BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - Shame on Kirk Herbstreit.

Shame on the ESPN analyst and every college football observer that howled Sunday night because Northern Illinois earned an at-large BCS bid to play ACC champion Florida State in the Orange Bowl.

That's right. I said "earned."

By the rules of the BCS, the champion of the MAC, C-USA, Mountain West, Sun Belt or WAC earns an automatic BCS berth if it's ranked in the top 12 of the final BCS standings or if it's ranked in the top 16 and that's higher than the champion of a conference with an automatic bid.

Louisville was the Big East champ at 10-2 overall and 5-2 in the league. The Cardinals were No. 21 in the final BCS rankings.

Northern Illinois won the MAC at 12-1 overall and 8-0 in the league and finished No. 15.

Period. End of story. College football's ruling elite created a tiny window of opportunity for the little guys to slip into a BCS bowl - to avoid serious antitrust scrutiny - and the Huskies crashed right through it.

Herbstreit and other haters didn't seem to care. They poured acid on the biggest moment in Northern Illinois football history.

"The fact that Northern Illinois is in the BCS in 2012 is really a sad state for college football and where we are with the current system," Herbstreit said. "Thank goodness we're moving toward a new system in 2014. They don't deserve to be in the BCS this year.

"Are you kidding me with Northern Illinois playing in the BCS? There are two things here that stand out. Northern Illinois -- no one knew they were playing until they got to the Toledo game two weeks ago. ...

"I love (quarterback) Jordan (Lynch), and it's a great team. But you're going to leave Oklahoma out to put Northern Illinois into a BCS bowl game? Are you kidding me?"

Yes. By all means. Let's go to bat for an Oklahoma team that lost the two biggest games it played all season to Kansas State and Notre Dame, both at home, by the way. Let's pity the Sooners, whose punishment for missing a BCS bowl is playing a marquee opponent in Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl in the best stadium in the country in Jerry World as the only game on the schedule on Jan. 4.

"To leave teams out like Georgia and Florida and Texas A&M and Oklahoma?" Herbstreit said. "All of us want to see those teams in games that matter, in the BCS bowl games, and you're going to give us Northern Illinois."

Herbstreit knows the BCS has a limit of two teams per conference, and games that matter? Seriously? Beyond the BCS Championship Game, these are all glorified exhibitions.

"To put them in the BCS is an absolute joke to the rest of these teams who are more deserving," Herbstreit said. "Iowa's the worst team in the Big Ten. They lost to Iowa. I can't even believe we're having this discussion."

True. Northern Illinois did lose its opener 18-17 to an Iowa team that finished 4-8. The Huskies then won their next 12 games, including the MAC Championship Game. The voters in the coaches' and Harris polls put the Huskies at No. 16, ahead of the likes of Nebraska and Michigan.

"I hate to just jump on top of them," Herbstreit said. "I love MAC football. Don't get me wrong. But to put them in the BCS is an absolute joke to the rest of these teams who are more deserving."

Deserving has nothing to do with bowl selections, and Herbstreit knows it. Why didn't he turn his guns on Wisconsin, which played in the Big Ten Championship Game only because Ohio State and Penn State were on probation and ineligible for the postseason? The Badgers, who finished third in their division and sixth overall in the Big Ten during the regular season, are going to the Rose Bowl with five losses.

Do they deserve to be in the BCS? And what about Nebraska? The Cornhuskers lost the Big Ten Championship Game to Wisconsin 70-31, yet they get a sweet date with Georgia in the Jan. 1 Capital One Bowl.

How about killing the entire bowl system for that reason?

Oh, that's right. Herbstreit played in the Big Ten for Ohio State.

His rant was just as thoughtless and heartless as Jay Bilas and Dick Vitale - two more ESPN elitists - shredding UAB and VCU when the Blazers and Rams earned at-large bids to the NCAA Basketball Tournament two years ago. VCU, of course, made a memorable run to the Final Four.

In each case, the voices of the establishment sounded insulted. They did more than attack the process, which, in the case of the BCS, has been fatally flawed from the start. They spit on the players on those teams whose dream had just come true.

Herbstreit, Bilas and Vitale, at least during those rants, resembled people that say they love America but hate Americans that look, talk and think differently than they do.

All the more reason to love Northern Illinois.

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