Columnist Steve Carp: Back room deals equal bad business

Steve Carp

Tuesday, Dec. 9, 1997 | 11:17 a.m.

SO, IT has come to this.

If you've got enough people willing to travel or some other commodity, like a powerful basketball team, your school can buy its way into a bowl game, regardless of its record or ranking.

I'm not quite sure which is more offensive, Kansas State getting to go to the Fiesta Bowl because it promises to bring 35,000 fans, or Cincinnati, which bartered a basketball game with the Boise State administration so its 6-5 football team could play in the Sports Humanitarian Bowl.

But both deals were money-driven and that's why the whole bowl system needs serious changing, especially the bowl alliance.

It's bad enough the bogus Big East is guaranteed a spot, especially with an overrated Syracuse team. But the Big 12 gets two spots -- Nebraska in the Orange Bowl and Kansas State in the Fiesta.

There's no problem with Nebraska. But Kansas State, its 10-1 record notwithstanding, gets in at No. 10 over No. 5 UCLA simply because it "travels better"?

Sorry, but that's not right. If KSU coach Bill Snyder were on the other side of this equation, he'd be saying the same thing. Instead, the K-State athletic department reaps an $8 million bonanza which likely will get it out of the red. And Snyder will be more mum than usual.

While mum's the word in Manhattan, coy is the word in Cincy where athletic director Bob Goin pulled a fast one. He's got a mediocre 7-4 team from a mediocre football league (Conference USA). The Bearcats haven't been to a bowl since McCarthyism was running rampant.

So Goin did a little wheeling and dealing. When the Las Vegas Bowl took Oregon, the Boise folks needed an opponent for Utah State. Goin couldn't deliver 35,000 fans to Boise, so he delivered Bob Huggins' basketball team to play the Broncos in the BSU Pavilion next year.

It promises to be the biggest home game in the school's history. Normally, a powerhouse like Cincinnati wouldn't dream of playing a game in Boise unless it was the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

So let's amend what I said last week. Air Force-Oregon in the Las Vegas Bowl isn't the worst matchup in the world. The Sports Humanitarian Bowl has it beat by a long shot. So does the inaugural Motor City Bowl which has Marshall meeting Mississippi. And come to think of it, does the nation really want an LSU-Notre Dame rematch in the Independence Bowl?

The only game that matters is the Rose Bowl. If Michigan beats Washington State, it's over. The Wolverines will be the national champions despite the stupid bowl alliance. All these teams playing elsewhere can say, "We went to a bowl game" and sell their recruits on what a great experience it was going to wherever it was they went.

I can just see the Cincinnati coaches telling a recruit they played in a bowl game in Boise and the kid responding with a blank stare.

So Mr. Goin, when you get to Boise, go to one of the many bars on Main Street, hoist a glass of champagne and toast yourself for that nice little coup you pulled. Just don't choke on the pretzels. And pray your basketball team doesn't choke a year from now.