A bizarre, sometimes infuriating college football season came to an end last night with the announcement that Ohio State and LSU have been awarded the top two spots in the final BCS rankings and will therefore face each other for the National Championship on January 7th in the Superdome.

Ohio State reached #1 by beating Michigan the last week of the Big Ten season, then sitting there while other teams knocked each other out. LSU, meanwhile, saw its fortunes tumble after a 3 overtime loss to Arkansas, then rebound in the wake of their SEC title game victory over Tennessee. It couldn't have happened for either team without the cooperation of West Virginia and Missouri, who were the leaders going into the final weekend but both lost.

The final BCS poll shaped up this way:

1. Ohio State
2. LSU
3. Virginia Tech
4. Oklahoma
5. Georgia
6. Missouri
7. USC
8. Kansas
9. West Virginia
10. Hawaii

Virginia Tech and Oklahoma both seemingly had a shot at the end of action Saturday, the Hokies having defeated BC for the ACC title and the Sooners taken down Missouri to claim the Big 12 crown. The computers decided, however, that LSU, ranked beneath Tech but ahead of Oklahoma going into the weekend, should leap-frog all the way from 7th to 2nd by virtue of their victory over the Vols.

The best argument for LSU was that their two losses both came in triple-overtime. Oklahoma was finally done in, it seems, by one late-season stumble against Texas Tech. Virginia Tech had a decent resume but winning the soft ACC just wasn't impressive enough.

I personally would've preferred seeing Oklahoma play LSU for the title. You can argue that neither team played completely up to expectations, but when on their game, I believe those are the two best teams in the country (with USC in the argument there somewhere). Ohio State, I have to say, just doesn't belong in the upper echelon. They walked through the parity-ridden Big 10, stumbling only once to Illinois, then capped it off with an uninspiring win over a four-loss Michigan squad. The Buckeyes seem like a compromise pick - we can't make up our minds which flawed team is best, so we'll chicken out and go with the one-loss club. By that logic, Hawaii should've been vaulted into the top 2, since they have no losses at all. Too bad for Hawaii who would've had a realistic shot to beat Ohio State and claim the most fraudulent championship in the history of the known universe.

The remaining BCS match-ups shake out like this:

• Sugar Bowl: Hawaii vs. Georgia
• Fiesta Bowl: West Virginia vs. Oklahoma
• Rose Bowl: USC vs. Illinois
• Orange Bowl: Virginia Tech vs. Kansas

The BCS likes these Cinderella teams like Hawaii, and Boise State last year. Sorry, but Hawaii will get shredded by the Bulldogs (yes, I know Boise State beat Oklahoma last year). Oklahoma ought to really throttle West Virginia. USC vs. Illinois is just a joke: I mean, come on Rose Bowl, I know you like the Big 10 vs. Pac 10 tradition and all, but when the Big 10 is so bad that Illinois actually finishes second, please do us a favor and pick someone else. And Virginia Tech vs. Kansas: Missouri fans are like, "What the hell? Didn't we at least prove we're better than Kansas?" Apparently not.