BCS Prayers May Be Answered With TCU

Welcome to this week’s edition of “Inside Political Football,” hosted by weak-side linebacker Rolf Blitzer.

Two weeks after Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) called college football “un-American” and “a rigged game,” the bowl championship series system some have deemed a monopoly may have found a get-out-of-jail-free card.

Texas Christian, only days ago Exhibit A evidence that a non-BCS school could never break through the BCS glass ceiling, is 9-0 and No. 6 in the BCS standings.

Should the Horned Frogs finish sixth or better, they will earn an automatic berth into one of three major bowls -- Rose, Fiesta or Orange.

Where’s your antitrust case now?

The timing couldn’t be more interesting in a week where the non-BCS faction, led by Tulane President Scott Cowen, is pressing its case in the two arenas: a think-tank symposium in New Orleans in advance of Sunday’s second meeting between BCS and non-BCS presidents.

Non-BCS momentum had been mounting before this week’s TCU uptick. Both houses of Congress have taken taxpayer time to examine whether 63 schools in six power conferences (plus independent Notre Dame) hold disproportional monetary control over 117 major-college schools.

To avoid legal action, the BCS appeared to be on the fast track toward a negotiated compromise.

But now what?

How can the non-BCS side claim exclusion when TCU may play in this year’s Rose Bowl (there’s a long-shot chance it could happen; we can’t wait for Kermit the Frog riding shotgun on the float).

“The timing is fascinating,” Pacific 10 Conference Commissioner Tom Hansen said this week. “This is exactly the point we’ve been trying to make to anyone who would listen. If TCU is in, the system obviously wasn’t rigged to keep anyone out. We’re not smart enough to manipulate computers or anything like that. The point is clearly made that if you win games, play a decent schedule, you have a chance to work your way through the system.”

Of course, TCU isn’t in yet.

Almost incredibly, it has reached the flip-flop strategy point where BCS chiefs want TCU to make a major bowl game if only to prove the BCS wasn’t necessarily inspired by 19th-century robber barons.

Major bowls, though, don’t kowtow to BCS bigwigs. The Rose, Fiesta and Orange bowls aren’t interested in having TCU shoved down their throats for the sake of some greater legal clause -- but it could come to that.

Big bowls are selfish sorts -- they need to sell tickets, garner big television ratings and provide economic punch to their communities.

In that light, how is TCU, with its No. 87 schedule strength, an attractive draw?

You envision bowl executives sitting cross-legged on a floor tossing a hot spud with TCU carved in it.

One potato, two potato, three potato, four ... gulp.

“If they’ve earned the right, the Orange Bowl has no problem with it,” spokesman Joe Hornstein said this week.

We won’t know until the season plays out what bowl would have to take TCU.

For example, should Oklahoma and USC finish first and second in the BCS and play in the Sugar Bowl, the Fiesta gets first choice for its game because it lost the Big 12 champion. The Rose Bowl would get second pick because it lost the Pac-10 champion.

How could TCU end up in the Rose Bowl?

If Texas (No. 5 this week) finishes fourth in the BCS and TCU finishes No. 6 or better, both teams are “must takes” as automatic at-large qualifiers.

That would mean the Rose Bowl could not select 10-2 Washington State to play the Big Ten champion.

The Fiesta Bowl, picking first, has its sights set on a one-loss Louisiana State. But if LSU loses another game, it might take two-loss Texas. The Rose Bowl, picking second, would then have to decide among TCU or the champions of the Southeast, Big East or Atlantic Coast.

“They’re definitely on our radar screen,” Rose Bowl Chief Executive Mitch Dorger said of TCU, “because it’s not beyond the realm of reason that you could get one of those must takes.”

The more intriguing question comes if TCU finishes anywhere from No. 7 to No. 12 in the BCS, making the school eligible to play for a major bowl but not an automatic qualifier.

One bowl, probably the Orange, could be faced with the political decision of passing over undefeated TCU for a two-loss BCS team, which would play right into the non-BCS’s case.

The six BCS commissioners would lobby the Orange Bowl to take TCU for the good of the sport.

“But we don’t have a way to officially influence decisions,” Hansen said, adding “there will be a lot of unofficial conversations.”

