Unless you're so into Nebraska football that your dog's name is Osborne, it's safe to say you've got some questions about the Bowl Championship Series.

John Minardi and the Buffaloes are probably wishing they could replay their Week One game against Fresno State.(Allsport)

The BCS system showed itself to be more flawed than ever after the events of Sunday. Right now, the Taliban has a better public perception. But how to fix the system? After listening to talking heads, coaches and commissioners spin it every which way Sunday, we locked common sense in a padded room over the weekend and beat it senseless.

Start talking or else ...

Remember, these are merely improvements not cure-alls. After stowing the rubber hose, we came up with these suggestions to take the ghosts out of the BCS machine. We all have to live with it for at least four more years. We might as well make it better.

1. Establish a human oversight committee.

A simple, yet significant, change that would keep a team like Nebraska this year from playing for the national championship.

The HOC would take the BCS numbers into a room for inspection after they are finalized. Much like the NCAA Division I Basketball Committee, the humans would judge which teams are fit to play in the national championship game. The HOC might change things, it might not.

But if the HOC had existed Sunday, common sense would have dictated that Nebraska couldn't go to the Rose Bowl. It would have had to make a hard choice between Colorado and Oregon. But that's what the HOC is for, these specific situations.

Not even Nebraska would be screaming much if it were playing in the Fiesta Bowl. The outrage deservedly belongs to the more accomplished Oregon and Colorado.

First criteria: A team must win its conference. Added weight must be given to that accomplishment when evaluating teams.

What if Sunday's nightmare scenario develops? Say this: If a runner-up for a league title is within two games of the champion (which Nebraska is) it is eligible for the national championship game but the HOC still has final say.

Also to be considered: Point proximity. Based on its head-to-head beating of Nebraska, Colorado should be given special consideration for jumping the Huskers. Say that if a team is within .30 of a point of a team it beat in the regular season for a BCS spot, the HOC should consider jumping that team.

The HOC could be made up of, maybe, five people. One retired football coach, the chairman of the Football Bowl Association (this year it's Rick Catlett of the Gator Bowl), one faculty representative, a rotating commissioner and Keith Jackson. Sound fair?

2. Add one more game after the bowls.

It's possible and the BCS bowls probably would agree to it.

It still keeps the postseason out of the hands of the NCAA because adding an extra game keeps the game in the nether world between the current system and a full-on playoff.

It wouldn't be that hard to take the two best teams after the bowls (once again, let the HOC decide which teams they are) and play an additional game. This year we'd probably be looking at the Rose and Fiesta bowl winners.

Possible venues: Los Angeles Coliseum, Georgia Dome, the Citrus Bowl, the Superdome in New Orleans. Let the cities bid, make more money, an additional game doesn't put a burden on class time. For the most part, the players are still on Christmas break.

Fans get their "true" national champion. The BCS stays intact. Everybody wins including the jilted teams who want a chance to prove it on the field.

3. Let the four winners of the BCS bowls play off.

This is where it gets dicey. The Rose Bowl, for one, is skittish about letting its game become a means to an end.

But this is probably where the BCS is headed sometime after current contracts end after the 2005 season. There will be logistical problems like when and where to play the games but using the BCS bowls as the beginning of an eight-team bracket is not next form of major college football evolution.

4. Divulge the darn formula.

The six power conference commissioners that run the BCS cannot tell you how the process works. Really. Certainly not the real math that goes inside those computer formulas.

There's only one person who possibly knows all the math -- Jeff Sagarin. The BCS formula will never completely be known because the mind behind the Sagarin ratings refuses to divulge his method to anyone.

So if no one knows the math, how do we know it's credible? Do we take it on faith? That's not good enough for college football. We need to see the numbers even if the majority of us would start drooling down our chins trying to figure out the Colley Matrix.

No system is worth squat unless the participants can understand it. As wacky as the NCAA Tournament is, its process is familiar enough that the 65 teams can be figured out by anyone willing to take the time.

Not that Joe Sixpack would understand it, but release the math behind the computer formulas. If the computer geeks refuse to release their precious calculations get new computer geeks.

5. Eliminate the strength of schedule component.

It's redundant. Each of the eight computers has to incorporate some sort of strength of schedule to rate its teams. There is no reason to use it twice.

6. Do away with the rule limiting conferences to only two BCS teams.

A month ago is seemed likely that Texas, Nebraska and Oklahoma would be BCS worthy. There could have been a place for all three. There should have been had each won the rest of its games.

If the critics are dedicated to find a true national champion, there will be years when three teams from a conference deserve to get in -- particularly in the 12-team SEC and Big 12.

Here's a caring way of doing it too. If a third team from a conference gets in, take a portion of that school's bowl revenue -- a large portion -- and distribute it among the non-equity conferences (MAC, WAC, Mountain West etc.). Under the current structure, a conference can earn only $19 million BCS bucks anyway ($13 million for first team, $6 for second), so everything else is gravy.

Let the third team cover its expenses, then take the rest and spread some good will among the have-nots. Yes, yes, we know the BCS already does that. The MAC, for example, gets about half a million a year as a reminder it is virtually shut out of BCS bowl picture.

A little more charity now and then couldn't hurt and might quell those nasty BYU lawsuit threats.

7. A decision on conference championship games.

They are huge money makers for the SEC and Big 12.

The problem is, they can be killers on the field. Texas and Tennessee were knocked out of the BCS this month by lesser opponents. Either every conference plays a conference title game or no one does.

8. Count rematches.

It's stupid that neither Tennessee nor Texas would have gotten quality-win credit for beating their conference title game opponents twice.

Everything else about the BCS counts in those rematches, why not the quality-win thing? The new component was meant to reward teams for playing and beating good teams. If they do it twice in a season they are taking advantage of that conference's system. It might force other leagues to add conference title games.

We suspect that is the trend anyway. The only reason for leagues to expand is to produce more revenue. Conference USA will be the next to have a conference title game. There's always rumblings about the ACC and how it covets Miami. The Big Ten (which has 11 teams, if you're counting) is one school away from being able to split into two divisions and stage a playoff.

When all the top conferences have a championship game that will make it easier to stage a playoff. The problem will be what teams to select. In the short run, the conference upsets are good for business. The Big 12 and SEC each have two BCS participants and could make a case for three.

9. Just tell the truth.

For four years now, we've watched BCS commissioners try to rationalize the vagaries of the system. Each year they tweak the system and a new distasteful possibility arises.

You can't rationalize the BCS flaws, so don't try. Just say that Miami and Washington got screwed last year. Or that Colorado or Oregon should be playing for the national championship this year.

There's so much spin control going on that The Twist is going to make a comeback. Or maybe it should be a tap dance -- around the issues.

We know a playoff isn't coming any time soon but the least they can do is shake it up, baby.