As media companies work towards bigger and better ratings to fuel bigger and better revenues, sports leagues as a whole also do the same.

One major contributor that has proven over and over again to help fuel interest and ratings is controversy.

Exhibit A: Erin Andrews

The superstar ESPN reporter Erin Andrews has been big for several years as a result of her personality and solid reporting on the sidelines of college football games.  There was one event, however, that arguably helped catapult her career even further: the peeping tom scandal where some pervert took pictures of Erin Andrews in her hotel room.

While I’m not suggesting that this was a positive thing in any respect (it was a horrible, disgusting act), and I’m sure EA wishes it never happened, the controversy of the event absolutely made her a bigger name.  She went on to be a main part of a season of Dancing With The Stars, was “promoted” to anchor part of ESPN’s College GameDay, and now even does work on ABC’s Good Morning America.  She’s bigger than ever.

Interestingly, EA looks to be getting better at the publicity game as she has helped fuel the latest rumor that she might be the next Bachelorette.

Exhibit  B: NCAA College Basketball Selection Committee

While not exactly controversial in the same sense as the previous example, everyone loves to argue about who gets left out of the tournament each year in March Madness.  The Selection Committee makes their picks and there are always some teams on the outside looking in that feel like they should have been in the tourney.

You could make the case that the NCAA likes this annual conversation because it draws more interest to the tournament (not like it needs much help).  The teams that people argue shouldn’t have gotten in now maybe get a few extra eye balls when viewers want to see if they were deserving.

Exhibit C: The BCS

Nothing is more hotly debated than the top two teams in the country every year in college football.  It’s the same discussion every single year, just with different teams.  It’s both an absolutely maddening conversation but also thoroughly enjoyable, and I’d be pissed if it went away.

The controversial manner in which the top two teams get “selected” to play in the national championship game fuels countless hours of sports talk radio material and even more hours of college football banter between friends.  It absolutely fuels interest in college football.

The BCS is genius in this respect.  How many times did I write about Boise State last year (before they lost) saying how they are terrible and undeserving of consideration in the national picture?  Plenty of times.  It fueled my interest in Boise State.  I wanted to watch them more and see them with my own eyes so I could back up my argument (or ruin it).

The bottom line is that controversy absolutely fuels interest in anything, especially sports.  Whether it is the exclusive membership rules at Augusta or sketchy text messages from an iconic NFL QB, controversy leads to headlines which tend to dominate our discussions and our focus.  It’s a whole new world in sports.

Essentially, Boise State would have gone to a BCS bowl bringing in millions to the WAC conference which then gets distributed to the teams including Nevada.

Soooooo…. maybe they should have thrown the game?

I imagine that Boise is not just out of the title game but out of the BCS bowls completely.  I’ll do some further research on this.  This means that a second Big Ten team probably gets in to the BCS bowls (i.e. Ohio State).

There’s a good chance we don’t mention the two words Boise State on this site until next season’s opener against Georgia.

Auburn had to go play Alabama in Tuscaloosa in front of 100,000 Alabama fans.  Alabama has a former Heisman trophy winner, numerous future NFL stars and a former NFL coach Nick Saban.  Ok, legitimate hurdle.

Boise State?  They have to play Nevada.  They’re lead by a quarterback that was drafted by the Chicago Cubs!!!  They must be tough right?  And, that stadium!  Is there a more terrifying place to play in all of college football?  In all the world?  You decide.  You can see the stadium below:

Yikes!

First up.  The Iron Bowl.  We’ve discussed this at length, and have even had 500 people guess the score for this game this week in order to win some cash.

The bottom line is Auburn needs to win this game.  This year’s BCS action has too many variables to guarantee Auburn gets into the title game even as a 1-loss SEC Champion.  It can happen, but again it’s no guarantee.

Reminder: The Iron Bowl pitting the Auburn Tigers vs the Alabama Crimson Tide is at 2:30pm eastern time on CBS.

The other top team in play on Friday is Oregon.  Oregon plays #21 ranked Arizona.  It’s basically the last time Oregon might lose since their last game is against unranked Oregon State.  If Auburn and Oregon win out, they’ll play eachother, so be sure to check out Oregon this friday.

Reminder: Oregon plays Arizona on ESPN at 7:00pm eastern time.

Now, I don’t often recommend you watch Boise State, but I’m going to today.  Boise State plays essentially the only other good team on their schedule (besides VTech from week 1) in Nevada.  Thankfully, they are playing at Nevada so you won’t strain your eyes watching the game on that stupid blue field.

There is upset potential, but I imagine Boise wins.  The degree to which Boise State wins – if in fact, they do win – could have ramifications on Boise getting into the title game depending on what happens with Auburn.

Reminder: Boise State plays at Nevada at 10:15 pm eastern on ESPN.

Now, as I sit here thinking about these games today.  I have to admit, I doubt today will go as planned.  If past years are any indication, things (and rankings) can often get mixed around the last week and the teams you think are going to play for national championships can sometimes go out the door and new contenders are thrown in at last second.

Everyone is picking Auburn to be the one to lose, but there’s a small part of me that says Oregon might be the one getting upset here today.

You’ll have to watch to find out.

Enjoy the rare Friday college football today.