Unsinka-bowl

We’ve gone ahead and set on the bed what clothes Southeastern Conference Commissioner Roy Kramer should wear to Saturday night’s big ballgame at the Georgia Dome:

Orange pants, white suede shoes, checkerboard sport coat, orange baseball cap.

Kramer ought to come rolling into the press box with a 50-50 ice cream bar stuffed in his mouth, which, admittedly, is going to be tough to munch on while he’s whistling “Rocky Top” and walking a dog named Smokey.

By job definition, Kramer is supposed to be an impartial observer of the SEC title game between Tennessee and Louisiana State; after all, he represents both schools’ interests.

Since Monday’s release of the bowl championship series standings, however, Kramer has more Tennessee in him than Ernie Ford.

The future of college football may be riding on Saturday’s outcome and Kramer, as the BCS’s godfather, has a vitally vested interest.

A Tennessee victory means Kramer and his band of BCS brothers are off the hook. He’d say the BCS worked, and he’d be right.

If Tennessee loses, though, and Nebraska gets a back-door pass to the Rose Bowl, the BCS might be as history as Bob Davie.

There will be howls for revision and cries for a playoff.

So, as a public service, we’re offering a contingency plan.

After consultation with experts, and some tinkering on our own, we’ve come up with a playoff plan that could be put in place as early as next year.

Let it first be said that you can’t talk playoff in college football without mentioning it’s probably not going to happen anytime soon.

The BCS contract with ABC and the major bowls runs through the 2006 bowl season.

When I proposed my playoff plan to Pacific 10 Commissioner Tom Hansen this week, he said it would fly when pigs did.

“If not longer,” Hansen joked.

Harriman Cronk, the Rose Bowl’s football committee chairman, basically echoed the sentiment.

“I have to smile because the press continues to press for a playoff, when it can’t get any more exciting than what we have,” he said.

Point well taken. Last Saturday ranked among the better weekends in recent history, what with the four big games decided by a total of nine points.

Yet, one must make a distinction between entertainment and fraud.

If the public perceives Nebraska’s potential entry to the Rose Bowl as illegitimate, while Oregon or Colorado ends up claiming the Associated Press title in a split championship, there might be enough chaos to force a playoff.

Forget about any elaborate 16-school tournament that starts in December and erodes the present bowl system.

The only format the Rose Bowl would likely sign off on is a plan where the winner of the four BCS bowls--Rose, Fiesta, Sugar, Orange--advanced to the national semifinals, followed by a national title game.

So, we’ll keep it simple--eight schools.

How it works: the champions of the six BCS conferences--Pac-10, Big Ten, SEC, ACC, Big East and ACC--get automatic bids, plus two at-large teams.

Keep the BCS standings only to determine the at-large participants and to break ties in conference races.

In our format, the traditional bowl ties stay intact. The Pac-10 and Big Ten will continue to be tethered to the Rose Bowl, as will the other anchors: Big 12 champion to the Fiesta, SEC to the Sugar, ACC or Big East to the Orange.

Assuming Tennessee wins the SEC, this year’s bowl lineup would be: Illinois-Oregon in the Rose, Colorado-Florida in the Fiesta, Tennessee-Maryland in the Sugar and Miami-Nebraska in the Orange.

Sorry Brigham Young, you get snubbed here too.

The four BCS bowl game winners advance to the Final Four.

One of the big complaints bowl people make about a playoff is that fans can not be asked to travel three times in January.

Fair enough.

In this plan, we’ll take a week off after the Jan. 1 bowl games and hold the national semifinals the following week in the home stadiums of the highest remaining seeded-schools.

Yeah, that means the potential for games in cold weather, but how is that different from the pros?

“You’d probably have to work the schedule out with the NFL,” Cronk said.

Good point. The money-grubbing NFL conducts playoff games on Saturday and Sunday in January, so you’d have to hold day-night doubleheaders. Let the NFL have the afternoon games and let college take the prime time.

Think anyone would watch on television?

The semifinal champions then proceed to “Super Saturday,” to be played during the off weekend before the Super Bowl.

Like the Final Four, the championship site would be rotated and awarded to the highest bidders. In our plan, we’d probably eliminate the SEC and Big 12 conference title games, and open up title-game opportunities for domed stadiums in San Antonio and St. Louis.

Hey, maybe the NCAA could chip in and get the title game played in Indianapolis.

