They ARE the reason for the BCS. They're the reason the post-season can be interesting in the BCS era.
We should not be blaming NIU or even the BCS for how the final BCS bowls got filled out. That blame falls on all of college football for a very mediocre year.
Here's how NIU got where they got and why everyone is so pissed.
1. Overall it's been a very mediocre and down year in college football. I'll explore that more later in it's own section. But for now, if either the Big East or Big Ten had been decent, the most deserving teams would have made the BCS bowls, because their champions would have been ranked appropriately. But because there was so much mediocrity, teams like Kent State and Northern Illinois were able to reach so high in the BCS standings.
2. The MAC was actually pretty good this year. And that's been a few years in the making. The last few years the MAC has been getting better and better. And NIU has been at the lead, winning the last two MAC championships. They beat a lot of AQ teams this year, and they have shown their talent throughout the whole year. They've taken advantage of a down Big Ten/ACC/ and Big East to win some games, and even took advantage of a Mountain West conference with no real dominant team, to step up and take the spotlight.
3. But....here's the real reason why everyone is up in arms. NIU isn't undefeated this year. They lost their season opener to a sucky Iowa, and because of that were never on the radar as a BCS buster. If we look back on the year, people were wondering who was going to be this year's BCS buster. In the preseason, Boise State was ranked high despite having lost some really solid talent. Really, it was their name and program that provided the ranking, and kept them ranked all year despite losing two games. BYU was the other team mentioned, and who was going to play big games with Oregon State, Utah and Notre Dame. Besides the Beaver blow out, BYU had quite a few close games with good teams, but they never got their offense going. Then there was Ohio, who beat Penn State the opening week. They got some ranking and buzz, but then they started losing. Then there was Louisiana Tech who seemed to be having a great year with their wild offense. They lost a close one to Texas A&M, in a rescheduled game that they may have won if it was at the beginning of the year. But they fell out of the rankings, and for good reason they didn't even take 2nd place in the WAC. But then down the stretch Kent State got into the rankings somehow because they kept winning (except a huge loss to Kentucky). Winning all the way to the end, then losing the MAC championship to Northern Illinois. The same Northern Illinois that somehow snuck into the BCS rankings quietly behind Kent State.
If Northern Illinois had been ranked from the beginning of the season, no one would be pissing and moaning. If by week 5 or 6 NIU peaked into the rankings they would have stayed there till now. And they would be ranked higher than they are now, maybe in the top 10.
Hopefully this will turn out like Boise State-Oklahoma Fiesta Bowl and not Hawaii-Georgia Sugar Bowl.
4. Best Bowl of the Season: Poinsettia Bowl!!!! The San Diego State did what no sports writer thought they'd do in the pre-season: Win the Mountain West. SDSU has come a long way. Thanks to Brady Hoke for laying a foundation of work ethic and winning. Then Rocky Long for continuing that, and for making defense important. The Aztecs defense is what won games this year. And their offense hasn't been bad either. The future looks bright, if they end up staying in the Mountain West or going to the Big East, the culture has changed on Montezuma Mesa.
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