Pete Carroll calls for a playoff system
USC FOOTBALL
USC's coach would rather have an eight-team postseason playoff than try to figure out what controls the Bowl Championship Series.
There is no yellow brick road for college football teams to follow to the Bowl Championship Series title game.
But that did not stop USC Coach Pete Carroll from repeatedly referencing the Wizard of Oz today when he was asked about the system that determines the teams that will play for the BCS title.
"I don't know who the Wizard of Oz is," Carroll joked during his weekly news conference. "I don't know who's doing this. I don't know who's behind all this."
USC is No. 7 in the BCS standings. The Trojans fell two spots after routing Washington, 56-0, and could be on the outside looking in even if they win the rest of their games. USC plays No. 21 California on Saturday at the Coliseum.
Carroll once again advocated a playoff system for determining a national champion.
"In taking eight teams, you're most likely not going to leave a team out of there that would win the whole thing," Carroll said, adding: "Just three weeks later you can figure it out."
Despite the BCS system, Carroll has not soured on college football.
"I think it stinks; I don't think it's the way it should be," Carroll said of the system. "But all we can do is keep talking about it."
Klein is a Times staff writer.
gary.klein@latimes.com
