By Bob Markus

Even when the BCS (Bowl Championship Series) gets it right it can't get it right. The BCS did the popular thing--and the right thing--when, for the first time, it invited two nonmember schools to its postseason bowl party. Most college football fans were rooting for TCU and Boise State to be selected for one of the major bowls, all of which are controlled by the BCS. But not against each other.

The whole idea was to give the Horned Frogs and the Broncos, both of whom went undefeated in the regular season, the chance to prove they can play with the big boys. No one cares whether TCU can beat Boise State. What we want to know is whether TCU can beat a Florida, whether Boise State can beat a Georgia Tech or Iowa. Boise State will be playing in its second major bowl, having upset Oklahoma in the Fiesta bowl a few years back in one of the most exciting college games ever played. The Fiesta bowl once more will be the venue and once again Boise State will be the underdog against TCU. It could be an exciting game, but it is totally meaningless. How much more interesting the bowl season would have been had TCU, for instance, gone to the Sugar bowl to play Florida with Boise State squaring off with Big East champ Cincinnati in the Fiesta bowl or ACC champion Georgia Tech in the Orange.

This, of course, was a strange season, with five teams going undefeated. The BCS was lucky to have escaped another controversy when Texas had to kick a last second field goal to defeat Nebraska, 13-12, in the Big 12 championship game and remain undefeated. If the kick had failed, Cincinnati would have been in the national championship game against Alabama and TCU fans would have been livid. Because Cincinnati jumped over TCU in the final rankings on the basis of a last minute 45-44 victory at Pittsburgh. The Bearcats, of course, also ended up undefeated, and presumably moved up because of strength of schedule. Pittsburgh, which had gone into the game 9-2, was a big prize for the Bearcats no matter how slim the margin of victory.

TCU's schedule, while not overwhelmingly difficult, had a few high hurdles that needed to be negotiated. The Horned Frogs won at Clemson, which played in and almost won the ACC championship game, and handled a respectable conference schedule, which included wins at Air Force and Brigham Young and a home victory over Utah. Utah, by the way, destroyed Alabama in the Sugar bowl last year, making it 3-for-3 in favor of non-BCS teams over the last few years. With the TCU-Boise matchup that streak will come to an end. Somebody has to lose. Besides the fans, that is. TCU quite likely could beat any of the other bowl teams on a given day. Boise State had one given day and it was its opening game of the season when it embarrassed Oregon, 19-8. None of the Broncos' subsequent opponents presented much of a challenge, although Nevada was riding the crest of an eight game winning streak when it played the Broncos, who won, 44-33. If there is a difference between TCU and Boise State it probably is on the defensive side of the ball, although Boise State's defense was sensational in the opener when it held Oregon without a first down until the third quarter. Oregon was to lose only one more game all year and will be the favorite to beat Ohio State in the Rose bowl.

The other significant development over an exciting week-end of college ball, was the whittling down of Heisman Trophy candidates to five. Alabama's Mark Ingram appears to be the favorite on the basis of a good, but not dominating game, against Florida in the Southeast Conference title game. . There are those who feel that Stanford's Toby Gerhart, the leading rusher in the nation is better. Count me in that number although I admit my judgment was formed on too little evidence. The only game I saw Ingram play was the Auburn game, when he was mediocre at best. The one game I saw Gebhart play he tore Notre Dame apart.

But that's the trouble with Heisman voting. The voters may see a lot of games, but many if not most see one game a week, because they are working that game. I probably saw Notre Dame more than any other team because they are always on TV and a few weeks ago I opined that Irish QB Jimmy Clausen would get my vote if I had one. But Clausen did not have a good final game against Stanford and Notre Dame finished with a 6-6 record. Clausen would probably be one of the Heisman favorites next year but has decided to enter tne NFL draft, along with his talented receiver, Golden Tate. With their top two players gone, the Irish are going to need their new coach to be the second coming of Knute Rockne if they are to win as many as six games next year.

Oddly, two of the three quarterbacks who went into this season as best bets to win the Heisman are not generating much happy talk, despite the fact their teams went a combined 25-1. Both Florida's Tim Tebow and Texas' Colt McCoy were less impressive than last year and with Tebow losing his last game and McCoy being sacked seven times and almost letting time expire before the Longhorns kicked their season-saving field goal, it would be a surprise if either won.

The fifth candidate is the most intriguing and the player I now think should--but probably won't--be the Heisman winner. He's that boy named Suh that Johnny Cash used to sing about and I don't know if his name helped make him tough, but I do know that Nebraska tackle Ndamukong Suh played the greatest defensive game I've ever seen on a college football field Saturday night. He should change his first name to Kingkong, because he was flinging Texas players around like the giant ape of movie fame. He singlehandedly, well, actually two-handedly, almost beat Texas all by himself. Look at these stats: 7 1/2 tackles for loss; 4 1/2 sacks. In one game! Draft guru Mel Kiper says that Suh will be the first player chosen in the next NFL draft and calls him "as productive a defensive tackle prospect as I can remember in my 32 years in the business." In all the years of Heisman voting there has been only one defensive lineman to win it--Notre Dame's Leon Hart, who also was a standout tight end on offense. Suh would be the first true defensive lineman to win. He says he plans to come back for his senior year and if he does he'll likely be the Heisman favorite next year.