COLLEGE FOOTBALL / GENE WOJCIECHOWSKI : Fiesta Bowl Nearly Was Voted Out of Business

Winners and losers in this year’s bowl sweeps:

--Loser: Fiesta Bowl.

From New Year’s Day giant to scapegoat. Organizers came very close to canceling the game because of the polarization caused by the defeated Martin Luthur King Jr. holiday referendum. They even considered a move to Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego, but that was shot down by the NCAA. Just as well: It would have been a public relations and logistics catastrophe. Making matters worse, the Fiesta wanted Notre Dame; it got Louisville. A banner week, it wasn’t.

--Loser: Copper Bowl.

See Fiesta Bowl. The NAACP already has condemned California for accepting an invitation to play in the Tucson-based bowl. Not exactly the sort of publicity the Copper Bowl folks were hoping for.

--Winner: Virginia.

When Iowa and Illinois were beaten last Saturday, thus giving every team in the Big Ten at least two losses, the idea of inviting the conference runner-up became less appealing to the Sugar Bowl selection committee. Enter the Cavaliers, who solved all sorts of problems--theirs and the Sugar Bowl’s--by accepting the bid to travel to New Orleans. Virginia, which previously had been considering the Fiesta Bowl, earns about $700,000 more by playing in the Sugar Bowl.

--Winner: Southern Mississippi.

The 25th-ranked Golden Eagles, previously destined for the Independence Bowl and a fun-filled stay in, uh, Shreveport, La., upgraded to the All-American Bowl. The payout--$600,000--is the same, but Southern Mississippi gets ESPN instead of Mizlou and a Dec. 28 playing date rather than Dec. 15.

--Loser: Rose Bowl.

Beware of purple bandwagons.

--Winner: Nebraska.

The Cornhuskers panicked and committed themselves to the Citrus Bowl long before they needed to. Turns out to be a great move, especially now that Georgia Tech, ranked No. 4, is the only undefeated team.

--Loser: Mississippi.

The Rebels, ranked 15th, have a good team but little television appeal. Nor are they known for bringing lots of fans to bowls. Then again, Ole Miss has been to only four bowl games in the last 20 years. The Sugar Bowl is praying the Rebels don’t win the Southeastern Conference title and receive the automatic bid to New Orleans. The Fiesta Bowl has its choice of the non-SEC winner and, given its druthers, would take Auburn, Alabama or Tennessee before inviting Ole Miss. Too bad. The Rebels are worth watching.

--Winners: Notre Dame, Colorado, Louisville and Georgia Tech.

Notre Dame and Colorado get a national championship rematch.

Louisville gets a $2.5-million Fiesta Bowl paycheck, compared to the $600,000 payout it would have received from the All-American Bowl. The Cardinals’ first bowl game since 1977 is a New Year’s Day game. Their first television appearance since 1983 is on a major network. Of course, there might be a price to be paid for the decision to venture to Arizona. We’ll see.

Georgia Tech gets a chance to win a national title if several things happen, including another regular-season loss by Notre Dame, followed by an Irish victory over Colorado in the Orange Bowl. Georgia Tech would then need to wallop Nebraska in the Citrus Bowl. Hey, a similar scenario worked for Miami last year.

The SEC considered pulling its teams out of Fiesta Bowl contention--but not for long. Two reasons: The decision to play was one for the university presidents to determine; and the SEC office saw nothing morally wrong with accepting a Fiesta Bowl bid.

“The general consensus of a lot of people in our conference is that it’s preposterous to hold the Fiesta Bowl accountable for the actions of the voters,” said Brad Davis, SEC assistant commissioner. “Those of us here in the South are used to the broad swath of indicting everyone for the actions of some people. You’ve got to cut through the grandstanding of the situation and really look at the facts.

“I mean, where do you stop?” Davis said. “Does an institution not play a bowl in California because (the state) might have a very liberal abortion law? Is the SEC office in Birmingham held accountable because the state capitol in Montgomery flies a rebel flag?”

Davis said he expects the SEC to be criticized for participating in the Fiesta Bowl. “We’re going to take some hits on it,” he said.

Wave goodby to the NCAA rule requiring bowl selection committees to wait until Nov. 24 to extend official invitations. Dick Schultz, NCAA executive director, said he expects the deadline to be abolished at the organization’s convention in January.

“It’s a ridiculous rule,” Schultz said.

Bowls can be penalized by the NCAA for ignoring the current rule, but it never happens. By never formally inviting a team until Nov. 24, the selection committees avoid punishment.

If the NCAA has its way, the bowl people themselves will determine their own date, if any, for extending bids. And as usual, the bowl people, as they do now under the current format, will disregard the guidelines and arrange “unofficial” matchups.

“The bowl association will try to come up with some sort of self-regulation that would hopefully attempt to keep some sense of order to the selection process, not that there’s much now,” said John Reid, executive director of the Holiday Bowl.

“The most likely to be injured are the schools that come on strongly at the end of the season.”

One other thing to remember about next season: As a safeguard of sorts, a team must beat at least six Division I-A opponents to be eligible for a bowl. That means the minute a team such as Notre Dame wins that sixth game, bowl scouts will be there with pens poised.

For those clamoring for a Division I-A football playoff system, take heart. Schultz said one is on its way.

“It’s just my own personal feeling, but I think that we’ll have one before the decade is over,” he said. “But I think it will be later in the decade, rather than earlier in the decade.”

Schultz said he envisioned a playoff that would, at first, include only two or four teams.

When listing the nation’s best running backs, don’t forget to include Army’s Mike Mayweather among the candidates. Colorado’s Eric Bieniemy, Notre Dame’s Raghib Ismail and Washington’s Greg Lewis get most of the publicity, but Mayweather deserves mention, too. He rushed for 129 yards against Air Force last Saturday, which gives him eight 100-yard games this season and 21 in his career. . . . Virginia receiver Herman Moore isn’t expected to return for his final year of eligibility. Moore, who has caught touchdown passes in an NCAA-record nine consecutive games, hasn’t revealed his decision, but all indications point to first-round status in the NFL draft.

Our top 10: (1) Notre Dame, (2) Colorado, (3) Georgia Tech, (4) BYU, (5) Miami, (6) Texas, (7) Florida, (8) Virginia, (9) Washington, (10) Florida State.

Our waiting list: Ohio State, Louisville, Penn State, Mississippi, Houston.