Unofficially, Tim Brando of CBS cast the first stone against the crummy and convoluted BCS system that everyone despises greatly. At some point during Georgia-Tennessee, CBS cut to the studio and Brando showed a highlight or two of the Texas victory over Oklahoma. Though we don’t have the exact wording, Brando talked about the inevitable logjam of teams in the mix for the title game and called the morass a “flawed BCS system,” which made us chuckle.

Texas and Alabama are universally considered No. 1 and No. 2, though not necessarily in that order. But the Longhorns have four ranked opponents remaining on the schedule, and maybe the league title game; Alabama has two ranked opponents left and perhaps the SEC title game.

Which is why, right now, the team with the inside track to the title game is USC, which has quietly crept to No. 4 because, ostensibly, they have the best players. Since losing at Oregon State, the Trojans have dismantled two average Pac-10 teams, and the combined record of their remaining opponents is 19-23. Only one of their four remaining road opponents has a winning record.

We mock the Big 10 plenty, and with good reason (weak athletes, Michigan, Rich Rodriguez, Ohio State, etc) – but for the remainder of this season, we’re shifting all those jokes to the Pac 10, which is downright abysmal right now. All that talk earlier this season about USC maybe going unbeaten and not playing for the national title? The opposite will be true – the Trojans will play for the title despite being in the worst major conference in the country.

Today, we’d guess that opponent might be Penn State, which appears to have enough offense to beat Ohio State in a few weeks in Columbus, and doesn’t have to play a league title game. But don’t hold us to that – if you ask us next Monday, we might say BYU. We’d calmly write that a playoff is absolutely necessary, but calm, rational, and BCS are not allowed to reside in the same sentence.