First of all, never accuse me of trying to justify the BCS system. I am perennially ranked No. 1 in the annual polls of people who loathe the BCS. That's well documented. 

Here is the reason there is not a conference championship qualification standard. Hypothetical: Let's say Ohio State went 11-1 with its only loss coming to 13th-ranked Illinois. It ends the season as the only 1-loss team in a major college conference and the pollsters vote the Buckeyes No. 1. Then say that Wisconsin went 10-2, with its only losses to non-conference teams. The Badgers, without playing Ohio State in the regular season, win the Big Ten despite languishing outside the top-10 in the polls. Because it doesn't have a conference championship game, Ohio State doesn't get the chance to prove it's better on the field. Should the Buckeyes not be eligible to play for a national title?

The BCS rules are to protect situations such as this, not to elevate a team that wasn't even able to qualify for its own conference championship game. Just because Nebraska played for the title in 2001 despite not qualifying for the Big 12 championship game doesn't mean that mistake should be perpetuated. Everyone knows Oregon got hosed that season. When there are legitmate arguments for the SEC conference champ to be ranked higher than another conference team that didn't qualify to play in the title game, why should another team get hosed just because the rules don't say that it can't be. Be reasonable, people.

Now you can argue all you want that the Big Ten is inferior or that it should have a conference title game. But just because the SEC and Big 12 and ACC decided for financial reasons that they wanted to have a conference championship game doesn't mean that every other conference should be forced to alter its long-standing tradition to follow suit. They knew those games posed a threat to postseason bowls and national title rankings when they created the revenue streams. They have to live with it, not everybody else.

No doubt Georgia could have beaten LSU in the Georgia Dome. But the Bulldogs missed that opportunity by losing to a Tennessee team that is hardly as talented. That's why they play the games. And that's why under the ignorant BCS system as it's set up, we can only argue and never prove who the true champions are.