Mandel: Hokies could have been a Buzzsaw

SI's Stewart Mandel has a story today comparing the Hokies to The Buzzsaw That Is The Arizona Cardinals. He gives the positives and negatives of the current BCS system and how a playoff could hurt college football rather than help it.

One idea he throws out is the 9-4 Hokies getting hot at the right time, just like The Buzzsaw, and cheapening college football's regular season.

The Virginia Tech Hokies are a more appropriate college parallel to the Cardinals. The Hokies won the ACC last season with a 9-4 record. They were ranked 19th in the final BCS standings and hadn't entered the national-title discussion since the preseason.

However, in a playoff, Virginia Tech would have been guaranteed a berth. (Every other major sport, college and professional, gives first dibs to conference/division champions. College football wouldn't be any different.) Who's to say the Hokies couldn't have gotten hot, pulled off a couple of upsets and won the whole thing?

A national champion with four losses. There goes your "meaningful" regular season.

Just more fuel for the Playoff vs. BCS debate.