BCS head says it spiced up season

By BOB HARIG, BRIAN LANDMAN, BRUCE LOWITT

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 5, 1999

EMPE, Ariz. -- Although the Bowl Championship Series has generated much controversy in its first year, Roy Kramer, the father of the system that paired Florida State and Tennessee in Monday's "true" title game, is happy with the results.

"I think we did enhance, or have some impact on enhancing, regular-season college football," he said. "College football is a very unique sport and I hope that we've maintained that uniqueness. It may be the only sport left where the regular season is enormously important."

He said the last month or so was more exciting for fans, culminating Dec. 5 when Miami upset undefeated UCLA, Texas A&M; stunned unbeaten Kansas State for the Big 12 championship and Tennessee rallied in the waning minutes to beat Mississippi State for the Southeastern Conference championship.

Kramer also scoffed at criticism that the BCS system, which rates teams based on polls, three computer rankings, strength of schedule and records, has destroyed tradition, especially the bowls.

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In Monday's USA Today, Christine Brennan opined that the BCS has "rendered nearly meaningless every bowl game except the one that gets the coveted No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup." That rotates every year between the Fiesta, Sugar, Orange and Rose bowls.

"Kentucky takes their program to a 7-4 level and takes 28,000 people to Tampa, Fla., for a bowl game," Kramer, the SEC commissioner, said. "Now, that wasn't one of the great ballgames of all time ... but you should have been in that stadium at kickoff. You couldn't hear yourself think. I don't care if it was important in Phoenix or not, it was damn important at that time in Tampa and Lexington and places like that."

Kramer said there one day might be a playoff, but there are many problems that most fans don't understand and "call-in radio show gurus" don't answer:

How do you schedule games to avoid conflicts with the NFL playoffs? To ensure crowds, would the first-round games have to be played at a school's campus and not a neutral site? What happens to the teams that don't make the playoff field?

"Somebody, somewhere has to look at the big picture and not just at the Top 12, 14, 20 programs in the country," he said. "It's very important, at least from my standpoint, that I maintain college football for the Vanderbilts, the Mississippi States, the Ole Misses, the Wake Forests; the TCUs of the world have to continue playing college football or we don't have college football."

EXPERT OPINION: What would winning a national championship have meant to each of the coaches in Monday night's game? A former coach has a pretty good idea.

Tom Osborne, who retired after 25 seasons at Nebraska last season with three national titles in four years, knows it is the ultimate way outsiders judge a coach. It took him 22 years to get his first national title.

Tennessee's Phillip Fulmer won his first and the school's first since 1951. FSU coach Bobby Bowden's came at Osborne's expense in 1993.

"I was never haunted by it to where I couldn't sleep," said Osborne, whose team defeated Tennessee last season in the Orange Bowl in his final game, earning a share of the national title with Michigan. "I think Bobby's been the same way. Having won the national championship a few years ago, I know he'd like to win another one.

"The biggest change I noticed was you didn't have to answer the same questions. I was very sincere when I would say it would be nice, but it isn't why I'm coaching. It isn't the most important thing in my life.

"Particularly playing at the level they've played at. Even if you don't win the national championship, you've been as good as the national champion many years. As a coach, that has to be a satisfying thing."

STRONG FOUNDATION: Tennessee went undefeated despite the loss of QB Peyton Manning and 13 other players to the NFL. Four starters returned on defense, and the Vols had to break in a new quarterback in Tee Martin.

But from the beginning, Fulmer said this did not have to be a rebuilding season. He knew the talent he had recruited that was waiting for a chance to play.

"I really challenged the seniors personally and publicly," Fulmer said. "Then we had to answer the ifs. If our defensive line solidifies, if our secondary can replace three guys ... things may work out. I think they bought into the approach that you don't have to be the best team in the country. You have to be the best team on 11 Saturdays. That's what we did."

BROADCAST DISPUTE: Members of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians-Communications Workers of America picketed outside Sun Devil Stadium to protest what it claimed was a lockout of its 2,700 union members by ABC and its parent organization, Walt Disney Co.

Those who picketed, telling passers-by that "rookies are on the cameras," handed out leaflets accusing ABC and Disney of "economic terrorism this holiday season," cutting off paychecks and canceling medical and life insurance. They said the lockout is over a dispute involving the cost of the workers' new health care plan. There were no apparent disruptions involving those who picketed before the Fiesta Bowl.

ETC.: The Seminoles fell behind 14-0 in the second quarter, which had not happened since the 1997 Sugar Bowl, where FSU lost to Florida 52-20. ... The last time an FSU opponent returned an interception for a touchdown was in 1994, when Miami's Carlos Jones took a pick 16 yards in a 34-20 FSU loss. ... FSU receivers put a No. 16 decal on their helmets in support of QB Chris Weinke, who was lost for the season with a neck injury. ... FSU FB William McCray's second-quarter touchdown was his third score in a bowl game. He had two TDs last year against Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl.