BCS works as well as expected

By By Stan Torgerson / sports columnist
Jan. 6, 2003
So where are the critics of the BCS concept now? The ones who said it hasn't worked, doesn't work and will never work. Where are they after Ohio State and Miami, with the national championship on the line thanks to the BCS, played one of the great college football games in history?
Could this matchup possibly have come about under the old system of conference champions being committed to seperate bowls making it unlikely, if not impossible, for such a pairing to occur?
And where are the Las Vegas experts who made Miami a 13 point favorite over another undefeated team. Or the writers and broadcasters who wrote and said Ohio State was not good enough to stay on the field with the Hurricanes, that the Buckeyes were merely a good team, not a great one, that had lucked its way to a 12-0 regular season record. I'll tell you where they are.
They are readying their second guess columns and comments about the pass interference call on fourth down against Miami that gave OSU new life and the opportunity to go on and win the game.
Right or wrong the call was made in good faith and judgement. Television can rerun their pictures of the play and the call from now until the 2003 season opens and it won't change a thing.
College football is what it is, the most exciting and demanding sport now being played. Sometimes it is played well, sometimes it is played badly, but it is never cut-and-dried with the outcome preordained.
It is usually entertaining to one degree or another and the Ohio State-Miami game was one of the most entertaining of them all.
Would that we could say the same about the quality of performance in some of the postseason games played by representatives of the SEC. With seven conference teams going to bowls it was disappointing to win only three, and more than that, look as lackadaisical and inferior as some of our teams did. Let's start with the three who didn't.
The Ole Miss win over Nebraska may have been the biggest of all and for several reasons. First, this was a team which had lost five straight and qualified only by winning their last game of the season to get the six wins necessary for a bowl invitation.
It was not a team in demand, but the league's contract with the Independence Bowl gave the Rebels a chance to save the season and their reputation. To be matched against one of the storied dynasties of college football, the Nebraska Cornhuskers, down year or not for them, was in the minds of many the expectation the Big 12, not the SEC, would show to be the better of the two conferences.
It is interesting to note the last three Ole Miss bowl victories have all come against members of the Big 12, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Nebraska in that order.
The win was important in another way. The Rebs are keeping their collective fingers crossed that Eli Manning will return for his senior year and perhaps this game reminded the young man of just how much fun college football can be.
Unlike many of those who opt to come out early, there are no financial considerations to sway Eli. He doesn't have to sign a big bucks contract in order to buy a house for his parents or provide them with vehicles. Father Archie has done very well, thank you.
But Eli staying on board will be very important to the Rebels recruiting efforts this spring. Coach David Cutcliffe is certain to use the argument that if a kid signs with Ole Miss they will have the opportunity to play with Eli and that with Manning at quarterback anything can happen in 2003, mostly good.
As for our other SEC teams this bowl season, Georgia proved they were the league's true champion by thumping Florida State. More than that, they may have also proven they are the next dynasty team, destined for the same level of dominance Florida and Tennessee had enjoyed for many years.
Auburn victory over Penn State will make them the favorite in the SEC West when next fall comes. No one has the overall depth of talent returning equal to that of the Tigers.
As for our losers, Tennessee played as poorly in their 30-3 loss to Maryland as we have seen a Vol team perform in years. No fire, no spirit, no discipline, no desire. What has happened in Knoxville that changed UT from a well oiled machine to a rusted vehicle whose motor no longer runs?
Arkansas proved against Minnesota in the Music City Bowl they were more lucky than talented last season. They are the champions of the West because the right teams lost when the Razorbacks needed for them to lose and they themselves won when they needed to win. It happens.
Florida is certainly not the Gators of old and Ron Zook is not yet Steve Spurrier. His decision to call a trick play, down by eight and with a minute to go, was the one worst decision of the bowl season. The Gators had moved the ball well to the Michigan 27 but the pass by a freshman cornerback turned receiver turned one play quarterback on a reverse was intercepted and the game was over.
LSU won the battle of the statistics against Texas but the Longhorns won the scoreboard. The Tigers had the second best pass defense in the country coming in. Someone forgot to tell them reputations don't carry over. Wide Receiver Roy Williams riddled them.
The most disappointing performance in any bowl game was that by Iowa quarterback Brad Banks, runner up in the Heisman Trophy balloting. Maybe I'm purging my own soul when I confess I voted for him, but head-to-head in the Orange Bowl he wasn't in the same class as winner Carson Palmer. This year the voters got it right, even if I didn't.