TEMPE, Ariz. -- The proponents of the Bowl Championship Series are storming the fortress of public opinion, muskets blazing and hard drives whirring. The high ground occupied all season long by tradition-bound naysayers and playoff pundits is nearly overrun.

	Kevin Loadman and the Buckeyes retain slight hopes of raising a national championship banner.

With only the Fiesta Bowl left, the BCS and its backers have found vindication following a year of questions about the complicated computer-driven system created to ensure a No. 1-versus-No. 2 pairing in the season's final bowl game.

What some saw as a perfect parable for sport in the '90s -- corporate cash and broadcast muscle turning a deaf ear on the past -- now has carved out a legitimate place in the game.

Many have voiced their opinion, but Tennessee's Phillip Fulmer and Florida State's Bobby Bowden have the only real say in the finish of the inaugural BCS season. And with Monday night's national championship Fiesta Bowl rapidly approaching, each says the system has been a success.

Examining the postseason, you can hardly argue with them.

Several former BCS contenders that spent the season trying to quiet a chorus of criticism have been cast aside.

A Kansas State team lacking big-game credentials lost 37-34 to unranked Purdue in the Alamo Bowl.

UCLA, with a defense that was as suspect as a presidential alibi, finished the season with consecutive defeats, including a 38-31 loss to Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl.

Conversely, Florida justified its positioning; the Gators beat Syracuse 31-10 in the Orange Bowl, handing the BCS' lowest-rated team the most one-sided loss of the three games to date.

"I thought it worked for what it was set up to do," said Bowden, whose team found its way back to the BCS's good graces after a September loss to N.C. State. "Despite all the criticism, they did a great job of putting that thing together.

I don't blame (Ohio State coach) John (Cooper) one bit for feeling the way he does. John might have the best team in the nation, but if Tennessee wins, it will be the national champion. And if we win, we will be national champions. That's the way it was drawn up this year."

As far as Fulmer is concerned, the national championship will go to the Fiesta Bowl winner.

"Absolutely," he said. "I think that's the case. At least in the coaches' poll, I know it will. I can't control all that. All I want to be able to do is say that we won Monday night."

"I really didn't see much of either (the Rose and Sugar bowls), but as I've said a number of times the BCS system worked itself out just as good as it could be. Both teams did have the one-loss. I'm sure they did feel like they had a chance to be here, but we didn't have a loss. I don't think anyone's questioned our invitation."

Only No. 3 Ohio State, with its 24-14 Sugar Bowl win over Texas A&M on Friday, threatens to gum up the works.

After their win, the Buckeyes wasted no time in cranking up a lobbying effort designed to position them for a title shot, should a set of highly improbable circumstances come to pass.

After all, they did occupy the top spot in both polls for much of the season. And Ohio State's season slate shows only one defeat. Could Florida State beat Tennessee -- as the oddsmakers have predicted -- and still underwhelm the voters in the Associated Press poll? Might we have another shared national title?

You won't find anyone here in the Valley of the Sun supporting such a notion.

"Our one loss was at the beginning of the season with a brand new QB," said Seminoles free safety Dexter Jackson, "and we've rebounded from that. (Ohio State) lost their game near the end of the season. That's how it works out.

"If they think they should be here, they should have beaten Michigan State."