VIEWPOINT / LETTERS : Seminoles Are No. 1, but Readers Make It Far From Unanimous

Top 10 reasons why Florida State was voted No. 1:

10. NCAA tabled proposal mandating drug testing for poll voters.

9. Avoid Bowden family strife, which would have occurred if Terry had won national championship before Bobby.

8. Florida State played an NFL-type schedule (although those ACC teams look a lot like Tampa Bay and Indianapolis).

7. Under Title IX, Notre Dame had already filled its quota of national championships for the next 50 years.

6. The grace, wit and charm of Scott Bentley.

5. Under proposed NFL rule change, head-to-head tiebreaker is abolished in favor of coach’s popularity.

4. Could not let USC be the only team to win championship on phantom touchdown.

3. Notre Dame championship would have ruined ending to Oliver Stone’s upcoming movie, “FSU.”

2. Voters felt compelled to give Lifetime Achievement Award to Bobby Bowden.

1. Just kidding . . . there is no good reason.

JOHN J. MANIER

Los Angeles

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I love to see Notre Dame lose, especially when the losses are extremely painful. One of my greatest thrills was on Nov. 28, 1964, when Rod Sherman of USC caught a touchdown pass that enabled the Trojans to steal a national championship and unbeaten season from Notre Dame.

For Notre Dame to lose the national championship to Florida State (after the Irish had beaten the Seminoles) is the most perfect kind of pain that could be inflicted upon Notre Dame’s alumni and fans.

It couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch.

RON VAN METER

Rancho Palos Verdes

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C’mon, Gene Wojciechowski. Your rationalizations don’t hold water. Sure Holtz reversed himself from 1989. What coach wouldn’t go to bat for his team? Everyone knows you either love Notre Dame or hate them, a part of the mystique of any great team.

I’m willing to place a good wager that most of the same coaches and writers who voted for Miami in 1989, when head-to-head competition was the tiebreaker, reversed their position and rationalized like you in favor of Florida State. Bowden won because he’s a nice guy. The Irish got the shaft.

TOM BRYAN

Ojai

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Lou Holtz and his team should be commended for a fine season. For 12 Saturdays they battled their opponents on the field amid accusations of Holtz’s program betraying its ideals to win. The Fighting Irish persevered and showed what true champions are.

It will be interesting to see if Florida State can do the same next season, when the new best-seller hits the streets in August: “Wearing the Tarnished Ring: How Florida State Won Its First National Championship.”

ROBERT C. MURPHY

Sherman Oaks