discussing the merits of Darren McFadden’s Heisman candidacy this week.

But did the drama surrounding Houston Nutt divert publicity away from McFadden? Possibly. It seems the buzz from the big win over LSU has dissipated and now the spotlight has been on all the turmoil surrounding the program–with the possibility even being raised that McFadden and teammate Felix Jones might boycott their bowl game in protest of Nutt’s being forced out (an issue since smoothed over).

Has there ever been a Heisman winner from a team whose coach wasn’t there to go to the ceremony, much less who was already the announced head coach of another team? I looked through the records and can’t find such a case.

This week’s events could remind voters that, although McFadden had a remarkable season, his exploits were not enough to save his coach. If that’s the case, one has to then ask the question: Are they enough to win the Heisman?