Well, the national championship just got a whole lot clearer, at least in my eyes.

There were three major contenders for the spot to face Ohio State. One team has already gotten beaten by Ohio State, not beaten badly but beaten completely. No need for a rematch.

One team lost to UCLA tonight, and looked pretty shitty in their loss. Obviously they don’t deserve to play Ohio State, and their mediocre conference hasn’t helped. Of course, they are in the largest media market in the world, so I wouldn’t put it past the ratings-hungry BCS and the crooked Pac-10 to finagle something.

One team beat a very tough opponent in their conference championship and looked fairly good doing it, demonstrating a fast, stifling defense and a good supply of necessary trick plays. They have a big-name head coach. They have a freakishly athletic quarterback. They run the spread option.

That team, which should be heading to Glendale, Arizona for the national championship, is the University of Florida Gators.

Now, I’ll admit to thinking the SEC, year in and year out, is one of the toughest conferences in the nation. I’ll also admit that Auburn got screwed, hard, by the BCS in 2004. But I’ll also admit (as will anyone who looks at this thing objectively) that Michigan showed me nothing in their defeat to Ohio State that suggests that there will be a different result should they square off beneath the desert sun.

The short memory of television talking heads aside, there’s no reason to expect Michigan to beat Ohio State after losing the rivalry game and Big 10 championship when they had emotion and the ghost of Bo Schembechler on their side. They had motivation; they were on a roll. Now they’re coming off a long layoff after a defeat, which generally doesn’t help a team maintain a sharp focus.

This is Florida’s time. They’re a prestigious team with a voracious following. They play a television-friendly offense and a fierce old-school defense. In short, they’re the perfect team to place opposite Ohio State, because they both match up so well and have so many weapons on both sides of the ball.

Any other result, quite simply, is bullshit. Florida earned this shot on the field through winning, not by losing, unlike certain pretenders to the BCS title. You can’t back your way into a championship, you should win your way into one. Florida won. USC and Michigan had their shots and failed.

Of course, I expect nothing less than a complete fuckup on the part of the BCS, so consider this pissing into the screaming media wind clamoring for another chance for Michigan to be outclassed by OSU.