| | | |
 Friday, December 13, 2002
Miami could divide the nation
By Jack Arute
Special to BCSfootball.com
Comment to Jack Arute.
Much the same way the Presidential race is shaping up in the state of Florida, the BCS battle between the Hurricanes and the Seminoles is following suit. Bobby Bowden admitted over the weekend that he would let the future of his Seminole team rest in the hands of the eight computer rankings comprising the BCS formula. The Hurricanes, on the other hand, like the continued posting by both the AP and the ESPN/USA Today polls that have Miami at No. 2.
Guess what? The mechanical balloting has won out ? at least as far as this week's BCS standings are concerned.
|  | | James Jackson scored twice in the Hurricanes rout of Syracuse, but the 'Canes need more help in order to play for the national championship. |
Hot off its dismantling of the Florida Gators, FSU remained No. 3 in both subjective polls, but gained tremendous ground in the computer rankings, snaring four first-place rankings and three second-place rankings, to give the 'Noles a 1.43 average, the same ranking that the computers give No. 1 Oklahoma.
So what does Miami have to do to go to the Orange Bowl?
1. Take a lowly rated Boston College team to the woodshed.
2. Hope that Kansas State beats Oklahoma on Dec. 2 in Arrowhead Stadium.
Those two accomplishments would certainly strengthen Miami's opportunities to stay home for the holidays and contest for the Sears Trophy.
Should the BCS stand pat, and the Sooners and Seminoles meet in Miami, then the Hurricanes have to hope for a highly-rated BCS opponent in either the Sugar or Fiesta Bowl. Beat a highly rated opponent and the AP writers could decide to depart from the BCS/Orange Bowl game and award their portion of the mythical national title to a strong (and wronged?) Miami team.
If, however, Miami matches up with the early projected Fiesta Bowl opponent (no exit polling, just a massive ticket-buying fan base) Notre Dame, a laugher win by Miami might still not be enough to gain a portion of the 2000 National Championship.
For Washington Huskies fans, the Rose Bowl is a pretty darn good consolation prize. Granted, the Huskies beat Miami, Miami beat Florida State ? yada, yada, yada,. It's still a Pasadena payday for Washington and a validation of the faith that Athletic Director Barbara Hedges had in hiring Rick Neuheisel to direct her football squad.
The team I generally feel for is Oregon State. Dennis Erickson should win Coach of the Year honors. The Beavers are certainly one of the Cinderella squads of the year, and yet, they will not go to the Rose Bowl.
But let's not give Notre Dame a BCS at-large bid quite yet. The Irish still must win this weekend at USC. The Trojans have shown resiliency over the last couple of weeks that has everybody, including Touchdown Jesus, concerned. A Notre Dame loss puts both Oregon State and Virginia Tech into the BCS at-large pool, but look for Nebraska to get the second BCS at-large bid over the Beavers or Hokies.
Jack Arute writes a column every Monday for BCSfootball.com.
Comment to Jack Arute:
| | | |
|
|
