High Price to Pay for Liberty

You’ve heard of the battle of the bands?

Saturday in Provo, Utah, there could be a battle of the bowl jackets when Utah plays at Brigham Young in an important Mountain West Conference game. The conflict is clear: The Liberty Bowl does not want the Fiesta Bowl scouting BYU as a possible BCS at-large selection.

Liberty Bowl Executive Director Steve Ehrhart said Wednesday he “just about fell out of my chair” when he saw Fiesta Bowl representative Alan Young being interviewed at last Saturday’s game in Laramie, Wyo., between BYU and Wyoming. If 10-0 BYU beats Utah and clinches the Mountain West, it is contractually obligated to play in the Dec. 31 Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tenn., against the Conference USA champion.

However, if No. 8 BYU goes undefeated and finishes in the top 12 of the BCS standings--BYU is No. 13 in the BCS this week--the Cougars could also be considered for an at-large berth in a $13-million bowl championship series bowl.

Ehrhart, who is attending Saturday’s BYU game, said he called Mountain West Conference Commissioner Craig Thompson this week and said, “The guy from the Fiesta Bowl better not be there.”

The Fiesta Bowl’s response?

“We’re going to be there,” spokesman Shawn Schoeffler said. Schoeffler said the Fiesta Bowl is sending selection chairman Evan Paoletti to the game.

“We’re not backing down,” Schoeffler said.

This year, the Fiesta Bowl matches the champions of the Pacific 10 and Big 12 conferences, but it is likely to lose the Big 12 champion to the Rose Bowl.

In that case, the Fiesta Bowl would get the first at-large pick. Not only does BYU feature one of the nation’s top offenses, there is a large Mormon population in the Phoenix area. But Ehrhart says the Fiesta Bowl is tampering.

“We fully expect the Mountain West to honor the contract,” Ehrhart said. The debate exacerbates the rift that exists between the six major BCS conferences and so-called “lower-tier” conferences such as the Mountain West.

This is a sticky situation for the Mountain West. It is legally partnered with the Liberty Bowl, yet craves the national attention and the $13-million check a Fiesta Bowl berth would reap. The Liberty Bowl payout is $1.3 million a school.

In 1996, the Western Athletic Conference went to Congress to fight for then-member BYU, claiming the 13-1 Cougars were unjustly denied access to the major bowls. In response, the conferences that would in 1998 become the BCS granted “non-BCS” schools greater access to the major bowls.

However, the Liberty Bowl has a legitimate beef: Why would it simply hand over 13-0 BYU to the Fiesta Bowl? Last week, in a scene that could have been lifted from “The Sopranos,” Thompson was quoted in a Salt Lake paper as saying the Mountain West might be willing to pay the Liberty Bowl an “inconvenience fee” for letting BYU out of its contract.

Mountain West Conference spokesman Bob Burda said this week that was only a “remote possibility.” Ehrhart’s response: if it’s only about money in college football, why doesn’t the sport mimic major league baseball and have schools purchase players to “shore up their seasons” for the pennant stretch?

Ehrhart suggested BYU could sell star quarterback Brandon Doman and tailback Luke Staley to Notre Dame. Ehrhart says his bowl is not going to kowtow to the Fiesta just because it was chosen as one of the four major bowls that comprise the BCS. Ehrhart notes the Liberty Bowl is the seventh-oldest bowl and has been played for 43 years.

“We’ve been around a lot longer than the Fiesta,” he said. The first Fiesta Bowl was played in 1971.

Ehrhart says the long-term solution is to make the Liberty Bowl the fifth BCS bowl, joining the Rose, Sugar, Orange and Fiesta. He said the Liberty would be willing to take less money at first but that inclusion would eliminate this year’s possible contractual quagmire.

Then again, this is all premature speculation. BYU would only be considered for the Fiesta Bowl if it finishes 13-0, and even then there might be more viable at-large schools available.

Stay tuned.

Rose Bowl Watch

Oregon versus Illinois could end up being one of the best Rose Bowl games ever played in the Fiesta Bowl. Yep, this is a whole new ballgame for the Rose Bowl, the first time since 1946 the game will not be a Big Ten-West Coast affair.

“It will be unusual,” Rose Bowl CEO Mitch Dorger said this week. It could also be interesting.

“People can argue about breaking the tradition,” Dorger said, “but one thing it has done is created electricity through the country among great schools about the possibility of coming out here. There are people that are fired up about that. I mean, if we see Nebraska or Oklahoma, there’s going to be a wave of red.” Nebraska last appeared in the Rose Bowl in 1941.

As part of its deal in joining the bowl championship series, the Rose Bowl is hosting this year’s national title game Jan. 3. The game will feature the top two schools as determined by the final BCS standings. Like everyone else with a football pulse and a calculator, Dorger and his staff have pored over the Rose Bowl possibilities.

Because of the logistical ramifications, Dorger would love to have the national title participants locked in by Dec. 1. That could happen if Nebraska and Miami, the only two unbeaten schools in national title contention, win out. “If either one loses, it raises all sorts of permutations,” Dorger said.

Some of the possibilities include: Oregon-Texas, Florida-Texas, Oklahoma-Miami, Tennessee-Nebraska, Florida-Miami. The Rose Bowl plans on flying both title-game participants to Pasadena on Dec. 12 for an orientation, but it may not know what teams are playing until the conclusion of the Dec. 8 Southeastern Conference title game.

Dorger has shipped Rose Bowl staff members to games across the country. By Thanksgiving weekend, some representative of the Rose Bowl will have seen every team ranked in the BCS top 10. These are more than courtesy calls.

It is likely one or both of this year’s Rose Bowl schools will be making their first appearance, and Dorger and his staff are leaving no detail to chance.

“We’re visiting a lot more people and different people than we would in a normal year,” Dorger said. Dorger said Rose Bowl preparations are on track despite heightened logistical and security concerns since Sept. 11.

“Because we were one of lead events in new millennium, we really schooled up our security two years ago and never dropped off,” Dorger said. This year’s game will be played at 5 p.m. on a Thursday, so Dorger is encouraging fans to arrive to the Rose Bowl grounds early. To improve the security-check flow, he said tailgating will be curtailed at 4 p.m. so that thousands of fans are not trying to enter the stadium at once.

This is a different Rose Bowl, these are different times, but Dorger says the Granddaddy is ready.

“We’re in good shape,” Dorger said.

Hurry-Up Offense

Hey, it’s a numbers game, so don’t take too much stock in Oregon’s BCS jump this week from No. 6 to No. 4 because the Ducks will likely fall a few pegs in the coming weeks. Why? Oregon doesn’t play again until Dec. 1 against Oregon State. Florida, at No. 5, trails Oregon by only .01 and will pass the Ducks with a victory this week against Florida State. No. 6 Texas also might jump Oregon if it defeats Texas A&M; on Nov. 23. We warned you not even victory was going to save Tennessee and, sure enough, the Volunteers fell from No. 4 to No. 7 in this week’s BCS after a win against Memphis. Three of Tennessee’s four BCS components remained the same from last week (poll average, strength of schedule, and losses), but the Volunteers took a 2.17-point hit in the computer component.

Once again, four of eight BCS computers still factor in margin of victory, and Tennessee let a huge lead slip away against Memphis when Coach Phil Fulmer put in his second stringers. One can only guess how far Tennessee might fall after sure victories against Kentucky and Vanderbilt.

BCS No. 2 Miami’s drop from No. 1 to No. 2 in the coaches’ poll cost it a half point in the poll average, which helped No. 3 Oklahoma close to within 0.58. Last week, Miami held a 1.22 lead over Oklahoma. We still maintain that if Miami defeats Syracuse, Washington and Virginia Tech to close the regular season, it will secure one of two Rose Bowl spots. Miami still has plenty of points to shave off its 2.64 strength-of-schedule ranking. Miami, however, may end up with no “quality win” points to deduct from its final total.

Florida State’s third loss knocked the Seminoles out of the BCS top 15 and a Miami victory against No. 14 Syracuse will bounce the Orangemen out.

Florida State’s amazing run is officially over and it’s time to pay homage. Last week’s home loss to North Carolina State was Florida State’s third of the season and assures the Seminoles will not finish with 10 wins and a top-five AP finish for the first time since 1986.

This is bad news in Tallahassee but good news for the Atlantic Coast Conference, which will crown a champion other than Florida State for the first time since the Seminoles joined the conference in 1992.

“It means everything to the conference as regards to football,” Bowden said. “We don’t like to cooperate. I liked it better when we were winning it outright.”

There is also a good chance Florida State (6-3) will finish out of the AP poll for the first time since 1986. The Seminoles are No. 21 this week and have remaining games against Florida and Georgia Tech.