Almost a year ago, I wrote a column in which I ranted, raved and basically said that the BCS was the devil and that it had created a national title game that certainly wasn’t one after Miami had easily disposed of Nebraska.

The Cornhuskers had somehow earned the No. 2 BCS ranking while teams like Colorado and Oregon were clearly better. Everybody went home unhappy last year — well, everyone except the Hurricanes, that is. Fortunately, things have changed this year.

While I still stand by my original statement that the BCS is inherently flawed, and that for college football to remain healthy in the long run, a playoff system will need to be implemented, I would be amiss not to say congratulations to the BCS big shots for getting it right this year.

Earlier this week, Wisconsin was invited to the Alamo Bowl. ‘Good for Wisconsin,’ you say, but it wasn’t the only team glad to hear the news. In order for Wisconsin to be invited, it meant that Iowa had been assured by the BCS that it would receive an at-large bid in one of the BCS bowls.

Should that be a surprise? No, it shouldn’t. Any team that is ranked No. 3 in the nation, having lost only one game, shouldn’t be worried about playing in one of the top four bowls, but it was.

Just last week, and even early in the week, there was a popular notion around the country that Notre Dame was somehow going to sneak into the Orange Bowl in place of Iowa.

Perhaps bowl makers were thinking of putting the team in on the basis of it having the 86th-ranked scoring offense; after all, it is only 80 teams behind Iowa’s sixth-ranked offense that puts up nearly 39 points per game. Only Miami and Oklahoma are better amongst teams playing in a power conference.

Well, maybe it was Notre Dame’s great defense that nearly had the team in the national spotlight. Yes, its defense is good, but Iowa’s defense only allowed, on average, two points more each game.

Notre Dame finished the season 10-2, while the Hawkeyes were 11-1. Iowa will get the nod for the Orange Bowl when it is announced next week because of Notre Dame’s last loss.

It is not because of the loss itself but because of the nature of the loss. The Irish were simply whipped by the USC Trojans to the tune of 44-13. Certainly not the kind of outing that you can have and expect to get into a BCS game.

Irish fans are left wishing that the score against the Trojans had been a little bit closer. Perhaps, if the Irish had lost by a more-respectable seven or 10 points, and let’s face it, that is all that it would have taken for the Big Ten and the Hawkeyes to get the proverbial shaft.

However, there were a lot of reasons that the Irish might have gotten by the Hawkeyes. They began the season relatively absent from the college football horizon. The Irish were fresh off some of the worst years in the program’s history, and no one could expect much from them.

Well, no one other than newly hired head coach Tyrone Willingham. Willingham magically, and quickly, transformed the Irish back to one of college football’s powerhouses.

It wasn’t a matter of getting publicity, either. The Irish have their own network (NBC) to cover just their games each and every week. With a rich heritage and a national TV audience, it becomes easy to see why BCS bowls were drooling over the prospect of getting the so-called “America’s Team” of college football involved in the championship series.

After all, who wants to see the lowly Hawkeyes, anyway?

I do, and any real college football fans should want to see it as well.

Having been on hand to see the Big Ten’s best teams play the Badgers throughout the season, there is no comparable team in the league. Iowa is the best team in the league, and the football gods have ordained that Ohio State will not face them. What a tragedy that is — it is a tragedy that could only be larger if Iowa was denied its moment in the spotlight.

It has the best player in the country in Brad Banks, a good defense and an exciting offense. The decision has been made, and for once the BCS has done its job to perfection. Two teams remain undefeated (barring a Miami letdown) and will face off in the championship. The two at-large bids will be going to USC and Iowa, despite the best efforts of some to turn the BCS into a popularity contest.

I applaud you, BCS — you have done your job. Consider yourself safe for at least one more year … then again, there is still one more weekend of football. What’s the saying — don’t count your Hawkeyes before they are hatched?