The BCS system is not working for college football. Fans don’t like it, coaches don’t like it, the media doesn’t like it and, most importantly, it’s not establishing an unquestioned national champion. I have held a wide array of jobs in my life, some of which I am not proud, but one thing was made abundantly clear to me in each one of those jobs: If you can’t do what is asked of you, there is the door.

So why isn’t the BCS shown to the door?

For the second year in a row, the BCS has failed to establish a clear champion. Last year, LSU and USC went undefeated, so the BCS attempted to “fix” the system for this season. Entering the season, the computer calculation put a greater emphasis on the two human polls — the AP and ESPN/USA Today polls. The result? At the end of this season, we had three undefeated teams — more than last season — in USC, Auburn and Utah. Well, those “fixes” worked well, didn’t they?

The BCS had seven years to come up with a system for choosing a national champion. Seven years! Even McDonalds has higher employee-performance expectations.

Since its inception, the BCS format has remained largely the same, with only minor revisions. That has not worked. Quite simply, the modifications made to the system thus far have failed to impact the final results.

The BCS has tried adding margin of victory, weighting the polls heavier and adding dozens of mathematical formulas all much too complex for this writer to explain. But nothing has changed the debatable outcomes.

It has come down to this: either overhaul the BCS process or drop it entirely. While certainly not of the BCS’s own accord, it appears a version of the former will be the option of choice entering the 2005 season.

In a severe blow to the BCS system, the Associated Press sent a cease-and-desist letter to BCS coordinator and Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg. The letter stated that any further use of the AP Poll by the BCS after Jan. 1, 2005 would instigate immediate legal action. In the letter, the AP also accused the BCS of, among other things, reaping the benefits of the AP Poll while neither sharing in the effort nor obtaining the proper permission.

This argument is clearly a legal tactic used to add some teeth to the AP’s change of heart toward the BCS. The AP never felt the need to take legal action against the BCS in previous years, when the BCS openly used the AP Poll without the direct consent required. But while legal arguments are being used to stop the BCS, the underlying motive is clear. The AP wants nothing to do with the BCS.

But can you really blame them?

The AP is surely connected to the BCS in the minds of fans. Need an example? ESPN news service reported back on Dec. 10 the Charlotte Observer’s decision to discontinue voting in the AP Poll. Executive sports editor Mike Persinger detailed his decision in an editorial claiming fans “bombarded AP voters, including the Observer’s Ken Tysiac, with e-mails imploring them to change their votes.” The situation was supposedly set off when Texas head coach Mack Brown pleaded with voters for a higher ranking for his Longhorn squad.

This was an event the AP could not ignore. You cannot fault Brown for trying to be a P.R. man for his team. I have no doubt Brown surely believed his team deserved to be ranked higher, but what coach doesn’t? And Brown in no way implied that fans should help in the fight to get the Longhorns a higher bid. Fans took it upon themselves to do that.

The BCS has been a laughingstock since it took over the selection of the national-championship-game contenders. Fans vocally chastise the system for its inability to create a consensus national champion. Coaches have begun giving their teams national championship memorabilia despite not being the BCS champions. Perhaps this most recent event was just the final straw for the AP, but they clearly could tell the BCS was failing.

Whatever the reason for the Associated Press’ exit, they certainly have done a service to college football fans across the nation. The BCS must change; the AP has made certain of that. The question now is what they will do.

Without the AP Poll, the BCS is left with only the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll and six computer components. Obviously this system will not, and cannot, stay in place. Early returns have the BCS big-wigs leaning toward a selection-committee system similar to the one used in college basketball for their end-of-the-season tournament. This committee would put together its own top 25, which would replace the vacancy left by the AP.

Popular ideas such as playing one extra game with undefeated teams who played in different bowl games facing each other (think USC playing Auburn this season), or a tournament system seem unlikely. The BCS remains adamant in the belief of their computer system and refuses to acknowledge these ideas as workable.

While the BCS may not be in for an entire overhaul, the replacement of the AP is certainly the greatest change in the BCS formula since its inception. College football fans across the nation should be thanking the AP for forcing the major BCS formula change. Perhaps some change will help ease the negative stigma surrounding the BCS, and even help the BCS crown its first undisputed national champion in three years. All I know is it can’t get any worse.