Critics harp that the perfectly imperfect poll system is sheer folly-partly because neither the media nor the coaches witness most of the games. But this season, the polls mean something more than bragging rights. They mean money. In this sport of amateurs, the teams that are ranked first and second will meet each other in a Jan. 2 game, the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. (At least that’s how it’s supposed to work.) They’ll split $17 million, $500,000 more than other big-time bowls pay.
It was the Great Poll Controversy of ‘94 that set this all in motion. Last year, when Nebraska and Penn State finished the season unbeaten and won separate bowl games, it was left to the polls to decide a national champion. The Cornhuskers, No. 1 in both polls entering the bowls, stayed that way.
In the off season, an NCAA committee recommended the idea of a national play-off–with a climax similar to basketball’s wildly popular Final Four. But university presidents rejected the idea, citing interference with academic schedules. Meanwhile, bowl executives, terrified that a playoff would render superfluous their pageants and cushy existence, came up with a new “Alliance.” This plan scrapped the traditional ties between conferences and bowls. Instead, the No. 1 and 2 teams will automatically play each other. If the polls differ, the Fiesta Bowl committee will choose the teams.
This solved everything–except that the Big Ten and Pacific Ten conferences did not join the Alliance. They remain contractu-ally tied to the Rose Bowl. And since Big Ten had 37 players selected in the NFL draft and the Pac Ten 36," says Penn State’s Joe Paterno of the Big Ten, “it’s difficult to believe you’ll match up No. 1 and No. 2 without [us].”
Difficult, but in the hands of the pollsters, not impossible. Indeed, after last Saturday, the top three teams in the nation were from the Alliance: No. 1, Florida State, beat Georgia Tech 42-10; No. 2, Nebraska, was a 49-25 winner over Kansas State; and No. 3, Florida, didn’t play. The next team, Ohio State, which beat Purdue 28-0, was undefeated and headed for the Rose Bowl. Unless two of the Alliance teams stumble–and the Florida rivals play on Nov. 25–the Rose Bowl will be irrelevant to the final rankings. “Nonsense. The Fiesta Bowl will be the businessman’s national champion,” says John Robinson, whose Southern California team suffered its first loss, 38-10, to Notre Dame on Saturday. Robinson insists any unbeaten team that also wins the Rose Bowl should be the real national champion.
All of which puts an awful lot of influence into the hands of sages who are judging teams they haven’t seen. “A scary thought,” says Newsday’s Ivan Maisel, an AP voter. “Very stupid,” says the chuckling Robinson. Both the writers and the coaches, voting by phone or fax, must have their choices in early each Sunday morning. The AP’s media types include four or five national football writers such as Wojciechowski, but also several local radio people who don’t see many games away from their mikes. USA Today-CNN’s coaches tend to be major college names, who focus only on the teams they’re playing.
That leaves the voting based on appearances, not performance. That was the case last year. On one Saturday in November, Penn State was in the process of humiliating weak Indiana. Paterno cleared his bench, gave up two late touchdowns and ended up winning by only 35-29. The Lions lost precious points in both polls, the coaches demoting them to No. 2 behind Nebraska–where they stayed. “The Penn State-Indiana result definitely had an effect on me,” says Maisel. “I dropped State without fully realizing what had happened. Often we don’t have game details until after the weekend vote.”
Coach Robinson doesn’t remember which teams he voted for that week. “I let my SID (sports information director) handle it, anyway.” he says. “We get that baby over fast. I vote for my friends. I don’t vote for the guys I hate. Pretty simple, huh?”
Valid system, huh?
It’s a system a ward heeler might love. Former Maryland coach Jerry Claiborne was known by his peers to let his wife cast his ballot. One Saturday when he was still coaching Stanford, Bill Walsh forgot to vote. His team had been beaten badly, and he went to sleep instead. At 5 a.m. Sunday, a frantic pollster woke him up. Neither his audibles nor his votes can be repeated here.
In college football, all politics isn’t local, it’s personal. It’s no accident that the coaches of the last two No. 1s – Nebraska’s pleasant Tom Osborne in ‘94 and Florida State’s folksy Bobby Bowden in ‘93–are favorites of media voters. Then there’s Notre Dame’s Lou Holtz. Several weeks after the Irish beat Texas 55-27, the Longhorns were still ranked eight places ahead of Notre Dame in the coaches’ poll. This may present a problem for Florida. Brilliantly led by Steve Spurrier, the team may suffer for a coach who is often described as an offensive genius. “You called me arrogant? I thought you’d be the last man to say that,” Spurrier once said to a columnist. “Coach, I think I am the last,” replied the scribe.
The whole system encourages teams to beat up their opponents. Earlier this season consternation abounded over dreadful mismatches. Florida State beat Duke 70-26–and Bowden apologized. Nebraska beat Arizona State 77-28-and Osborne didn’t. Penn State beat Rutgers 5984, scoring a touchdown as time ran out. After the game Paterno and Rutgers coach Don Graber nearly came to blows. But the down-home Bowden swears none of the blowouts matter–if they’re early ones.
“Now, if it was late season and [we] were sittin’ fourth or something’ and needed a big ‘un to get to the Fiesta, you better hold on to your hat because I’d try and get a big ‘un,” he says.
Like the big ‘un Georgia Tech got? It was halftime, and Tech coach John Heisman (he of the namesake trophy) pleaded for his men to “go out there, hit ’em hard and don’t let up.” At the time Tech led Cumberland 126-0. The final was 222-0. In 1916 they didn’t have a Fiesta Bowl, much less a poll of any kind. The more football changes, the more coaches remain the same.
