BCS might as well stand for Best 'Canes, See?

Andre Johnson (left) and Jeremy Shockey lead the Hurricanes' aerial assault Thursday.(AP)

No. 1 Miami sealed its fifth national championship with a 37-14 caning of No. 4 Nebraska in the BCS title game. And while the system that allowed Nebraska to go to Pasadena might have worked in theory, the BCS certainly didn't get off the hook.

No. 2 Oregon should have been here if for no other reason that it was the BCS runner-up most deserving of getting the snot beat out of it by mighty Miami. Nebraska (11-2) stunk so bad the Ducks' argument for a Rose Bowl berth was actually strengthened.

Not that Oregon would have won, but perhaps it could have made a prettier corpse. On this night, Nebraska looked like it would have made a fine opponent in the Holiday Bowl. The only non-conference champion to play in the BCS title game lost by the largest margin in the BCS' four-year history.

"It was a very unpleasant feeling," Nebraska coach Frank Solich said. "It seemed like the game was slipping away."

In the end, battering opponents is what Miami's season was all about. It finished perfect, 12-0, beating its opponents by an average of 33 points. Nebraska's demise was quick, clean and final, the way most good assassins like it. The Hurricanes struck with four touchdowns in the first 19 minutes and had a 34-0 lead by halftime.

That despite Big Red fans hooking up a trailer and dragging the entire state to the Rose Bowl. An estimated 55,000 Nebraska fans in the crowd of 93,781 gave their team a decided home-field advantage. Until, that is, Miami decided to tuck away its 22nd consecutive victory.

"The best ever, No. 1," Miami All-America safety Ed Reed said. "That's where we go ... I know everybody was watching so Nebraska would win and Oregon would share the title, but it didn't happen. You gotta go win it outright and we did."

How bad was it? The nation's best rushing offense was held to 197 yards, 117 below its average. Runs that would have been breakaways against lesser opponents were stuffed by Miami's quickness. Quarterback Eric Crouch did his part with a fumble and interception that led to two first-half Miami touchdowns.

"We broke some plays that in a lot of cases would have gone a lot farther, would have gone the distance," Solich said. "Their team defense was able to keep the 30- to 40-yard play in hand. There's a reason why only one team in the country is undefeated at this time."

How bad was it? First-year coach Larry Coker had time to duck out for recruiting visits in the L.A. area in the second half.

Instead, the first-year coach stuck around to emphatically strengthen the claim this might be the best Miami team ever. As the only undefeated major-college team, Miami ended Oregon's hopes for a split national title. Miami automatically earned the No. 1 ranking in the coaches poll. It later become a consensus champion a couple of hours after the game when the Associated Press released its final poll, with the Hurricanes getting all 72 first-place votes.

Oregon coach Mike Bellotti was in the Rose Bowl at the beginning of the game, but wasn't exactly waiting around to answer questions after it.

"We suffered last year and that was our motivator," Reed said. "Now Oregon has a motivator."

Nebraska's hangover from Colorado's 62-36 beating six weeks was more like a coma. The proud Huskers now have been beaten by a combined 99-50 in their past two games. It's the most points they have allowed in consecutive games since 1945.

Nov. 23: Colorado scored the most points ever against Nebraska. Jan. 3: Miami dealt Nebraska its worst bowl loss in 11 years. The last time it was worse was in the 1991 Citrus Bowl when Georgia Tech won 45-21.

That game also marked the last time Nebraska had lost back-to-back games. Until Thursday.

"We're really about to hear about it now," Nebraska cornerback Keyuo Craver said. "You guys (media) are going to have a field day with us."

After getting clobbered by Florida teams in the postseason, Nebraska spent years trying to catch up to their speed and quickness. Looks like it's back to the drawing board. Any one of the BCS honchos that tried to sell us the legitimacy of Nebraska in the past month deserves to be blocked by Bryant McKinnie. They would know how the Huskers feel.

Miami hit Nebraska with four lightning bolts in those horrifying -- for the Huskers -- first 19 minutes. Receiver Andre Johnson (49-yard touchdown catch), running back Clinton Portis (39-yard touchdown run), safety James Lewis (47-yard interception return) and tight end Jeremy Shockey (21-yard touchdown catch) put Miami ahead 27-0 four minutes into the second quarter.

Johnson set a Miami bowl record in the first half with 160 receiving yards. He ended with 199 yards. Ken Dorsey had the school's bowl record for passing after three quarters, 324 yards. He ended with a career-high 362 yards.

The MVP honors had to stop at Dorsey and Johnson, who shared the award because the trophy was too small to give a sliver to every Hurricane who contributed.

Meanwhile, Crouch winning the Heisman Trophy looked like crime committed against man and football. One play after his fumble at midfield, Dorsey hit Johnson with a 49-yard touchdown strike. In the second quarter, Lewis returned a Crouch interception 47 yards for a touchdown.

"If that continued we felt it would be a ridiculous game," Solich said of the turnovers.

The game ended a 55-year-old tradition of matching the Pac-10 and Big Ten champions. Rose Bowl officials had been uneasy about the loss of that tradition with outsiders treading on their hallowed ground.

That anxiety wasn't eased when Oregon won Tuesday's Fiesta Bowl laying claim to half a title if Nebraska won. That wasn't nearly the point Thursday. It was that the wrong team was playing for the national championship for the second consecutive year.

Last year, Miami was victimized while Florida State played and lost to Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. This year, the Ducks at least deserved a title shot.

Even if whoever Miami played was sure to get knocked out.