Bowden Gets Last Laugh in Polls : College football: Florida State is voted No. 1 by media and coaches, but Notre Dame is a close second.

His Sunday morning photo session with the national championship trophy complete, Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden stepped to the podium, looked out into the crowd of reporters, many of whom had voted the Seminoles No. 1, and said, “I’ve been waiting a long time to say this: ‘Men, I can’t stand y’all.’ ”

And with that, Bowden let out a belly laugh, the kind that comes with having a USA Today/CNN coaches title in one pocket and an Associated Press title in the other. Bowden could afford to joke, especially since he no longer needed the weekly votes of the 62 media members or the 62 coaches who cast ballots in their respective polls.

The Seminoles claimed both shares of the national title, but it wasn’t exactly a mandate. Of the 62 available first-place votes in the AP poll, once-beaten Florida State got 46, followed by No. 2-ranked Notre Dame with 12 and No. 4 Auburn with four. If you are Bowden, so far so good.

But a look at the overall point totals revealed an electorate not entirely sure who truly was the best team in the nation: 12-1 Florida State, which squeaked past Nebraska, 18-16, in Saturday evening’s Orange Bowl? Or 11-1 Notre Dame, which defeated the Seminoles during the regular season and defeated Texas A&M; by three in the Cotton Bowl? Florida State earned 1,532 AP points, only 54 more than Notre Dame.

It was even closer in the coaches poll. There the Seminoles were rewarded with 36 first-place votes and 1,523 points. No. 2 Notre Dame had 25 first-place votes and 1,494 points.

“I guess that (regular season victory against Florida State) didn’t count for anything,” Irish Coach Lou Holtz said from Dallas on Sunday morning. “Everybody said it was the Game of the Century. I guess it was the Game of the Century if the right team won.”

Holtz went to bed late Saturday night thinking the Irish had earned at least half, if not all, of the national championship. In fact, after Notre Dame beat Texas A&M;, the Irish players returned to their hotel and their fans cheered wildly when Scott Bentley’s last-minute 22-yard field goal proved to be the game winner for Florida State.

“I didn’t think there was any possibility that we wouldn’t win (the title) after what happened in ‘89,” Holtz said.

In 1989, Notre Dame ended the season 12-1, with its only loss coming at the hands of Miami, which finished 11-1 that year. Using head-to-head competition as the determining factor, the poll voters presented the national championship to the Hurricanes.

Holtz threw a fit back then, claiming that Notre Dame’s season shouldn’t be judged by the results of a single game. Of course, that was in 1989. Now, with his team in the exact opposite situation, Holtz has reversed his thinking.

“For whatever reason, Lou Holtz is not always a popular coach with the media,” he said.

Added Texas A&M; Coach R.C. Slocum: “Bobby is a grandfatherly kind of figure. I don’t think you can find anyone in coaching to say a bad word about Bobby Bowden. There are some emotional feelings there. His teams are so close to winning it all every year, and they come up short. Your heart just goes out to him.

“So if it comes down to Bobby Bowden and Florida State or Lou Holtz and Notre Dame, there are coaches who will say, ‘Let’s give it to Bobby.’ ”

Holtz might want to remember that Notre Dame entered Saturday’s bowl game ranked fourth in both polls. And while the vote was closer among the coaches, the fact remains that his peers didn’t think enough of the Irish to bump them above Florida State, despite the victory against the Seminoles.

In the end, voters essentially were asked to make a choice between what was worse: Then-No. 1-ranked Florida State’s seven-point loss to No. 2 Notre Dame at South Bend, or then-No. 1-ranked Notre Dame’s 41-39 loss to visiting No. 16 Boston College. Also included in the mix were bowl day performances. For instance, would it have made a difference had the Irish scored a more convincing victory against the seventh-ranked Aggies? And did it matter that Florida State’s two-point victory came against a team rated higher than Texas A&M;?

Bowden said he could empathize with Holtz, but after a 28-year wait, he wasn’t about to decline the championship. “That’s the way the poll works,” Bowden said.

Bowden wasn’t afraid to do his part for the Seminoles. Taking advantage of the arbitrary and sometimes capricious poll system, the Florida State coach voted the Seminoles No. 1 and Nebraska No. 2 on his final ballot.

“Maybe that was unfair,” he said.

The disclosure was in marked contrast to his Orange Bowl postgame comments, when he said that Notre Dame, not Nebraska, was the second-best team in the nation.

Now that the title is his, Bowden, 64, put an end to the rumors that he might resign. ESPN college analyst Lee Corso had suggested this very thing to the Seminole coach and later repeated the claim on the air.

“Nah, that don’t interest me whatsoever,” Bowden said. “I’d just like to coach as long as I can. I’m half serious about it, but after you retire, there ain’t but one big event left.”

Until then, Bowden will try to savor the weekend’s big events--a victory against a surprisingly tough Nebraska team on Saturday and a national title on Sunday. It won’t be easy. Recruiting beckons. Holtz grouses. Critics continue to question the benefits of a system that features polls but no playoffs.

Whatever happens, Bowden will no longer have to carry the weight of never having won a championship.

“One thing I always felt is that one of these days my team would win a national championship,” he said. “Yet I did realize I was running out of years.”

Now he is simply running out of trophy space. It is a problem he can live with.

The Final Polls

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Team (1st) Rec. Pts 1. Florida St. (46) 12-1-0 1,532 2. Notre Dame (12) 11-1-0 1,478 3. Nebraska 11-1-0 1,418 4. Auburn (4) 11-0-0 1,375 5. Florida 11-2-0 1,307 6. Wisconsin 10-1-1 1,228 7. West Virginia 11-1-0 1,090 8. Penn St. 10-2-0 1,074 9. Texas A&M; 10-2-0 1,043 10. Arizona 10-2-0 992

USA TODAY/CNN

Team (1st) Rec. Pts 1. Florida St. (36) 12-1-0 1,523 2. Notre Dame (25) 11-1-0 1,494 3. Nebraska (1) 11-1-0 1,441 4. Florida 11-2-0 1,313 5. Wisconsin 10-1-1 1,271 6. W. Virginia 11-1-0 1,142 7. Penn St. 10-2-0 1,132 8. Texas A&M; 10-2-0 1,107 9. Arizona 10-2-0 1,094 10. Ohio St. 10-1-1 960