Syracuse No. 29? You're kidding, right?

I'm not much of a reader. I subscribe to The New Yorker and Vanity Fair, but I'm way behind. Like, I just finished reading the July 19 New Yorker, which had an article on David Ortiz's early-season struggles. (It was kind of funny to read in retrospect, since he finished with 32 homers, 102 RBI and a .270 average.) And I have three books I got for Christmas that I haven't even opened yet.

Anyway, one new book that I do want to read soon is "Death to the BCS: The Definitive Case Against the Bowl Championship Series," by Yahoo! Sports reporters Dan Wetzel, Josh Peter and Jeff Passan, a Syracuse classmate of mine. I mention the Syracuse connection not as a gratuitous name-drop -- OK, maybe a little -- but as a way to finally get to the point of this post:

The fallout from Syracuse's upset over West Virginia shows that death to the BCS would be a very good thing indeed.

After this weekend's stunning victory in Morgantown, the Syracuse football team is 5-2. Our other four victories came against South Florida, Akron, Maine and Colgate (the last two on that list being Division 1-AA schools). The two losses were both blowouts, 41-20 at Washington and 45-14 at home against Pitt just last week.

Even a passing college football fan can see that's not a very impressive resume. But guess who the top-rated Big East team in the AP poll is? That's right, it's Syracuse! (Technically we're tied for West Virginia at 29th, but we just beat them, so screw 'em.)

Five journalists who are paid to follow college football for a living actually think Syracuse is one of the top 25 teams in the land. That's sad enough, but consider that the results of this poll factor into the BCS rankings, which determine the national championship, and it's downright unconscionable.

Everyone talks about the polls and debates which of the many undefeated teams should be No. 1. There's controversy, but for the most part, every team in those discussions deserves to be there.

But it's the little things that really undermine the BCS. There's no way in hell that Syracuse is the 29th-best team in the country. Any poll that says so is a joke, and so is any system that uses such a poll to shape the national title race.