The Oklahoma State Cowboys had a clear shot at playing for the National Championship, but tonight they lost to the Iowa State Cyclones in overtime, 37-31.

The game was played in the aftermath of a tragic plane crash that claimed the lives of women’s basketball coach Kurt Budke and assistant Miranda Serna. This tragedy came shortly after Oklahoma State commemorated the 10-year anniversary of the deaths of 10 men affiliated with its men’s basketball team.

In this somber setting, Oklahoma State took a lead but then blew it in the fourth quarter. The Cyclones stormed back and tied the game, but OSU had a chance to win it late in the fourth quarter with a field goal. On television it looked liked the field goal might be good as the ball sailed above the upright but it was called no good.

In overtime, Iowa state stormed out with a quick touchdown, but then Oklahoma State matched them. The the Cowboys got the ball again, but this time Brandon Weeden hit star receiver Justin Blackmon in what seemed like a perfect spot with a pass, but it bounced off of Blackmon’s hands and was intercepted by Iowa State. The Cyclones then quickly took advantage, scored a touchdown, and ended OSU’s great run.

Again, Oklahoma State showed serious holes on defense. I don’t know what’s happened to the Big 12 over the past 10 years, but the league looks like a flag football league at times. You don’t see tough, physical defense, so maybe Oklahoma State wasn’t the team to take on mighty LSU. Brandon Weeden threw three interceptions and didn’t play very well thus hurting his chances for the Heisman Trophy.

The result is BCS chaos. For those of us who think the current system is a joke, the upcoming discussions about which one-loss team “deserves” to play LSU if LSU wins out will be annoying as hell. At the same time, this scenario provides further ammunition for all of us who want the system to change.

We’ll have to listen to countless debates over whether Alabama deserves to pay in the title game, pitting two SEC teams in the final game. While this will get the most discussion, it’s also not likely if Oregon wins out just because most people would hate to see an all-SEC title game.

That cigar smoke you see floating over your house is coming from BCS headquarters, where they’re lighting them up at a furious pace for the second straight season.

Boise State lost to TCU 36-35 today, and just like in last year’s shocking loss to Nevada, the Broncos missed a very makeable field goal at the end of the game. This time, it was Dan Goodale who missed a 39-yard kick as time expired to give the Horned Frogs the win in stunning fashion.

Like last year, the Boise State defense gave up a late lead, and that’s probably where a lot of the blame lies. But watching Goodale miss that kick certainly had to give Boise fans flashbacks to Kyle Brotzman’s miscue against Nevada. One big difference with this is that unlike Brotzman, Goodale hasn’t built up a ton of goodwill around campus for having been a spectacular kicker throughout his career.

The loss puts an end to any hopes the Broncos had of possibly squeezing into the national title game, and probably douses all hopes of getting into a BCS game at all.

And how’s this for schadenfreude? The game was played in Boise only because the Mountain West was trying to stick it to TCU as it was set to leave for the Big East. That worked out well, didn’t it?

No. 3 Oklahoma couldn’t overcome an early deficit as they lost to Texas Tech 41-38. The much-hyped Sooners’ defense gave up 572 total yards to the Red Raiders along with the 41 points, pretty much destroying any notion that they belonged in the National Championship game. Meanwhile Landry Jones completed 30 of 55 passes in the shootout for 412 yards and 5 touchdowns against one interception.

This result will shake up the BCS rankings, as No. 4 Wisconsin also lost a heart-breaker to Michigan State. Few people have been talking about No. 8 Stanford, but with Andrew Luck at the helm, they might pose the most interesting challenge to the eventual SEC winner if that’s how things play out. Last night Luck barely had to break a sweat in Stanford’s 65-21 thrashing of No. 25 Washington, as the running game for Stanford exploded for 446 yards and 5 touchdowns.

Of course the entire BCS discussion is ridiculous. Oklahoma is still a very good team, and if we had a sensible 8-team playoff for example, the Sooners would have a chance to redeem themselves and learn from this loss. Unfortunately, that notion doesn’t exist often in college football unless everyone ends up losing a game.

Depending on when you read this, Boise State is either beating on Colorado State or just beat on Colorado State. Either way, we’re that much closer to an inevitable conclusion: The Broncos aren’t going to lose this year and will play in a BCS bowl.

Here’s the schedule for Boise State, and I dare you to find a loss there. Here’s a hint: There isn’t one. TCU was supposed to be the big one, as these two teams have carried the non-automatic qualifier flag for the past few years, but the Horned Frogs are a shadow of their former selves.

Yes, anything can happen, but it won’t. Boise State is going to finish 12-0 and probably in the top three in the human polls. They won’t play for the national title because their schedule isn’t strong enough to put them ahead of any of the other unbeaten teams, or a one-loss SEC team, for that matter. And, frankly, I don’t think it should.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge Boise State supporter. I think what the Broncos have done in the last decade is remarkable and the deserve to be discussed along with the top programs in the country. Staying consistent in a good conference is hard. So is staying consistent in Idaho. But it would be really hard to put them ahead of an undefeated Oklahoma or Wisconsin team at the end of the season.

They deserve a shot at the top prize, but until people wise up and we get a playoff, they won’t get it. And, frankly, in the system we have, they aren’t doing enough to get one.

The mess in college football keeps piling up. Real Sports on HBO has a new expose on how the “nonprofit” college bowls spend money like drunken sailors entertaining conference and school officials. We’ll have more on that later.

In the meantime, one of the disclosures from Real Sports involved improper expenditures by the Sugar Bowl for campaign purposes, something that violates tax laws given their nonprofit status.

An HBO “Real Sports” investigation has prompted the Allstate Sugar Bowl to self-report tax law violations it committed by purchasing three $1,000 tickets to fundraisers for then-Gov. Kathleen Blanco in 2004 and 2006.

Under its non-profit charter, the bowl is not allowed to contribute to political campaigns, and such actions also are against bowl policy, according to a release from the bowl.

At the time of the fundraisers, the Sugar Bowl was receiving approximately $1 million annually from the state as a “cooperative endeavor” that helped fund team payouts. The arrangement, which predated Blanco’s term, was rescinded two years ago at the Sugar Bowl’s request.

The release also stated that the money has been refunded from Blanco and those funds have been donated to the National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete fund.

Chief Executive Officer Paul Hoolahan and current bowl president Lance Alfrick declined to elaborate beyond the release, but immediate past president Dave Melius called the violation “an accident.”

“Obviously, nobody had any idea,” Melius said. “You have to understand we have an organization with about a $14 million budget, and we’re spending $14 million a year in about a zillion different ways on a lot of things we’re supporting. There are thousands of checks written, and one check goes out that didn’t go through the correct process.”

This is the same Sugar Bowl that lobbied to have 5 suspended Ohio State players be permitted to play in the 2011 Sugar Bowl.

It’s becoming clear that the “nonprofit” status of these bowls is a complete fraud. They don’t care about college kids – they simply care about money. It will be interesting to see where that $14 million is really going as we get more scrutiny of this corrupt bowl system.