Setting Up A Showdown In Dallas

Arguments for revising the bowl game selection process to require teams to be chosen on the basis of a full schedule have been advanced here in the past. They appealed primarily to logic and the good of college football, however, and therefore were not taken seriously. What appears to be needed is an appeal to emotions. Or to greed. When it comes to getting things done, greed and emotions are superior to logic any day.

San Diego State , for example, should be feeling pretty emotional right now. San Diego State should be ready to fight, actually. The Aztecs finished their season with a boffo 10-1 record. Only one team in the country ( Texas ) can say more. The Aztecs were ranked 16th by the Associated Press . When the rolls were called up yonder in the bowl selection booths, one would logically assume that up-and-comer San Diego State would have gotten a yell. Uh uh. Not even a whisper.

On Nov. 19, the night designated for selections, San Diego State defeated Florida State , already earmarked for the Tangerine Bowl, 41-16. The Tangerine's other choice, Texas Tech , lost to Houston that day, 45-7. On his way to the FSU locker room for the formality, Tangerine representative Pete Cross was heard to say, "Well, that's show biz. Which way's the bar?"

Fortunately for Cross, FSU revived to whip archrival Florida and finish strong, but Texas Tech wound up losing to Arkansas to roll into the Tangerine a four-time loser. Nothing unusual about that, sorry to say. Under the bowls' Premature Selection Process ( PSP )—anything prior to the last big week of the regular season is premature—five bowls wound up as consolation prizes for six four-time losers.

That alone is enough to make San Diego State scream, but how about 17th-ranked (by AP ) Brigham Young , 9-2 and the second-highest-scoring team in the country; or 17th-ranked (by UPI) North Texas State , 9-2 and winner of nine of its last 10; or Miami of Ohio , 10-1. Miami won its last nine in a row. Under the PSP , however, it is far better to have early foot and fade badly than to be strong in the stretch.

All of those concerned—bowls and colleges—have adjusted to this self-perpetuating madness with a kind of garage sale mentality. An increasingly familiar gambit is the one where bowls announce they will take the losers of certain games or conference races, as the Sugar, Blue-bonnet and Liberty Bowls did. This is really no worse than having a chosen team fall on its face.

Certainly no one would dispute the merit of having Ohio State (off its loss to Rose-bound Michigan ) in the Sugar or Nebraska (off its loss to Orange-bound Oklahoma ) in the Liberty. Whether Woody Hayes is rehabilitated and ready to resume a useful place in society or not, Ohio State -Alabama is an excellent match. But there is a stigma, PSP -inspired, in having to declare for teams on the basis of their losing. The same choice probably would not seem as bad if made after the season.

There is a greater irony, however, one that should arouse greed in every NCAA member institution not fortunate enough to be named, well, Ohio State or Nebraska . In a phrase: as long as bowls are required to choose their poison before all the returns are in, they are going to opt for name teams. Under the PSP , San Diego State had no chance. To put it starkly, if a bowl has to risk a multiple loser, it will be Minnesota over Miami of Ohio every time.

Think not? Well, the bowls know a little about greed, too. Bowls are no longer excuses to give a deserving college boy a Bourbon Street tour or a boat ride on Biscayne Bay . Bowls are a $13 million bonanza for college football. They are dictated to by big-business interests, not the least of which is television. Unconvinced? This exchange between executives of a minor bowl and the television network doing its game was reported by the Miami News: "Who'd you like to see us pick?" asked the bowl man. "Notre Dame," said the TV man. "Failing that, my second choice is USC. My third choice is USC. My fourth choice is USC." It did not matter that USC was a four-time loser. It did matter that there are roughly 10 million television sets in Southern California .

The minor bowls are responsible for this foolishness, of course. They lobbied successfully for an early selection date, crying to the NCAA for time to promote their games and sell tickets. More often than not, this has resulted in the major bowls being saddled with damaged goods. Ah, but this year it didn't work that way. After Nov. 19 none of the four major bowls had one of its steamrollers run out of fuel. Seven of the nine top-rated teams are in the major bowls.