Jerry Burnes: The college football season is nearing the end and it’s about to be a bitter end for some of the BCS schools. In the BCS poll alone, there are three undefeated teams within striking distance of a BCS bowl if they stay undefeated, including the MAC team to watch out for: Ball State.

Chris Dertz: Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big supporter of mid-major programs crashing the BCS party, but there’s no way that the bowl committees are going to let more than one mid-major program in. They need the draw of the big-school audiences. One of these teams is going to get in, and it’s not going to be Ball State.

JB: It would be the best thing for the BCS to have more than one mid-major in the big bowls. When Boise State got in and played Oklahoma, they pulled a huge upset. So why not Ball State? For years the BCS has shafted the MAC. Look at NIU: they went 10-2 in 2003 and didn’t make a bowl! It’s time the MAC gets some respect.

CD: I’m not disagreeing with the fact that it’s time for the MAC to get the respect it’s due, but with the BCS’s history of handing it to the MAC, it doesn’t bode well for Ball State. I don’t expect the MAC to get a surprise bid when Big 12 power Missouri didn’t make it in last year. Who did make it in Mizzou’s place? It was Hawaii, which suffered one of the most embarrassing losses in my recent memory.

JB: Consider that Missouri was also replaced by Kansas, a team the Tigers beat during the regular season. Further proof the BCS is whack. Ball State may not have had the toughest schedule, but its two closest games were a 12-point win over Navy and a 17-point win over Western Kentucky. They’re doing all this, too, without their best receiver Dante Love. Quarterback Nate Davis is embarrassing his opponents this year. This momentum will carry them undefeated and into the BCS.

CD: The BCS is whack, but what Boise State did against Oklahoma was as rare as it gets. The BCS is concerned with one thing, which is money, which means it’s all about the ratings. If you want to grab the big ratings, you’re going to set the match-ups between big market schools. We’ve seen that there is a lot of opportunity for parity this season, but it’s too much of a gamble for the BCS to include more than one chance for a mid-major upset. If anything, they’d go with Boise State because the casual fan knows they’ve done it before, and likely doesn’t know jack about Ball State.

JB: Here comes the Dikembe Mutumbo finger wave at this. The casual fan is tired of the drone of the BCS. The Big Ten, ACC, Pac 10 and Oklahoma are jokes and only two Big 12 schools can get in. If they can’t get a good National Championship game, they’re in trouble. It doesn’t matter how the other games turn out. That’s the big money game. But it’s time to wrap this up. The BCS is in trouble. They need to get the big game right this year. No Urban Meyer whining about the standings and no Ohio State. They can afford flexibility in the bowls so they can get those classic upsets from teams like Ball State.

CD: Well, Jerry, I think there is at least one thing we can agree on: sending out a finger wave at the entire BCS.