Upon further review, BCS not all that bad

Monday, Nov. 24, 2003 | 10:08 a.m.

Here's an idea, college football fans. Let's not register any complaints about the Bowl Championship Series until after the season, because maybe then they won't seem so frivolous.

A couple of weeks ago, fans were head-slapping the BCS because it didn't see how it was going to determine which one-loss team was going to play Oklahoma for the national championship in the Sugar Bowl.

Then about six of them lost the very next weekend.

Last week, more fans piled on the BCS' case, when undefeated TCU slipped from sixth place, which would have guaranteed the Horned Frogs a slot in one of the lucrative BCS games, to eighth, which didn't guarantee it so much as a bag of Tostitos, despite the fact it had won its game.

Then the Horned Frogs lost the very next weekend.

The BCS last week was flagged for another late hit when Ohio State somehow slipped by Southern Cal into second spot in the standings, and thus had the inside track to play Oklahoma, when neither had done anything to warrant the flip-flop.

Then the Buckeyes lost the very next weekend.

So tonight, when the new BCS poll is released, we should be right back to where we started and, apologies to the vocal minority starting to spout off in Baton Rouge, probably right where we should be: Oklahoma vs. USC for the all the Sugar cubes.

Not that the system isn't flawed, but I'm starting to think that the BCS is succeeding in making chicken salad out of chicken ... er, feathers. The beauty of it -- now there's a word not often used in conjunction with the BCS -- is that before it was created, there was no way the Sooners and Trojans could meet in the postseason, what with the Big 8/12 champion promised to the Orange Bowl and the Pac-10 champ tied to the Rose Bowl.

As BCS coordinator and Big East commission Mike Tranghese said recently, "All the BCS was intended to do was create a system that would bring together a 1 vs. 2 championship game. We had never had it before. The system is doing exactly what it was intended to do."

Moreover, every BCS title game has been a matchup that fans could live with.

Although there's a lot of football still to be played, this year probably won't be any different.

The starting 11

MICHIGAN 35, OHIO STATE 21: Ohio State didn't exactly go from the penthouse to the outhouse with its thorough beating at the hands of rival Michigan. But it may wind up in the Outback, as in the second tier Outback Bowl. "We don't want to play in the Outback Bowl, or down there in Orlando," Bucks offensive tackled Shane Olivea said after Ohio State ran out of mirrors at Michigan Stadium. "We feel we're a BCS team." That won't be determined for a couple of weeks, until after the conference championship games are played.

OKLAHOMA 56, TEXAS TECH 25: Texas Tech's B.J. Symons broke Ty Detmer's 13-year-old NCAA single season passing yardage record in the second quarter. By the end of the game, Symons had press box pundits inquiring about the record for throwing interceptions in back-to-back home games. Symons wound up with 10, as the stifling Oklahoma defense stepped in front of five more of his passes while limiting him to a season-low 230 yards through the air.

SOUTHERN CAL 47, UCLA 22: National champs can wait. For now, the Trojans are satisfied being city champs. "Man, the only thing I feel good about is today," said USC wide receiver Mike Williams, who caught a 21-yard touchdown pass less than three minutes into the game. "None of it, the BCS, the Sugar Bowl, matters. I really don't like them (the Bruins). I don't like them at all." My guess is that Williams was exaggerating slightly -- not about disliking UCLA, but about the Sugar Bowl meaning nothing.

LSU 17, OLE MISS 14: Brad Edwards, ESPN's guru of Bowl Championship Series mathematics, said last week that if LSU wins the rest of its games, including a possible SEC Championship Game, the Tigers could overtake USC in the No. 2 spot in the BCS standings. Nick Saban, LSU's guru of hard-nosed defense, said the anxious Tigers were fortunate to hold off Eli Manning on Ole Miss' final three possessions. "I did all that we could do to try and get the players to focus on what they needed to do to execute and play good football in the game and not worry about the emotional aspects of what's at stake and that kind of stuff," he said. All of that was just enough.

WASHINGTON 27, WASHINGTON STATE 19: How about these apples in the Apple Bowl: Washington finally beats somebody, and immediately begins talking trash. "Everybody thought it would be a landslide," said Washington receiver Reggie Williams after the Huskies scored twice in the final 1:10 to earn a stunning victory against the eighth-ranked Cougars. "But we showed everybody we are still the Huskies and they are still the Cougars."

