Heavily scrutinized since its inception more than a decade ago, the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) has proved once again to the college football nation why it would be more accurately named if the ‘C’ were removed from the acronym.

Although the first official BCS rankings will not be released until next week, projections released Sunday show what the BCS rankings would look like if they came out this week.

With previously No. 1-ranked Alabama surrendering its unblemished record, because of a loss at South Carolina on Saturday, the Crimson Tide left the door wide open for Ohio State to roll into the top spot.

And being dubbed the No. 1 team in the nation by the Associated Press, Harris and USA Today polls, one would figure it’s safe to assume the Buckeyes would find themselves claiming that rank.

However, thanks to the ever-perplexing BCS, OSU checks in at No. 5 in this week’s projected BCS standings.

After witnessing the Buckeyes steamroll nearly every team in their path so far this season, save for a hiccup in Champaign, Ill., I saw no reason as to why OSU wouldn’t sit atop the rankings.

When I turned on ESPN’s “BCS Countdown” on Sunday night, the Buckeyes holding down the projected BCS No. 1 spot was a foregone conclusion in my mind.

Shame on me for thinking a ranking system more messed up than Lindsay Lohan could actually get something as simple as this correct.

Instead, the crack system enlisted by the BCS has Boise State and TCU hailing from such “perennial powerhouse” conferences as the “highly feared” Western Athletic Conference and Mountain West Conference ahead of the Bucks.

That is absurd.

Some of the top Ohio high school football teams might stand a chance against the likes of Utah State (WAC), New Mexico (MWC) or any of the other cupcake, sub-par schools Boise State and TCU play week in and week out. This is not to discredit the aptitude of the WAC or Mountain West, but top to bottom, there is a reason the Big Ten is a BCS conference and those other two aren’t.

Now, I am not saying there is a perfect system out there that will be the answer to all of the problems the BCS presents. What I am suggesting is, if there is such a big discrepancy between fantasy (BCS) and reality (all other polls), it appears as though now is as good a time as any for the NCAA to kick the BCS to the curb and look elsewhere to solve ranking issues.