Well, today is the big day. It's the day when the Senate gets together to attempt to solve our biggest national crisis: college football's method of determining a champion.

Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah thinks the BCS might violate antitrust laws, giving Congress a reason to hold a hearing about it. Also, it's a good chance to suck up to his constituents back in Utah. Kind of like Texas Rep. Joe Barton.

Now, we get to sit back and watch as two of the least popular institutions in America do battle. Just what we all need -- government control over the "communist" BCS.

Sports Illustrated's Stewart Mandel wrote an excellent column condemning the hearings as a waste of time.

From Mandel:

At its core, the BCS is basically one big TV contract between the four major bowl games and the nation's most marketable conferences, nearly all of which were already in business together long before they decided to stage a No. 1 vs. No. 2 championship game. Hatch claims "the BCS system denied [undefeated Utah] a chance to play for the national championship," but in actuality, the title game was open to anybody. No rule prevented the coaches and Harris Poll voters from tapping Utah for the title game had they seen fit, though the Utes' chances were unquestionably hurt by the stigma of playing in a so-called "non-BCS" conference.

And to continue off that, let's turn to Tony Barnhart of the Atlanta Journal Constitution, who points out that Mountain West coaches like Joe Glenn (No. 5), Rocky Long (No. 7), Gary Patterson (No. 7) and Utah's own Kyle Wittingham (No. 5) didn't even consider the Utes worthy of the title game.

Mandel also refers to Harvery Perlman's interview, which points out that any government action would probably move the BCS even farther away from playoffs and back to the pre-BCS days of bowl tie-in and split national titles.

Yes, just about everyone wants a playoff. But this is not the way to make it happen.

Now I am far from an expert on antitrust laws. In fact, I know next to nothing about the topic. But all indications are that the BCS does not violate any sort of antitrust law, and we're simply seeing a waste of the Senate's time.

Finally, let's turn to the Wall Street Journal's editorial, which nicely points out the absurdity of the entire situation:

College football would be better off if those who run the BCS could recognize that the calls for playoffs are being fed by the precision their system implicitly promises but can never deliver. And Americans would be better off if Republican legislators devoted their energies to reforming our antiquated antitrust laws instead of looking for silly new ways to apply them.

Tune in tomorrow for more on this charade.

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Quick hits:
-Jewel Hampton, Iowa's replacement for Shonn Greene, is apparently "OK" after suffering a knee injury last week during workouts. After answering the door, he also said, "Coach said not to talk to reporters."

-ACC commissioner/BCS coordinator John Swofford answered 10 questions with RealClearSports.

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Video of the Day:
The video quality is pretty lousy, but here's a random Penn State football moment for the day. Eric McCoo bounces the ball to himself on the way to a touchdown:

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-Matt Brown