BCS’ Kramer Eagerly Awaits Year-End Chaos

The thing you have to understand about Roy Kramer’s quest for a definitive champion in college football is that he does not want one.

A playoff system would remove all doubt, answer all questions, and render the need for computer-generated titlists meaningless, but it would also force the all-powerful Oz from out behind his curtain.

Kramer is commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, head of the bowl championship series, negotiator of television contracts and the heart and soul behind the anti-playoff movement.

He has his reasons. Without a playoff last year, Dec. 5 was the most exciting day in the sport’s history, a tripleheader thriller involving UCLA-Miami, Kansas State-Texas A&M; and Tennessee-Mississippi State.

Last year, without a playoff, viewer ratings increased for all four BCS bowls televised by ABC.

So when the first BCS rankings were released this week, unveiling more delicious prospects for mayhem, Kramer could hardly contain his excitement.

Worst-case scenarios for you are marketing opportunities for him.

Consider:

Four of the top five schools in the first BCS rankings are undefeated, yet only the two top teams at the end of the season play for the national title in the Jan. 4 Sugar Bowl.

It is possible that Florida State and Penn State could play in the Sugar Bowl, televised by ABC, while undefeated Virginia Tech and Kansas State meet in the Fiesta Bowl, also televised by ABC.

Kramer would have to tweak the system to make this happen, because the Orange Bowl, technically, has first shot at Virginia Tech.

But Kramer knows how to tweak.

“There is that flexibility to try to help everybody put together as good a matchup as we can possibly get,” Kramer said this week.

Imagine the intrigue of a doubleheader matchup of undefeated teams, the winner of the Sugar and Fiesta bowls staking their separate and prime time claims to a national title?

Actually, there might be more controversy and higher ratings if ABC dispatched an unbeaten Kansas State team to the Fiesta Bowl and unbeaten Virginia Tech to the Orange.

That might leave three schools clamoring for a piece of the title.

“Oh, there’ll be fallout,” Kramer said of the potential madness. “You people will write some great articles and we’ll have everyone in the world talking about college football. Isn’t that what we’re after anyway?”

Well, no, Roy, some of us actually seek a clear-cut champion.

“Roy Kramer, last year, was responsible for anything except El Nino most of the fall,” Roy Kramer continued. “And that’s not all bad, because at least people are talking about college football.”

Yeah, but what are they saying?

BCS BREAKDOWN

The strength-of-schedule component in the BCS thus far is keeping undefeated schools with weak schedules--Virginia Tech, Kansas State, Mississippi State, Marshall--out of the Sugar Bowl mix, but the story is far from over.

Virginia Tech, with the 42nd-ranked schedule, trails No. 2 Penn State by only half a point in the computer.

So, what’s the incentive for the Hokies and other schools to play competitive nonconference schedules?

“The incentive is, if you don’t get there, into one or two in the standings, you’re not going to have an opportunity to play for the championship,” Kramer said. “That’s obviously the incentive.”

At least no one can accuse Kramer of rigging the computer.

The first BCS rankings buried Georgia, a school from Kramer’s conference. The 6-1 Bulldogs, although ranked No. 10 in the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN polls, did not crack the top 15 in the BCS.

Kramer said Georgia was dragged down by a 76 rating in national schedule strength.

“Obviously, Georgia is one of my schools,” Kramer said. “[Coach] Jim Donnan is a friend of mine, he’s done a great job at the University of Georgia, but I can also defend the rankings system.”

MORE PAC-10 WOES?

The BCS added an amendment over the summer that would appear, on legal pad, to put in jeopardy the Pacific 10 Conference’s relationship with the Rose Bowl.

Beginning this season, the champion of a major conference has to average a BCS ranking of 12 or better over the next four years or risk losing its automatic status to a $13-million BCS bowl game.

The rule, intended as a threat to the lackluster Big East, is akin to a PGA golfer having to finish high enough on the money list to keep his tour card.

The BCS never fathomed this rule might apply to the Pac-10, suffering through its worst season in 16 years.

Let’s be generous and assume Stanford wins the Pac-10 title and finishes with a BCS ranking of 20. That means the Pac-10 champion the next three years would have to finish with an average national ranking of 9.33 to satisfy the BCS demand.