Hornstein of the Orange Bowl said his bowl selection committee could easily justify taking a two-loss Texas over TCU if Texas is the higher ranked team.

Fiesta Bowl Chief Executive John Junker is mapping out TCU contingency plans but says his bowl will not be a political pawn.

“We want the very best pick we can make for our own self-interests,” Junker said. “That’s what the rules say we can do. Maybe our best self-interest is TCU. We can very well make that case in some scenarios. But a two-loss Texas on the rise might be ranked ahead of them. Or a 10-2 Tennessee, or Ohio State, those are compelling stories too.”

Junker said he is just beginning to do market research on what TCU could bring to the Tempe table.

“We don’t know yet about how attractive they are,” Junker said. “Are they on front cover of the Los Angeles Times, or Sports Illustrated? Do they become the next man bites dog? Or man bites frog?”

Meanwhile, in Fort Worth, the frog plot thickens. Thanks to a few fortunate bounces and major upheaval among the nation’s top teams, TCU has arrived and cannot be ignored.

Gary Patterson’s team has won five games this year by three points, but the main point is the Horned Frogs are fixing to kick down the BCS door.

TCU has three games left: Cincinnati (5-4), Southern Mississippi (6-3) and Southern Methodist (0-10).

Is TCU, um, Fort worthy?

“Everybody likes controversy, everybody is going to have an opinion as to whether we are or we’re not,” Patterson said. “You know what? We’re not going to know that unless we win three ball games and get a chance to get one of those bids.”

Craig Thompson, commissioner of the non-BCS Mountain West Conference, said he understands a TCU breakthrough might undermine the non-BCS case. “It could, in some minds, weaken the [antitrust] argument,” he said.

Thompson also thinks this year, given all the two-loss schools, could just be an aberration.

No matter what happens to TCU, Thompson said the BCS system is biased, skewed and needs a makeover.

He notes the almost comic disparity in this week’s BCS computer component -- TCU is ranked No. 2 in Anderson & Hester and No. 25 in the New York Times.

TCU may sneak in this year ahead of a two-loss school, but is it proof the system works or is TCU just Halley’s Comet?

“To have to be undefeated is unfair,” Thompson said. “We’re going to look at the whole situation.”

Hurry-Up Offense

More BCS: Thompson says, instead of the BCS standings, the major bowl games should be decided by a human element modeled after the NCAA tournament basketball selection committee. Interestingly, some BCS commissioners also think this is a good idea.

Knowing how controversial a BCS selection committee might be, Thompson quipped, “I’d very much favor it. I don’t want to be on it, but I very much favor it.”

Should Oklahoma, USC and Ohio State all win out, the race for the No. 2 Sugar Bowl spot could come down to a decimal points, strength-of-schedule battle between the Trojans and Buckeyes.

On his independent BCS Internet site, Rich Tellshow says USC fans should root for the following results this weekend: Auburn over Georgia, Brigham Young over Notre Dame, Hawaii over Nevada, UCLA over Oregon, Kansas State over Nebraska, Pittsburgh over West Virginia, New Mexico over Air Force.

Another team that can greatly help USC in the BCS is Washington State.

The Cougars moved from No. 15 to No. 10 this week, meaning the Trojans are getting a 0.2 quality-point win deduction for having defeated Washington State. The higher the Cougars climb in the BCS, the more it benefits USC.

You talk about a nightmare scenario for Texas Coach Mack Brown. Having moved to No. 5 in this week’s BCS standings, Texas could conceivably get a rematch with Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl if USC, Ohio State and Louisiana State each lose a game. Oklahoma defeated Texas earlier this year, 65-13.

Leftovers from John Gagliardi’s historic 409th coaching victory last Saturday in Collegeville, Minn.: The staff at St. John’s, a tiny Division III school, performed superbly in handling the crush of incoming media. The school issued 87 media credentials for the game.

One of the best quotes to emerge from the postgame scene came from receiver Blake Elliott. When asked if Gagliardi ever mentioned breaking the record to his team, Elliott said, “I’ve never heard 409 come out of the guy, unless you’re talking about cleaning supplies or something.”