The hottest question in college football is about to be answered.
It isn’t whether John Cooper can beat Michigan Saturday for the second time in 11 tries as Ohio State coach. And it isn’t whether Northwestern finally will book a win, Danno, at Hawaii.
No, the hottest question is whether the door to the Fiesta Bowl will crack open wide enough for Kansas State to slip through.
Kansas State is third, behind fellow unbeatens Tennessee and UCLA, in the Bowl Championship Series standings. The BCS formula weighs the coaches and media polls, three computer ratings, strength of schedule and a team’s losses. The top two teams in the Dec. 6 BCS standings will draw automatic invitations to the Fiesta Bowl.
“I suppose if I was coaching at Kansas State, I’d be a little disappointed,” Cooper said Tuesday. “If the (national title) game was played today, they wouldn’t be a part of it.”
But the Wildcats would know the reason for their absence: strength of schedule.
Kansas State this year played Northern Illinois (a 73-7 victory), Northeast Louisiana (a 62-7 victory) and Division I-AA Indiana State (a 66-0 victory).
By contrast, UCLA met Texas and will visit Miami, both of which have been ranked this year. And Tennessee traveled to Syracuse, which also has been ranked.
According to the BCS, the Wildcats have played the 68th most-difficult schedule in Division I-A. By contrast, UCLA’s schedule rates 12th and Tennessee’s 13th.
If all other factors remain constant, the Wildcats’ schedule strength would have to jump by at least 25 slots to overtake the Bruins for the second Fiesta berth. The Wildcats’ schedule strength figures to improve when they close the regular season against Missouri, which ranks 19th in the BCS, and meet Texas A & M (BCS No. 6) in the Big 12 title game Dec. 5.
Of course, K-State’s schedule won’t matter if Tennessee or UCLA loses.
In fairness, it should be noted Kansas State isn’t the only school that schedules creampuffs. In this week’s BCS standings, three schools (Wisconsin, at 73; Air Force, at 94; and Tulane, at 101) have played schedules weaker than Kansas State’s.
But those three teams didn’t go into this season dreaming of a national title. Kansas State did.
As coach Bill Snyder rebuilt what was once the nation’s worst program, it may have been necessary to fatten his record with victories over patsies. Before the season, he said he wasn’t concerned that his policy could end up costing the Wildcats a shot at the biggest prize in the land.
“We’ve just tried to do what I’ve believed to be in the best interest of our football program,” Snyder told a reporter. “It doesn’t always accommodate everyone else, but I’m confident I couldn’t accommodate everybody if I tried.”
That’s fine for K-State, but it isn’t fine for college football. If the Wildcats can qualify for the national title game despite refusing to test themselves outside their conference, it sends a disturbing message to other title contenders.
Florida State this year played Miami, Florida, Southern Cal and Texas A & M. Wouldn’t it have been wiser to follow K-State’s plan? The answer comes Dec. 6.
Coach Control: Snyder either has a very short memory, or he lied to more than 100 reporters during his postgame press conference Saturday.
Snyder said after the game that quarterback Michael Bishop, who led the Wildcats to victory, would not be made available to the media for interviews, in keeping with Snyder’s month-old gag order on the player.
Thirty minutes later, Snyder allowed Bishop to speak to Sports Illustrated. Earlier in the week, he let Bishop give an interview to ESPN, which pays for Big 12 broadcast rights.
Both interviews angered local media. On Sunday, a reporter asked Snyder if he would give “Michael back to the rest of us.”
“Maybe some of you,” Snyder said.
Bruins on the rise: Until this year, the Rose Bowl was the goal of teams in the Big Ten and Pac-10. Then the Bowl Championship Series was born and this year, at least, the Rose Bowl has been portrayed as a consolation prize.
But UCLA tried to act excited after clinching at least a Rose Bowl berth in a 36-24 victory at Washington last weekend.
“It’s a weird situation,” wide receiver Brian Poli-Dixon said. “People are excited to go to the Rose Bowl and that’s one of the reasons you come here. Don’t get us wrong. We are excited. But it’s not over.”
Added wide receiver Danny Farmer: “I think people celebrated for a little while. It is really special. The Rose Bowl is a special bowl and winning the Pac-10 is not an easy feat. We’re very proud we won it. But our goals are higher this year.”
There are two major obstacles to UCLA’s ultimate goal, a trip to the Fiesta Bowl: USC this weekend and Miami Dec. 5 in the Orange Bowl.
Arkan-sorry: Tennessee is No. 1 in the BCS standings, but don’t tell the Arkansas Razorbacks the Volunteers are the best team in the country. After fumbling away a victory at Knoxville in the last two minutes, the Hogs could think only about gaining revenge in a possible rematch in the Southeastern Conference title game Dec. 5 in Atlanta.
“Go tell ’em to meet us on the field,” center Grant Garrett said. “We didn’t lose. We were just behind when the clock ran out.”
Couch is no slouch: The chant began late in Kentucky’s 55-17 rout of Vanderbilt Saturday in Lexington’s Commonwealth Stadium: “One more year! One more year!”
The target of the chant was quarterback Tim Couch, who has yet to say whether he’ll return for his senior season or opt for the NFL draft, where he could be the No. 1 overall pick.
If Couch doesn’t return, he gave the fans an awesome farewell, completing 44 of 53 passes for 492 yards and five touchdowns. Kentucky finishes the regular season Saturday at No. 1 Tennessee. Couch already has thrown for 3,938 yards this year, breaking the Southeastern Conference single-season mark he set in 1997.
Couch didn’t acknowledge the cheers on the sidelines, but he later thanked the fans for their support.
“Now I know they want me to stay,” Couch said. “That’s going to make it tough to make my decision. It’s kind of neat–people actually caring about what I do, but there’s no pressure. You have to do what is good for you.”
Couch wasn’t the only hot hand in the Bluegrass State Saturday. Louisville’s Chris Redman, a former Illinois signee, threw for 592 yards and set a Conference USA record with six touchdowns in a 63-45 victory over East Carolina.
On the weekend, Redman and Couch combined to complete 88 of 109 passes for 1,084 yards and 11 touchdowns.
Fourth and inches: Heisman ballots arrived this week, asking voters to list their top three choices and return by Dec. 4. This voter’s early ballot, subject to change: Texas’ Ricky Williams first, followed by some combination of Couch, UCLA’s Cade McNown or Emporia State’s Brian Shay, who set the alltime rushing record this season. . . . Another reason to be wary of computer ratings: in this week’s Sagarin Football Ratings, the 8-3 Nebraska Cornhuskers are ranked seventh, two spots ahead of 10-1 Texas A & M, which defeated the Cornhuskers a month ago. Sagarin doesn’t think much of the local Division I schools. Illinois rates 84th, behind Division I-AA McNeese State, and Northwestern ranks 88th, behind Division I-AA Appalachian State. According to Sagarin’s point system, Northwestern would be favored to beat Western Michigan–but only if the game was in Evanston. . . . The 1998 Butkus Award finalists are Chris Claiborne of Southern Cal, Jevon Kearse of Florida and Dat Nguyen of Texas A & M.
