Perfection trumps everything

I'm not sure what all the fussing is about because this is simple.

If No.1 Florida State beats Duke in Atlantic Coast Conference and No.2 Ohio State beats Michigan State in the Big Ten Championship game, the should play each other in the BCS Championship Game on Jan 6 at the Rose Bowl.

If both teams win on Saturday, they will be the only undefeated schools in the conferences that make up BCS conglomeration and will have earned the right to play for the national title.

Yet as soon as Auburn pulled off that miracle finish to beat former No.1 Alabama on Saturday, the conversation shifted to making arguments that the one-loss Tigers would deserve a shot in the BCS Championship Game should they beat Missouri, another one loss team, in the SEC Championship Game on Saturday.

"An SEC team can't get left out of the (BCS title game) with one loss," Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs told USA Today Sports. "…A one-loss SEC team that wins in Atlanta (site of the SEC title game) – if it's us or Missouri – you can't get left out of the BCS after you beat the No. 1 team. We have a better argument (than Missouri) because we beat the No.1 team."

I won't bother to point out the extremely self-serving nature of Jacobs' logic, but of course, a one-loss SEC team can get left out of the BCS Championship Game.

If a team from another BCS partner conference is undefeated, it should get top billing over a one-loss SEC team.

If two teams from other BCS partner conferences are undefeated – which could be the case with FSU and Ohio State – they both deserve to go over a one-loss SEC team.

Forget all of the so-called expert analysis, the voting wrangling and computer logic, this is a simple eye test – No loss is better than one loss.

No loss means you handled your business. You went out week after week and passed every test that was put in front of you.

One loss means you did not.

Auburn loss at Louisiana State 35-21 on Sept. 21 and Missouri lost 27-24 in double overtime at South Carolina on Oct. 26.

Neither of those could be called bad loss because of the quality of the opponent, but they are still losses.

Perfect versus Flawed is what we are talking about.

If I were ACC commissioner John Swofford or Big Ten commissioner Jim Delaney, I'd threaten to pull out of the BCS and bring the whole house of cards down if my undefeated champion got short-changed for a one-loss SEC team.

It is about respect and control. The BCS conferences are supposed to be equal partners. The others can't let the SEC feel like it is the superior entity that can set up things the way it wants.

Just listen to the conversation about Ohio State and you can see how a team that has won 24 straight games is being treated like a CYO team because it plays in the Big Ten and not the SEC.

Quietly accepting that a one-loss SEC team can play for the BCS Title over your undefeated champion is meekly allowing the big dog to kick sand in your face and assert his dominance.

The best team doesn't always get to play for the title. On paper, Alabama is probably still the best team but it loss at Auburn on a freaky play in the final seconds and will not be playing for a third straight BCS title.

Last season, everyone knew that Notre Dame was not legitimately the No.2 team, but the Irish handled all their business and deserved the shot at Alabama because they were the only undefeated BCS member.

That's the way it works. A perfect record in BCS football is trumps all other arguments.

If both Florida State and Ohio State can still say that after Saturday, it should not matter that either Auburn or Missouri is going the cry, "But we play in the SEC."