I think it's important, again, to emphasize that this is business as usual for the BCS bowls, particularly when at-large berths are being filled. Merit has not been a consideration historically, and it won't be unless the selection process is altered, or, if hell freezes over and a seeded playoff is instituted.
There's no question that Michigan and Virginia Tech weren't the best available football teams. Nothing in the rules says they had to be. That's the ridiculous nature of it all.
The Sugar's available choices were:
7. Boise State (11-1)
8. Kansas State (10-2)
11. Virginia Tech (11-2)
12. Baylor (9-3)
13. Michigan (10-2)
14. Oklahoma (9-3)
(Remember the selection rule which stipulates no conference can occupy more than 2 BCS slots -- that's why #6 Arkansas and #9 South Carolina are absent from the list, and the Sugar couldn't have selected more than one Big XII team due to Oklahoma State's Fiesta tie-in.)
Given that list, I'd have much rather seen Boise State and K-State (and I'm a die-hard Michigan guy, by the way), though I'm sure a lot of fans would have complained about that matchup too. But they picked U-M first, and VT second. Had Oklahoma knocked off the Pokes, the Fiesta and Sugar committees had sketched out a deal for the Sooners to take the first berth in New Orleans, but that was (obviously) dead in the water after the Bedlam result.
We've gone through the BCS selection process fourteen times now. It should be, unfortunately, painfully evident that the word "deserve" doesn't factor into the equation. Anyone who doesn't recognize that simply hasn't been paying attention.