Coalition Looks Out for No. 1 in Matchups

An imperfect bowl selection process presented America with a perfectly good national championship matchup Sunday and yet, the whining continues. Never have so many people been so upset at a system that, despite its many shortcomings, continues to do the right thing.

In this case, it was No. 1 Nebraska versus No. 2 Florida State. The unbeaten Cornhuskers, ranked first in the coalition poll, will face the once-beaten Seminoles on Jan. 1 in the Orange Bowl. The winner gets a nice trophy, and the opportunity to steal ashtrays during its obligatory visit to the White House.

Meanwhile, the state of West Virginia has writer’s and dialer’s cramp from all the postcards and phone calls its residents have made in recent weeks to Associated Press voters.

Yes, well, West Virginia will have to make do with the Sugar Bowl and eighth-ranked Florida. The Mountaineers could have chosen the Cotton Bowl and a matchup against No. 7 Texas A&M;, but school officials decided a bigger Sugar Bowl payday was more important than playing a slightly higher ranked team.

Of course, none of this escaped Notre Dame Coach Lou Holtz, who was quick to mention Sunday that the Irish always preferred to play the highest-ranked team available, regardless of bowl revenue.

He also took a well-placed shot at anyone silly enough to think the best team is always the undefeated team. This, of course, is West Virginia’s argument: that an unbeaten record, no matter how it is achieved, is automatically better than a once-beaten team with a superior schedule.

“I don’t understand why people aren’t talking about Penn,” Holtz said of the Division I-AA Quakers of the Ivy League. “They went 10-0, didn’t they?”

The Irish (10-1) are Cotton Bowl-bound, which means they still have an outside chance of winning a share of a national championship. A victory against A&M;, along with losses by Nebraska and West Virginia, would produce an interesting situation: Who’s No. 1--the team that beat the top-ranked Cornhuskers (Florida State), or the team that beat the team that beat the Cornhuskers (Notre Dame)?

Said Texas A&M; Coach R.C. Slocum: “I would say very strongly that if Notre Dame comes to Dallas and beats us--beats us like they did last year (28-3 in the Cotton Bowl)--that if you’re going to be honest about your vote, they have got to be a strong candidate if it turns out that way.”

This is how it went Sunday. Lots of campaigning and posturing by coaches who almost always said, “But I’m not going to campaign or politic for votes.”

Still, despite the controversies, the questions, the delightful mess that is the bowl coalition and its assorted rankings, none of the coaches were in a hurry to scuttle the much-maligned system. OK, it isn’t perfect. Then again, neither are the alternatives.

Critics of the coalition process are upset with the media and coaches polls. Too subjective, they say. Too inconsistent. Too powerful.

“I think most everybody in theory would like a playoff, in terms of playing it on the field,” Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne said.

But before ditching the coalition system for theories, think about the bowl alliance’s two-year accomplishments.

With the coalition . . . America got the national championship game it craved last season--Alabama vs. Miami--and got another one this year--the Cornhuskers vs. the Seminoles.

Without the coalition . . . There would have been bowl deals made a month ago, maybe two. In all likelihood, the winner of the Nov. 13 Notre Dame-Florida State game would have received an early bid to the Orange Bowl. At the time, the Seminoles were No. 1, the Irish No. 2, Nebraska No. 3 and Miami No. 4.

The probable end results: A Nebraska-Notre Dame Orange Bowl, a Texas A&M-Florida; State Cotton Bowl, a Miami-Florida Sugar Bowl. And if West Virginia fans think the Mountaineers have it bad now, just think what would have happened had the old system been in place.

Hello, Gator Bowl.

With the coalition . . . Everybody is talking about college football these days. The NFL? Ooooh . . . Indianapolis vs. Tampa Bay.

Without the coalition . . . Perhaps a future playoff. But how do you prevent the same subjectivity?

“If we had a playoff, wouldn’t there be a fight about somebody getting in there?” Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden said. “To me, the coalition is the playoff and we got in it.”

Or in the immortal words of Nebraska’s Osborne:

“I think we’re doing an awful lot more talking than playing.”

So play. Enjoy. And remember what got you here: The coalition. Bless it.

Bowl Matchups

All times PST

ORANGE: Nebraska vs. Florida State

Miami, Jan. 1

NBC, 5 p.m.

ROSE: UCLA vs. Wisconsin

Pasadena, Jan. 1

ABC, 1:30 p.m.

CARQUEST: Boston College vs. Virginia

Miami, Jan 1

CBS, 10:30 a.m.

CITRUS: Penn State vs. Tennessee

Orlando, Fla., Jan. 1

ABC, 10 a.m.

COTTON: Texas A&M; vs. Notre Dame

Dallas, Jan. 1

NBC, 1:30 p.m.

FIESTA: Arizona vs. Miami

Tempe, Ariz., Jan. 1

ESPN, 8 a.m.

HALL OF FAME: Michigan vs. North Carolina State

Tampa, Fla., Jan. 1

ESPN, 8 a.m.

SUGAR: Florida vs. West Virginia

New Orleans, Jan. 1

ABC, 5:30 p.m.

ALAMO: Iowa vs. Cal

San Antonio, Dec. 31

ESPN, 6:30 p.m.

GATOR: North Carolina vs. Alabama

Jacksonville, Fla., Dec. 31

TBS, 4 p.m.

INDEPENDENCE: Virginia Tech vs. Indiana

Shreveport, La., Dec. 31

ESPN, 9:30 a.m.

PEACH: Clemson vs. Kentucky

Atlanta, Dec. 31

ESPN, 3 p.m.

FREEDOM: USC vs. Utah

Anaheim, Dec. 30

Raycom, 6 p.m.

HOLIDAY: Ohio State vs. Brigham Young

San Diego, Dec. 30

ESPN, 5 p.m.

COPPER: Kansas State vs. Wyoming

Tucson, Dec. 29

ESPN, 5 p.m.

LIBERTY: Michigan State vs. Louisville

Memphis, Tenn., Dec. 28

ESPN, 5 p.m.

ALOHA: Colorado vs. Fresno State

Honolulu, Dec. 25

ABC, 12:30 p.m.

JOHN HANCOCK: Texas Tech vs. Oklahoma

El Paso, Dec. 24

CBS, 11:30 a.m.

LAS VEGAS: Ball State vs. Utah State

Las Vegas, Dec. 17

ESPN, 5 p.m.