BOSTON COLLEGE 34, VIRGINIA TECH 27: Goodbye Gator Bowl, hello Continental Tire Bowl? No wonder the Hokies are feeling a little flat after being upset in their final Big East game. Virginia Tech was rated as high as No. 3 in October but will wind up with a not-so-lovely parting gift in December, probably because it could not decide on a quarterback. After guiding the Hokies to 17 first-quarter points, Bryan Randall was benched in favor the erratic Marcus Vick against BC.

IOWA 27, WISCONSIN 21: After holding off Wisconsin in 30-degree mist, the Hawkeyes should get a chance to even out their farmer suntans in Florida. The Capital One Bowl in Orlando and the Outback Bowl in Tampa are both said to be courting Iowa after free safety Sean Considine deflected a pass in the end zone on the game's final play.

KANSAS STATE 24, MISSOURI 14: Remember when Kansas State was 3-3 and losing to teams such as Marshall? The Wildcats have won six consecutive games and will get a chance to monkey wrench the BCS when they meet No. 1 Oklahoma in the Big 12 championship game on the frozen tundra of Arrowhead Stadium in a couple of weeks. Hope they bring a big wrench.

GEORGIA 30, KENTUCKY 10: Georgia coach Mark Richt is not exactly a pig's best friend -- not after handing out 20 game balls after the Bulldogs' victory against Kentucky. Each of the 17 Georgia seniors got one, as did kicker Billy Bennett, who booted three field goals, team doctor Gerald Thomas, who is retiring after 38 years, and athletic director Vince Dooley, who is doing the same after 40 years as Georgia coach and AD.

MIAMI (OHIO) 49, OHIO 31: The RedHawks have a point when it comes to justifying their bowl worthiness. Actually, they have a school record 448 of them. Prolific Miami also set a record for total yards in one season (5,286) by dotting Ohio's I for its 10th consecutive win since losing to Iowa in the season opener.

UTAH 3, BYU 0: BYU shut out? I guess hell has frozen over -- or at least Provo, Utah. Blustery, snowy weather made passing nearly impossible, so the Utes were happy to clinch their first outright conference championship since 1957 by shutting out the Cougars for the first time since 1975 -- a streak of 361 games -- with an old-school score.

Big men on campus

Stats enough

Oklahoma completed its 10th unbeaten regular season in 65 years with a 56-25 victory against Texas Tech. ... It is so, Joe: Penn State's 41-10 loss to Michigan State ended the worst season in Joe Paterno's 38 years as coach. The Nittany Lions (3-9) lost nine games for the first time and are only the fourth losing team in Paterno's career. ... Larry Fitzgerald had seven catches for 102 yards in Pittsburgh's 30-16 win against Temple, and extended his NCAA record for consecutive games with a touchdown to 17. ... Vanderbilt finished with a losing record for the 21st consecutive season after a 48-0 loss to Tennessee. ... Duke ended a 13-game losing streak against North Carolina with a 30-22 win. The Blue Devils hadn't beaten the Tar Heels since 1989, when Steve Spurrier's visor had a "D" on it.

Division I-A Lite

A look at the top teams in the non-BCS conferences:

1. Miami of Ohio (MAC): Big Ben (Roethlisberger) tolling loud and clear.

2. Boise State (WAC): Broncos feed Fresno's trash-talking fans some potato salad.

3. Bowling Green (MAC): Bring on Miami of O. -- again.

4. Northern Illinois (MAC): Cinderella is barefoot but still winning.

5. Southern Mississippi (USA): TC-Who?

6. TCU (USA): Memo to BCS: Never mind.

7. Utah (MWC): Who needs touchdowns?

8. Toledo (MAC): Rockets still in orbit.

9. New Mexico (MWC): Lobos frolic in the snow.

10. Connecticut (IND): Get these guys a bowl bid.

Games we'd like to see

In this space each week the Sun will present a dream college football matchup, with statistics and highlights provided by Lance Haffner Games' 3-in-1 computer simulation. Readers who would like to propose future matchups can do so by contacting the Sun via e-mail at ron@lasvegassun.com.

1969 TEXAS 20, 1969 OHIO STATE 17: Woody Hayes always thought his 1969 Ohio State team was his best one, even though it lost 24-12 to Michigan, ending its national title hopes. Texas won the crown that year and also prevailed in our dream matchup, as Happy Feller kicked a 42-yard field goal with 22 seconds left in the game for a 20-17 win. The statistics were as close as the final score, with the Longhorns gaining 294 yards to the Buckeyes' 286. Ohio State's Jim Otis was named game MVP with 136 yards on 21 carries.

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