If it wants, the Rose Bowl can pitch its weather and also bid for the title game.

Our plan gives college presidents an escape route from their ridiculous stand that a Division I playoff would cause players to miss too much class time; everyone knows they conduct football playoffs at all other NCAA divisions and college basketball players spend more time on the road than rock bands.

In our plan, two schools play one additional game and two other schools play two extra games.

Even in years in which the NCAA allows 12-game seasons, the maximum allowable games for the champion in our format is 14 or, as many as BYU will play this season.

So what’s the problem? Why can’t we round up a title sponsor?

“I don’t see it in the cards,” Cronk said.

If that’s the case, maybe it’s time to change decks.

BCS Banter

We got so caught up with Oregon’s plight in this week’s BCS standings we failed to mention Colorado, even with two losses, has an outside shot of making the Rose Bowl should Tennessee lose to LSU this weekend. Colorado is presently No. 4 in the BCS, trailing No. 3 Nebraska by 1.49 points. That’s a lot of ground to make up, but Colorado could pick up a half-point in the poll average if only the ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll moved Colorado ahead of Nebraska in their rankings.

Big, meaty question: How can the coaches right this wrong and make the switch next week, after a weekend in which neither Nebraska or Colorado plays, and retain any modicum of credibility?

Any poll tinkering now would have to be construed as rigging the outcome to correct a mistake.

The Associated Press poll correctly has Colorado at No. 4 and Nebraska at No. 5, while the coaches have the order reversed. Wonder if the whistle blowers have gotten wind yet of Colorado’s 62-36 victory against Nebraska.

Even if Colorado doesn’t make it to the Rose Bowl, the Buffaloes might still win the AP national title if Tennessee loses to LSU, Colorado defeats Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl and No. 5 Nebraska beats No. 1 Miami in the Rose Bowl.

In that scenario, the choice for No. 1 in the AP would come down to 12-1 Nebraska or 10-2 Colorado, which beat Nebraska by 26 points.

Hurry-Up Offense

Notre Dame has asked for, and received, permission to speak with Stanford Coach Tyrone Willingham, but let’s hope this isn’t a token interview with an African American coach to appease minority leaders. Willingham has been great for Stanford, but we’re not sure why Notre Dame would be a better job. Willingham has easily absorbed three losing seasons in his seven years at Stanford, which would not be tolerated in South Bend. Willingham’s record of 44-35-1 also compares favorably to the 35-25 mark that got Davie fired. Willingham, 47, may feel he has done all he can at Stanford, but his somewhat bland personality probably makes him a better fit for a NFL job.

Memo to Igor: One of our readers was so blood-thirsty thrilled to see Davie capped he wrote to complain how much we underplayed Davie’s failures in Monday’s firing story. So, allow us to light a torch, join the assembled mob and drag our leg toward the village square. For the record: 17 of Davie’s 35 wins came against Navy, Army, Air Force, West Virginia, Rutgers, Boston College and Pittsburgh. Davie’s record against other schools was 17-22. In Davie’s two nine-win seasons, Notre Dame’s schedule rated 82nd and 34th in the nation. Davie’s 25% winning percentage against top-20 opponents (5-15) was the worst in Irish history. Even the much-loathed Gerry Faust won 33% of his top-20 matchups. Did you know Davie was 3-9 against the Big Ten? That he was 1-9 in night games? That he was the first Notre Dame coach to lose to the same opponent in five consecutive seasons (0-5 versus Michigan State)? That Davie was the first Notre Dame coach to stay five years without defeating a No. 1-ranked school? That, under Davie, Notre Dame’s all-time winning percentage dipped below .750 for the first time since 1911?

There, does that last shovelful about cover it?

UCLA Athletic Director Pete Dalis made the right decision in removing the Bruins from consideration for the Humanitarian Bowl. Not only was it a money-loser, a trip to Boise State would also have brought up a lot of strained analogies comparing UCLA’s nose-dive season to the countless poor birds who, thinking they’d spotted a lake, met their feathered fate crash-diving into Bronco Stadium’s blue AstroTurf.

Oregon quarterback Joey Harrington echoed a lot of feelings this week when he said of the BCS: “I don’t understand it.” In a Heisman Trophy conference call, Harrington said he doesn’t get why 10-2 Colorado is ahead of 10-1 Oregon. “All the things that seemed important in years past, I guess, are thrown out with the computers.”