And the reality is ...

Many, many people will say --- and even stories will be written --- that West Virginia's BCS bid in the 2010 college football season came down to a kicker from Connecticut booting a 52-yard field goal through the Tampa air late Saturday night.

It didn't.

Not even close.

West Virginia's BCS bid came down to three errant passes against Syracuse on Oct. 23 and a night in East Hartford when the Mountaineers seemed allergic to holding on tightly to the football and put it on the floor seven times.

The reality is that the BCS bid for the Mountaineers wasn't really pulled from them when that kick split the uprights at Raymond James Stadium --- it was lost during a late-October two-game stretch when these Mountaineers couldn't get out of their own way.