I know the southeast region is all about football, and the state of Alabama is arguably the pinnacle of football.

However, the Butler and Virginia Commonwealth basketball teams are great sports stories.

First, it was last year’s underdog Butler team that came inches from sinking a half-court buzzer beater in the National Championship game against Duke, only to watch the basketball bounce off the front of the rim and hit the hardwood. However, that was one of the years when fans walked away talking about the losing team rather than the winning team. No one talks about Duke’s championship. Fans and analysts talk about the small school from the small conference that almost made history. They talk about the half-court prayer that almost went in and almost became arguably the greatest moment in college basketball history.

This year, Butler returned to the Final Four with a 74-71 victory over Florida on Saturday. Virginia Commonwealth followed with a 71-61 victory over Kansas on Sunday.

However, I have one question. Where is college football’s cinderella story?

Oh, that’s right. The college football world is still being guided by the Bowl Championship Series.

So, you’re telling me that college football would rather have the BCS system than a playoff format to determine a champion? You’re saying that college football would rather have each year’s national championship game be played between the same teams from the same conferences and never a surprise team making an improbable run?

Have fun with that.

Year after year, people argue about the BCS format compared to a playoff format to determine the teams competing for the national championship. Year after year a school from a non-BCS conference puts together a solid team and gets a national championship game snub because their “strength of schedule” wasn’t good enough.

First it was Boise State University in 2006 (and again in 2009). Then, it was Utah in 2008. This past season, it was TCU. All of those teams finished the season undefeated and did not get the opportunity to play for the ultimate prize, the national championship.

If college basketball used the same format for its’ post-season, then the Virginia Commonwealth and Butler stories would not exist.

There would be no half-court shot that almost went in. There would be no story about George Mason’s 2006 Final Four run. There would be no such thing as a “cinderella.” We would have March, but no madness.

I understand people around here love Florida, Alabama and Auburn, three teams from the best conference in college football. The SEC should, and will, always be represented in the national championship game under the current system because of the quality of competition top-to-bottom.

This also is not an argument that Auburn didn’t deserve to be in the championship game or to hoist the National Championship after their 22-19 victory against Oregon. No doubt, Auburn is the national champ. They deserved it. I think they were the best team. But, that’s the point. I think they were the best team. I don’t know if they are, because there was another pretty good team known as TCU that finished the season without a blemish on their record, and some would argue that they have as much right to hoist the hardware as Auburn does.

I also understand that there are Alabama and Auburn fans who grunt and groan at the mere mention of Boise State or TCU in national championship discussions. But the fact remains that under the current post-season format there is no fairness or equality, and the legitimacy is questioned each year.

This year’s college basketball tournament has been one of the best, and probably one of the most watched, in recent memory. I don’t remember so much unpredictability, so many brackets busted, so many analysts left speechless, so many life-defining moments for the college kids, so many moments that will appear on highlights for years to come, so many games coming down to the final shot, so many quality basketball players and teams battling tooth-and-nail just to survive and advance to the next round to do it all over again. This tournament has defined exactly why the sports world calls it “March Madness,” and why it is perhaps the best three weeks in sports.

I think it’s time college football took notice.

In a playoff format, we can settle the debate on the field. We can settle the argument about who the best team is on the field. Of course, the details for how to make the playoff would make the tournament, and how many teams could qualify. However, if done correctly, it would provide an exciting (and appropriate) post-season to compliment an already exciting regular season. Who knows? We could have had a small school *cough* Nevada or Central Florida *cough* make the tournament and take the role as a cinderella.

Promising the non-BCS schools an at-large berth to a BCS bowl game is not enough, not after seeing what Butler and Virginia Commonwealth did. It’s nice to give the schools some exposure in a Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl or Sugar Bowl, but it’s still not a shot at the National Championship. There’s no chance to play for the ultimate trophy. It’s just a feeble attempt by the BCS head honchos to please the smaller, non-BCS schools and “everyone should get a shot” proponents. It worked for some people for a few years, but it’s time to call a spade a spade and change the format.

Did you ever hear of Virginia Commonwealth before this weekend? Did you ever hear of Butler before last year? No, hearing the word “butler” made people think of a servant in a large household. Now, all sports fans think of the half court shot and the school from Indiana that kept shocking the world in the month of March.

Will these teams ever be given a 1-seed, or a 2-seed, or even a 3-seed in the NCAA Tournament? No, but they’re given a seed, which means they have a shot. They have the chance to make an incredible run, and write an incredible story.

Now, each year when March rolls around, fans will ask the same question: Who will be this year’s “Butler?” Who will be this year’s “Virginia Commonwealth?”

But college football doesn’t have a Butler, or a Virginia Commonwealth, and under the BCS I don’t think it ever will.

Think about this. The University of South Alabama will join the Sun Belt conference in 2013. They haven’t lost a game yet, albeit they haven’t played a team even remotely as good as a team from the SEC. However, they’re pretty good; and in a few years, I think they’re going to be really good. They just added Bryant Vincent, the former Spanish Fort High School head coach who led the Toros to the Alabama Class 5A State Football Title, as the Tight Ends Coach, and recruited Ameriol Finley, the quarterback for the Toros championship team. They just had their first player invited to the Senior Bowl in January, and they’re continuing to build. They play North Carolina State University on Sept. 17, undoubtedly the toughest game yet in the school’s young football program. I’m not saying they are going to win, but I’ll put myself out there and predict they will stay competitive and hang with the team from the BCS conference for most of the game. It will be a sign of things to come.

Let us fast forward to 2017 or 2018. The Jaguars hypothetically finish an undefeated regular season, and college football experts begin raving that the Jags have a strong team that can compete with anyone. But when it comes to the national title game, they are on the outside looking in, because under the BCS only certain teams from certain conferences matter.

South Alabama could be college football’s version of Butler. It’s too bad the BCS system has to step in the way and keep college football’s cinderella story from being written.

Devin Golden is a staff writer for The Onlooker. Reach him at dgolden@gulfcoastnewspapers.com.