“I think it’s an unusual year for the Pac-10,” Kramer said, “and I really don’t anticipate they’re not going to meet that requirement.”

Actually, Kramer may not have a dog in this hunt.

Jack French, the Rose Bowl’s chief executive officer, says the Pac-10 champion is contracted to play in the Rose Bowl except in years one of its schools is ranked first or second and years the Rose Bowl hosts the national title game.

Case closed.

What about the BCS rule?

“We don’t have an agreement with the BCS and we don’t play, essentially, by BCS rules,” French said. “We play by Big Ten, Pac-10 and Rose Bowl rules. It might not be entirely different, but it’s a separate agreement, a separate contract.”

ROSE PEDDLES

Should Penn State finish first or second in the final BCS standings and get shipped to the Sugar Bowl for the national title game, the Rose Bowl gets to choose a replacement school to match against the Pac-10 champion.

The Rose Bowl can pick any BCS bowl-qualified team--at least nine victories and a top-12 ranking--not already tied to a major bowl.

An intriguing choice might be Tennessee, a current top-10 team that may lose the SEC’s automatic Sugar Bowl bid to Florida.

The Rose Bowl would prefer to keep the game a Pac-10-Big Ten matchup.

“But we don’t have to,” French said.

The Rose Bowl is keeping a close eye on a resurgent Wisconsin, currently the Big Ten’s second-place team.

The question, French said: “Is there a compelling reason not to take them? And what would that compelling reason be? Let’s say there are no Big Ten teams ranked in the top 10, and there are some teams from conferences or independents that are three, four, five that make a lot of sense. We would certainly give that a lot of consideration.”

French said the fact Wisconsin appeared in last year’s Rose Bowl will not factor into the decision.

“If you know the history of the Rose Bowl, we’ve had repeat teams many, many times,” he said. “If Wisconsin wins out the rest of its games, there’ll be a lot of excitement for Wisconsin.”

IT’S ALWAYS WHO YOU KNOW

Shell-shocked USC Coach Paul Hackett can take comfort in knowing Athletic Director Mike Garrett, the man who hired him, is still on the job.

This relationship cannot be underestimated in the work environment. It was much easier for Garrett to fire John Robinson in 1997 because Garrett did not hire Robinson; that was Mike McGee’s last act before going to South Carolina.

Bottom line: So long as Garrett is boss, Hackett will get every chance to fulfill his five-year contract.

If you don’t believe this, consider the slack being cut Rutgers Coach Terry Shea. In the fourth year of a five-year plan, Rutgers is 7-33 under Shea, yet last week school President Francis Lawrence said the coach would be back for the 2000 season.

Well, of course. Lawrence hired Shea.

Under Shea, Rutgers has five Division I victories: Pittsburgh, Army, Navy and Temple (twice). The other wins came against Division I-AA opponents Richmond and Villanova.

Shea has yet to produce a first-team, All-Big East player, and his team has given up 158 points in its last three losses, the most at the school in any three-game stretch this century.

Compared to Shea’s record, Paul Hackett is Pop Warner.

HURRY-UP OFFENSE

With Stanford closing in on the Pac-10 title, we wondered if a school had ever lost to San Jose State the same season it won the Rose Bowl. Turns out it happened to Stanford in 1971, the school’s last Rose Bowl season. Stanford lost to San Jose State, 13-12, during the regular season, then beat Michigan by the same score in the 1972 Rose Bowl.

With victories the next three weeks against Illinois, Minnesota and Michigan, Penn State can wrap up the Big Ten title before the Nittany Lions’ Nov. 20 game at Michigan State. Of course, in that scenario, Penn State would be playing for a possible national title game berth.

Robert Fraley, the agent killed along with golfer Payne Stewart and four others in Monday’s plane crash, played quarterback at Alabama in the 1970s for legendary coach Bear Bryant. He was also a teammate of current Crimson Tide Coach Mike DuBose. Fraley didn’t play much under Bear, but as a fourth-stringer in 1974 he came off the bench to lead Alabama to a 28-6 win over Tennessee.