COMMENTARY : Bowl Committees Pay the Price for Acting Too Early

The timing is just wonderful. The college football bowl system, already under siege from those who lust after a national playoff (Four teams! Eight teams! 16! 64! Play until February!) has completely embarrassed itself this fall, lowering its pursuit of attractive matchups to untold depths and, in the process, leaving itself at the mercy of late-season upsets. Which it is getting, by the fistful.

Is this a surprise? In a season that began with Miami of Florida losing to Brigham Young and followed with Notre Dame falling to Stanford, Colorado losing (should have, anyway) to Missouri, Virginia first reaching No. 1 and then immediately falling from it . . . can we be shocked that after all the bowl hands were shaken, Notre Dame should lose to Penn State at home and, less dramatically, Virginia should be beaten by Maryland? Come now.

Still, the bowl folk went ahead and rolled their dice, sealing up all the December and January arrangements two weeks before Nov. 24, the NCAA’s official invitation date. By last Sunday, it was known that Notre Dame will play Colorado in the Orange Bowl, Virginia will play the Southeastern Conference champion in the Sugar Bowl and Miami will meet the Southwest Conference winner (probably Texas) in the Cotton Bowl--along with 16 other matchups. And that was that. Three weeks to go in the season and the bowls were set.

Then came Saturday. Notre Dame’s 24-21 loss guaranteed that the Orange Bowl’s pure national championship scenario is dead. Colorado will be ranked No. 1, but the Irish, 8-2 with a deadly late-season loss, will drop into the second five and have no shot.

The Sugar Bowl gambled on Virginia, which had captured No. 1 and the country’s attention (great academics, lovely setting, Thomas Jefferson, all that) before folding in the spotlight against Georgia Tech and being exposed Saturday at home against Maryland. How many teams look better than the Cavaliers now? Twenty? But the Sugar Bowl is stuck with them, probably against a Tennessee team with four non-victories (two losses and two ties).

If the bowls had the courage to take control of a system they created, they could play this silly autumn game from strength and not from desperation. What the colleges have done is play the bowls’ insecurity against them and squeeze early invitations (and big per-team guarantees) out of them. Each of the bowls that isn’t tied to a conference lives in fear of being left without a viable matchup.

without Notre Dame).

The NCAA has rescinded, effective next year, the bowl invitation date. That’s a good idea, because people paid it less attention than “Cop Rock.” On the down side, bowls will be able to line up games whenever they please, which means that we can get Notre Dame and Miami committed to the Fiesta Bowl next October. And then watch each lose twice in November.

The bowls can handle this if they wish to show just a touch of spine. They have a useful system, which often has produced a lively debate and a defensible national champion. It’s better, if handled correctly, than a playoff that extends a season that’s already too long. If the bowls had not been so quick to jump this fall, they might have matched No. 2 Miami with No. 1 Colorado in the Orange Bowl, Texas with Notre Dame in the Cotton and Penn State with Tennessee in the Sugar. Guys, do one thing next year: Wait.