It’s Still Case of System Failure

Two points have to be made on the lingering controversy involving California and Texas and the bowl championship series, because the problem is lingering:

* By keeping their ballots anonymous, the voting coaches in the ESPN/USA Today poll have only themselves to blame for the perception problem that has mushroomed since Texas jumped Cal in the final BCS standings.

“There’s no question about that,” Grant Teaff, executive director of the American Football Coaches Assn., acknowledged.

* BCS officials are more at fault for what happened with Cal and Texas than the voting coaches.

“No matter what the gray area is, Cal was still No. 4 in the coaches’ vote,” Teaff said. “And nobody has even looked at it.”

Teaff is correct in this assessment, and pardon him if he sounds defensive.

This has not been a good week for the AFCA, the coaches’ governing body.

“It’s not been fun for anybody,” said Teaff, the former Baylor coach.

Newspapers in Georgia and Texas, for example, have launched open-record campaigns to have the ballots of 61 coaches made public.

The AFCA is holding firm, contending that coaches vote as individuals and are not representatives of their schools. In fact, seven of the 61 coaches had either been fired or had resigned when they cast their final votes.

The AFCA says coaches can reveal their votes if they choose, but it’s a public relations disaster no matter how you look at it.

In case you missed it, Texas finished ahead of Cal in the final BCS standings and some people suspect the fix might have been in.

In a fight for the No. 4 BCS spot and an automatic bid in a $14-million game, Cal lost the .0013 lead it had over Texas despite a 10-point road victory over Southern Mississippi.

Cal fell to fifth in the final BCS standings and was denied a trip to the Rose Bowl, which raised suspicions that some coaches with vested interests might have manipulated their votes.

Although the coaches have no good excuse for hiding behind their votes, and any coach who dropped Cal to seventh or eighth needs to be held accountable, the AFCA is right when it says the crux of the argument is misdirected.

Cal still finished fourth in the final coaches’ poll, ahead of Texas. The vote tally came into play only because BCS officials decided this year to weight the rankings on a points system, meaning you could be a “strong” No. 4 or a “weak” No. 4.

The voting coaches, and writers, came under intense scrutiny after Cal held its No. 4 ranking in both polls but lost enough points to be overtaken by the BCS computer component.

Under last year’s rules, Cal would have had a 1.5-point lead over Texas in the poll component simply by finishing ahead of Texas in the final polls.

The AFCA did not recommend this rule change.

“You can blame coaches for a lot of things, but you can’t blame us for that,” Teaff said.

The coaches also had nothing to do with the rule that mandated the No. 3 or No. 4 team in the BCS had to receive an automatic bid. This amendment was adopted after Kansas State, in 1998, dropped from No. 1 to No. 3 following a heartbreaking defeat to Texas A&M; in the Big 12 championship game.

Because all of the other major bowls had teams in place, Kansas State ended up in the less prestigious Alamo Bowl.

Had there been no rule providing an automatic berth for No. 3 or No. 4, the Rose Bowl would have taken Cal without a peep from Texas.

“Please note that, that would be very nice,” Teaff said. “We’re not privy to any of those decisions, but conference commissioners are.”

The coaches are to blame for thinking they could vote secretly and not have it blow up in their faces.

Last year, the 117 Division I-A coaches voted against having their ballots made public by a margin of 80-37.

More recently, coaches participating in this year’s poll voted 32-29 to keep their final ballots anonymous.

This was a huge mistake, and the coaches are paying a steep political price.

Teaff says he is “not opposed at all” to the coaches’ vote being made public.

The vote will come up again at January’s annual coaches’ convention.

The guess here is that the havoc created this year will force the coaches to reconsider.

Doing the right thing just because a gun is pointed at your head, however, shouldn’t make anyone stand up and cheer.

*

Too Late Now ...

Cal fans, you are not going to like this -- so what’s new?

The BCS considered two plans when it decided last spring to give more power to the human polls in the BCS standings.

