Florida’s Best, but That’s It

This is good. So good. We’re two-thirds of the way there. The more confusion the better, because it just makes the bowl championship series look worse.

Miami beat new/old rival Florida, 37-20, Tuesday night in a Sugar Bowl game juiced with so much emotion that even the Hurricane mascot was called for a penalty.

If Florida State can knock off unbeaten Oklahoma in tonight’s Orange Bowl, the Hurricanes feel they should receive a share of the national championship.

After all, Miami beat Florida State. Then again, Washington beat Miami.

So there could be three teams with only one loss, each with legitimate claims to the mythical national championship, showing just how illegitimate the BCS system is.

What’s Miami’s argument? Beating the two other big-time Florida teams.

They already beat Florida State on Oct. 7, so let’s talk precedent: The last Florida team to beat the two other in-state schools--the 1987 Miami Hurricanes--won a national championship.

“We are the No. 1 team in the state of Florida, regardless,” Miami defensive tackle Damione Lewis said. “No. 1 in Florida should be good enough to be No. 1 in the country.”

The last two national champions, Florida State and Tennessee, each defeated two Florida schools on their way to the title.

Florida is a fertile state when it comes to football. It produces talent that routinely churns out top-10 college programs and a raft of NFL prospects. It dominates the college football scene, setting the tone for the game of speed and swagger in vogue across the country.

I’ve said it before: I think a credible national champion could be produced simply by holding a round-robin tournament among the three Florida powerhouses. It would make just as much sense as the current system.

The coaches’ poll is obligated to crown the winner of the “championship game” between the BCS’ top two teams (which are Oklahoma and Florida State this year).

The media who vote in the Associated Press poll have Miami at No. 2 and should vote them No. 1 just to mess with the arrogant, out-of-touch, college-football- doesn’t-need-a-playoff-deluded folks who run the BCS.

Advocacy journalism? An abuse of the media’s position? Yeah, as if the coaches who vote in the USA Today/ESPN poll are completely objective, or the computers that make up the other components of the BCS rankings have any common sense.

Oh, there are plenty of legitimate reasons to name the 11-1 Hurricanes as the national champs.

Linebacker Dan Morgan can do--and does--everything asked of a defender: rushing the quarterback, plugging up running holes and dropping back for interceptions.

Wide receiver Santana Moss is unstoppable. His back went into a spasm after it was kicked during the game and he was on the field for less than half of Miami’s snaps, yet he still caught six passes for 89 yards. He had his defender beat on every failed pass that went his way; the incompletions or interceptions were the fault of quarterback Ken Dorsey’s bad throws.

The Hurricanes were so well-prepared that they made it look easy to defend Florida Coach Steve Spurrier’s complicated offense. The Gators would throw six-receiver sets or zig-zag pass routes at the Hurricanes and the Hurricanes were constantly in the right position.

Miami was resilient enough to overcome the temporary loss of Moss and a foot sprain that kept top running back James Jackson out of the second half.

They were even resilient enough to score their final point on a point-after attempt that had been moved back to 50 yards following two penalties, the first on mascot Sebastian the Ibis.

Sebastian rushed into the end zone and joined the celebrating players after Najeh Davenport’s three-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. He was called for unsportsmanlike conduct.

As Miami Coach Butch Davis screamed at him from the sidelines, wide receiver Andre King got in his face.

“I told him to get off the field, man,” King said. “He cost us a penalty. We can’t have that.”

The officials were quick with the flags, knowing that these teams were ready to express years of pent-up hatred for a rivalry that had not been played on the field since 1987.

Players from both teams rumbled in the French Quarter last week during a brawl that involved dozens of players.

Things were more civilized Tuesday, when a few Florida players even joined the Miami players at midfield for a postgame prayer.

But even though they were in a unique position to declare which team was more deserving of the national championship--they lost to Miami and Florida State--they just weren’t in the mood.

“They both beat us, man,” safety Marquand Manuel said. “That’s all I can say about ‘em.”

Sebastian the Ibis (who brushed off this reporter’s interview attempts) tried to get back in the good graces of his school by wooing the media voters.

He held up a sign that said “We love the AP.”

Later, he exchanged that for one that read: “State Champs.”

In the case of Florida, that’s a powerful statement.

“Regardless of what happens, we’re champions,” Moss said.

Yes, they can still think of themselves as winners. If Florida State wins, the BCS cannot.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: ja.adande@latimes.com.