Coalition Is Not All Coalesced : College football: Cotton Bowl passes over No. 3 Florida State to have No. 5 Notre Dame play No. 4 Texas A&M;.

On a day when bowl coalition members should have been trading congratulatory backslaps, they were instead trading thinly veiled snipes as the much-publicized alliance embraced No. 1 Miami and No. 2 Alabama, but turned its back on No. 3 Florida State and No. 4 Texas A&M.;

As expected, the bowl alliance Sunday gave America the national championship matchup it craved. The top-ranked Hurricanes will play second-rated Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, the first such postseason meeting between Nos. 1 and 2 since Oklahoma lost to Miami in the 1988 Orange Bowl.

But in a marked departure from expressed coalition policy, the Cotton Bowl, which had the second pick of this glorified postseason draft, ignored higher-ranked Florida State and chose No. 5 Notre Dame to play Southwest Conference champion Texas A&M.;

“The coalition is obviously not quite what we thought it would be,” said Dave Maggard, Miami’s athletic director, who attended the official pairings announcement along with more than two dozen conference commissioners, bowl officers, athletic directors and one semi-glum coach, Florida State’s Bobby Bowden, whose team will play Nebraska in the Orange Bowl.

And this from Texas A&M; Athletic Director John David Crow, whose forced smile did little to hide his disappointment: “I obviously . . . had the wrong impression--and I think there are many people who have the same feeling--that the coalition was going to bring the highest ranked teams against each other. But that was not the case.”

For the better part of a year coalition members insisted that all decisions would be based on what best served the alliance. It was bowl socialism at its theoretical finest--one for all, all for one.

That was before the Cotton Bowl decided that it needed to look out for its best interests rather than those of the coalition. With that in mind, it considered its options, ignored the Associated Press rankings and chose TV-friendly Notre Dame, which not only attracts viewers and ticket buyers, but in this case, controversy.

By picking the Irish, the Cotton Bowl created a backlash that overshadowed an otherwise successful coalition day. The alliance had its No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup, but it also had a credibility problem, too.

Among the questions being asked:

--How could Cotton Bowl officials, only weeks after they lectured other coalition members on the importance of staying together, so easily desert the alliance when it mattered most?

--Did the Cotton Bowl purposely mislead Florida State and other coalition partners?

--Why would the Cotton Bowl ignore the requests of undefeated Texas A&M;, which desperately wanted to play the Seminoles and improve its slim chances for a national title, and instead take Notre Dame?

Several members of the Cotton Bowl contingent insisted they did nothing wrong, that they violated no part of the complicated alliance contract.

But alliance peers grumbled privately that the Cotton Bowl violated the so-called “spirit” of the agreement. By taking Notre Dame, it ruined the chance for first-year alliance perfection--No. 1 Miami vs. No. 2 Alabama and No. 3 Florida State vs. No. 4 Texas A&M.;

“This should be a day when we should all be on the ceiling,” said Steve Hatchell, Orange Bowl executive director and chairman of the alliance.

Instead, the coalition could manage only a half-hearted celebration.

What was supposed to be a triumphant unveiling of coalition pairings, shown live to a national cable television audience, ended with ESPN’s Lee Corso saying, “I think (the Cotton Bowl) got greedy and left the family.”

Sitting only a few feet away were was Cotton Bowl President Robert Smith and team selection chairman Jim Brock. Look hard enough and you could have seen the hairs stand up on their necks as Corso spoke.

“We think we did act in the best interests of the coalition,” Smith said. “The coalition has worked terrifically in our judgment.”

According to Smith, the Cotton Bowl picked the Irish over the Seminoles because the committee didn’t want a rematch of last year’s Texas A&M-Florida; State New Year’s Day game. Nor did it think A&M; or Florida State had a legitimate chance at winning a national championship this season.

“We didn’t think a national championship is in play,” Smith said.

There is one scenario, however slim, that would allow the Seminoles or Aggies to possibly both earn title rings. If Alabama and Miami tie, Texas A&M; beats Notre Dame and Florida State defeats Nebraska, there could be a split championship for the third time in as many years. The reason? A&M; is rated third in the USA Today/CNN Coaches poll.

Not everyone was shocked by the news. Bowden said he had a feeling his team was bound for Miami--and a $4.2-million payout vs. the Cotton’s $3.0 million--as early as last week.

“I’m not really surprised,” he said. “It’s because of Notre Dame. That’s the magnitude of Notre Dame. We’re Baptists.

Still, even the polite Bowden took a shot at the process.

“The coalition shouldn’t be for One and Two,” he said. “It should be for One and Two, Three and Four, Five and Six, down the line if it could. And it can.”

It can, but it isn’t. Not this year, at least.