One plan, known as “40-40-20,” called for the formula to be weighted 40% for the Associated Press poll, 40% for the coaches’ poll and 20% for the computers.

After much internal debate, BCS officials opted instead to give the three components equal weight -- 33.3% each.

Had the BCS decided on “40-40-20,” Cal would have edged Texas for the No. 4 spot by .00057 and gone to the Rose Bowl.

*

Heisman Fatigue?

ESPN’s Chris Fowler asked Matt Leinart on Saturday’s Heisman Trophy telecast whether the USC quarterback was aware he would be a marked man heading into the Jan. 4 Orange Bowl against Oklahoma.

“I am,” Leinart said. “I know they’re going to be coming after me.”

There may be something to this.

The last three quarterbacks who won the Heisman Trophy before playing in the national championship all had less-than-stellar performances in title-game losses.

Oklahoma quarterback Jason White, the 2003 Heisman winner, completed 13 of 37 passes with two interceptions and no touchdown passes in last year’s 21-14 Sugar Bowl loss to Louisiana State.

Nebraska quarterback Eric Crouch, the 2001 winner, was five for 15 with no touchdowns and an interception in a 37-14 title-game loss to Miami in the Rose Bowl. Crouch did rush for 114 yards.

Florida State quarterback Chris Weinke, the 2000 winner, completed 25 of 51 passes with two interceptions and a fumble in a 13-2 loss to Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl.

In sum, the Heisman-winning quarterbacks completed 43 of 103 passes with five interceptions and no touchdown passes.

*

Weis Guy

Newly minted Notre Dame Coach Charlie Weis is one tough hombre.

Consider that he nearly died in 2002 from complications after “stomach staple” surgery and resents the suggestion that he underwent the drastic weight-loss procedure so that he would be more appealing as a head-coaching candidate.

“You want to know why you do it?” Weis said. “Because for 10 years you’re over 300 pounds and your father died at 56 of a second heart attack. You’re afraid if you stay at the same level, you’re going to drop dead. It has nothing to do with getting jobs. That’s what everyone else says because they want to put words in your mouth. The bottom line is, when you’re unhealthy, you do something about it.”

*

Hurry-Up Offense

Final New Orleans Bowl score: Southern Mississippi 31, North Texas 10. Hmmm, maybe California’s 10-point victory at Southern Mississippi was more impressive than a few voting coaches and writers thought?

Oklahoma Coach Bob Stoops’ early impressions of USC: “They’re very similar to us. They have a great quarterback. You see Leinart, [Reggie] Bush and a great group of receivers. You look at us and see Jason and Adrian [Peterson] and a great group of receivers. There’s also great fundamental structure, an aggressive style of play. We probably mirror each other in a lot of ways.”

Stoops on 12-0 Auburn’s finishing No. 3 in the BCS standings: “There isn’t a good answer right now. It’s just a tough position to be in.”

Walt Harris, named coach at Stanford, started his playing career as a safety in the Bay Area at the College of San Mateo.

You might think Harris is the most famous coach San Mateo has ever produced, right?

Not by a mile. San Mateo reported this week that it believes it is the only school to have produced three Super Bowl coaches. Bill Walsh (three championships with the San Francisco 49ers) and John Madden (Oakland Raiders) played at San Mateo in the 1950s; Dick Vermeil (Super Bowl winner with St. Louis Rams) was an assistant coach in the 1960s.

The NCAA will consider legislation early next year that would allow schools to play 12 games each season.

At present, 12-game schedules (other than exempt games and conference title appearances) are allowed only in years when there are 14 Saturdays in the fall calendar. The proposal is sponsored by the Big 12 Conference but opposed by the AFCA. Final word on the proposal should come in April.

University of Washington President Mark Emmert on having to pay his football coach, Ty Willingham, more money than he makes.

“It’s not the first time I’ve done it,” Emmert joked.

Emmert came to Washington this year from Louisiana State, where he once signed checks for Tiger Coach Nick Saban.