Ugh.

When we hired Bobby Petrino (I say “we” because I am, after all, a Falcons fan; one of the very few left), I had my reservations. I didn’t like that he was coming from college after Nick Saban had just left. To me, Saban was a better coach, and if he couldn’t make it in the NFL, who was to say that Petrino could make it?

Well, 13 weeks later and we got our answer. Petrino dipped less than 24 hours after his nationally televised game on Monday Night Football, a night in which his owner said, “I have more faith in Bobby right now than I did when I hired him.”

With their search currently going on, you’d think Atlanta would smarten up and not take a college guy. They haven’t. Pete Carroll, the great recruiter whose coaching I have to question, interviewed via phone today with Arthur Blank and the Falcons and — obviously not up to sync with Michael Vick’s imprisonment and the team’s aging roster — is actually interested. The story:

Blank, who has also been searching for a general mangager, was expected to offer full control of personnel decisions to Carroll, and the sources said that is what intrigues Carroll most. The coach is currently on vacation in Hawaii.

Carroll spoke with USC sports information director Tim Tessalone on Wednesday and reiterated the he “understands that his name is going to come up for NFL jobs, as it has in each of his past years here, but that he was not going to comment about NFL openings because it would just lead to speculation.”

To make the news even more wonderful to me, they’re going to give him full personnel control, which means a backfield of Reggie Bush and John David Booty, with Dwayne Jarrett and Mike Williams catching everything. For your sake and ours, run, Carroll. Run.

After Oklahoma’s humiliating loss to Boise State last year — though, while it was probably embarrassing, it provided for one of the most memorable college football games ever — in the Sugar Bowl, the Sooner vowed to show up this year. They were going to show the nation just how far they’d come, and they weren’t going to lose to a heavy underdog for a second consecutive year.

So much for that notion.

Under interim coach Bill Stewart, the Mountaineers pasted the Sooners, 48-28, sending another question to BCS supporters: Is West Virginia the best team in the nation?

I know a lot of people are hopping on the USC and UGA bandwagons right now. UGA beat a team that a local high school could compete with, and USC beat up on a Big Ten team that’s two years away from being considered a national threat. West Virginia, on the other hand, has just as many losses as the aforementioned, and beat up on an Oklahoma team that probably ranks in a higher echelon than Hawaii and Illinois.

The rumor is that Stew — that’s what the players know Bill Stewart as — will be the next head coach at West Virginia, and hey, why not? The players love him, and it could be a luring point to draw Steve Slaton back.

One thing I do know, if this guy is hired, he’s the smartest and luckiest guy in America. West Virginia, whether Slaton returns or not (it’s not like Noel Devine is a shabby ‘back), will be a top 5 team in the nation next year. They were my pick to win it this year, and they’ll probably be my pick to win it next year.

Oh, and I think it’s about time we stop inviting Oklahoma to the BCS games. You can’t lose to Boise State one year, get blown out the next, and expect to keep getting invites.

My guess is the same will be said about Ohio State and National Championship games after Monday’s sure-debacle.

(PS: As a Georgia Tech fan, I can’t stand the “Georgia is the best team talk.” Look, the best team they beat had 4 losses — that would be Florida — and in their hardest road game of the season, they got it handed to them by Tennessee. They didn’t lose. They got it handed to them. So stop with the “they’re so hot” talk. They’re only hot because of who they’re playing.)

There were a lot of skeptics out there when it was announced that Hawaii and Illinois would both play in a BCS game, especially given the teams they had to suit up against. I, for one, thought that Illinois had a chance. I hadn’t seen Illinois a whole lot, but I did see them beat Ohio State, and the spurts and clips I saw throughout the season always made them out to be a very fast, quick team.

I was wrong.

Though I wasn’t as wrong as those people that really believed Hawaii actually had a shot. I said when that game was first announced that they’d get killed, and watching last night’s debacle did nothing to disprove that. Colt Brennan, thought to be one of the best quarterbacks in the nation, looked like a scared high schooler running around with no clue of where to throw it.

Two BCS games, two blowouts by the first quarter (in Illinois’ defense, they began to come back in the second half, but I don’t think anyone wearing Trojan red was ever very concerned). Tonight features two teams that should be a bit more evenly matched. I’m a little concerned with how West Virginia will play after a.) somehow losing to a 28 point underdog when they were a game away from playing on January 7 and b.) losing their coach because of that pitiful performance, only to have no replacement to date and c.) because Steve Slaton and Pat White could probably sprain an ankle if a stiff breeze came by these days.

Don’t get me wrong: I like WVU. I picked them at the beginning of the year to win it all, and when healthy, they’re as good and as fast as any team in the nation. Oklahoma packs a serious D, and with the question marks surrounding Morgantown, I just don’t know if they can win it.

At any rate, it’ll be better than any of the two that were played last night. For all the BCS proponents who say January 1 is just “so exciting,” they apparently weren’t watching the same TV I was. I had the USC game turned off by the third quarter, the UGA game by the second.

My pick tonight: I’ll say Oklahoma by 3. WVU is more talented, but Oklahoma’s had a much more. . . well, normal month than the Mountaineers.

The scores of today’s games, minus the Georgia/Hawaii game, which will probably result in a UGA blowout. It’s just underway, but everything else is official. Tomorrow features VT and Kansas.

Wisconsin Badgers 17, Tennessee Vols 21: With it being the 11:00 a.m. game the day after New Year’s Eve, I was a little late to tune in, even being a UT fan. What I watched was a game where Tennessee tried at every possession to give the game away, only for Wisconsin to give it right back. Erik Ainge passed for 365 yards and two touchdowns, 229 of those yards coming in the first half. Tyler Donovan played courageously against the Vols, getting hit every time he seemed to drop back, but finished with only 150 yards passing and one touchdown. It was the Vols first 10-win season since 2004.

Missouri Tigers 38, Arkansas Razorbacks 7: This game was pretty much over before it started. Featuring Felix Jones and Darren McFadden, you’d think one of those guys would have the big day on the ground, but instead Mizzou’s Tony Temple ran all over Arkansas’ D for 281 yards, a Cotton Bowl record.

Michigan Wolverines 41, Florida Gators 35: There was trash talking back and forth, but in the end Mike Hart and Chad Henne made sure to send Lloyd Carr out a winner. Florida’s defense couldn’t do anything all game, and while Tebow and the offense were successful, they often looked out of sync. Percy Harvin finished up with 166 yards rushing to go with 77 yards receiving.

Texas Tech 31, Virginia 28: I watched very little of this game. It was taking place during the Tennessee/Wisconsin game and also during the Michigan/Florida game. Both games featured more high profile teams, but neither was probably as good as this one. Virginia had a ten point lead in the second half, but fell short in the fourth quarter when Texas Tech nailed a game-winning field goal with .02 left.

Illinois 17, USC 49: If you watched this game — or at least the first half, upon which you became as bored as I did — then you saw one team that was really good and one team that was really, really overmatched. Illinois probably shouldn’t have been there in the first place. Illinois will be an exciting team to watch next year, but they never stood a chance in this one.