By Scottie Bricker
Arizona Daily Wildcat
December 9, 1997

Clearing up the Bowl picture

Arizona Daily Wildcat Scottie Bricker

The college football bowl alliance committee members, in all their infinite wisdom and knowledge, have chosen the six schools that will vie for the mythical national championship.

Representatives from the Tostitos Fiesta, Nokia Sugar, and Fed Ex Orange Bowls announced their picks Sunday pitting Kansas State versus Syracuse, Florida State against Ohio State and Tennessee versus Nebraska in the national championship game.

Nebraska is one of two undefeated, untied teams in the country, along with Michigan which will play Washington State in the Rose Bowl. It is a shame these two teams will not get a chance to settle who is number one once and for all.

The situation will improve next year when the Rose Bowl joins the alliance, creating a supposedly clear cut title game.

So what happens when the season ends with three undefeated teams, even though that hasn't happened in six years? Or what if three or four teams are 11-1? Then what do we do to decide who is number one? Leave it up to the writers in the Associated Press poll to decide in all their individual biases?

I don't think so.

Someone is bound to be left out of the mix of who deserves to have a shot at the national title.

See UCLA and North Carolina as this year's examples.

Although it would tack on three or four games to a team's 11 or 12 game schedule, here is a surefire solution to end all the drawn-out debate.

A SWEET SIXTEEN....OF SORTS

The seven major football conferences, in order of strength, are the Big 10, Pacific 10, the Southeastern, the Atlantic Coast, the Big 12, the Big East and the Western Athletic.

Take the champion of each of those conferences and give them an automatic bid into the tournament.

That's right. I said a tournament.

Any of those seven teams which is undefeated receives a bye in the first round of the tournament, as would any independent school that finished the year without a loss.

This year, Michigan and Nebraska would qualify under that criteria as the first and second seeds respectively, and enjoy a week off.

In this 16-team field, 12 spots remain, five to the remaining conference champs and seven to be given to at-large selections according to a power poll.

The five other conference champs are Tennessee, Florida State, Washington State, Colorado State and Syracuse.

The last seven spots would be decided by a poll combining performance with coaches votes and strength of schedule. We'll call it the Bricker Bowl Poll for the time being.

Those seven teams, according to intense calculation and deliberation, are UCLA, Florida, North Carolina, Ohio State, Kansas State, Penn State and Auburn.

Now take those 12 teams and seed them according to the same well-respected poll.

Seeds three thorough 14 would be Tennessee, FSU, UCLA, UNC, Washington St., Florida, Ohio St., Penn St., Auburn, Kansas St., Syracuse and Colorado St.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN

First round results:

(6)North Carolina 31-(11)Auburn 24. (3)Tennessee 35-(14)Colorado State 14, (7)Washington State 38-(10)Penn State 31, (5)UCLA 42-(12)Kansas State 17, (4)Florida State 37-(13)Syracuse 20 and (9)Ohio State 24-(8)Florida 21.

In the second round things would get very interesting with matchups like UNC versus Tennessee, Nebraska against Wazzu, UCLA taking on FSU and Michigan against OSU.

North Carolina cornerback Dre Bly would intercept two Peyton Manning passes and return them for touchdowns leading the Tar Heels to the inaugural Final Four. Joining UNC would be Nebraska behind Ahman Green's 374 yards rushing against the Cougars, the Bruins after a 31-28 upset over FSU and Michigan, after its second defeat of the Buckeyes this season.

Nebraska then runs over the Heels and meets Michigan in the first ever national championship game, after the Wolverines outscore the Bruins 41-40.

Michigan, and their Heisman Trophy cornerback/wide receiver Charles Woodson, will please all the faithful in Ann Arbor, Mich., with an impressive 24-10 victory, capturing the NCAA title and settling all dispute to the question, who's number one?