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 Friday, December 13, 2002
All eyes on Kansas City
By Jack Arute
Special to BCSfootball.com
Comment to Jack Arute.
A feisty Kansas State team is all that stands in the way of the Oklahoma Sooners and a January 3 date for a shot at the national championship. The showdown at Arrowhead Stadium will have an unexpected group of K-State supporters gathered around their TVs in south Florida.
|  | | 6-foot-6, 245-pound tight end Jeremy Shockey is a big target for QB Ken Dorsey. |
Despite the Miami Hurricanes' 52-6 thrashing of Boston College, the Coral Gables guys lost ground to their upstate rivals, Florida State -- at least as far as the computers are concerned -- in the latest BCS rankings. In reality, it was not so much FSU's superiority (the Seminoles were idle) while sitting in Tallahassee as it was Oklahoma's squeaky performance in Stillwater against Oklahoma State.
The Sooners' 12-7 win failed to register a convincing margin for many of the computers and they lost ground to FSU in the computer average. FSU, in fact, picked up two more first-place rankings while only Rothman and the Seattle Times saw fit to award a No. 1 to Oklahoma. The best Miami could muster was a No. 2 in the Dunkel Index, which factors whether or not a winning team covers the spread as well as the margin of victory.
One thing is all but certain: Florida State will defend its national championship on Jan. 3. What is less clear is the Seminoles' opponent. While Oklahoma was fighting for its first unblemished regular season since 1987, the Wildcats were hard at work prepping for their rematch. Coaches around the Big XII have noted a number of calls from the K-State staff regarding Oklahoma -- how to best defend against Josh Heupel and what worked and didn't work. The consensus seems to be that Kansas State should consider reducing the number of blitzes it employs against Bob Stoops' team.
If Oklahoma prevails, then the FedEx Orange Bowl is set. If the Sooners lose, then Miami stays close to home and gets a rematch with the Seminoles. Either way, the Big XII Championship Game is the final piece to a still cloudy BCS bowl picture. I should point out that all the BCS does is establish No. 1 and No. 2 for the National Championship Game. The remaining BCS bowls keep their conference affiliations as the determining factor for their matchups.
Let's look at the options:
If Oklahoma wins the Big XII Championship Game:
FSU-Oklahoma in the FedEx Orange Bowl
Purdue-Washington in the Rose Bowl presented by AT&T
After that, it gets a little crazy. Notre Dame's win over Southern Cal has earned the Irish one of the two BCS at-large bids. The most likely scenario would see the Fighting Irish in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl against Oregon State? Maybe yes and maybe no.
Because the Big XII Conference champ (Oklahoma) is playing for the national championship, the Fiesta people are free to choose out of conference. Oregon State would bring a lot of fans to the Arizona desert, but speculation remains that the salsa guys like the lure of Michael Vick and his Virginia Tech Hokies.
The Nokia Sugar Bowl would then match Miami with the SEC champion (either Florida or Auburn, depending on the outcome of their Georgia Dome tussle).
If Kansas State wins the Big XII Championship Game:
The Orange Bowl gets a Miami-FSU rematch.
Purdue still meets Washington in the Rose Bowl.
The Sugar Bowl, though, then looks at taking the SEC champ and pitting them against Oklahoma? Notre Dame? What about the Fiesta? Things can get really hairy.
It's all part of what we call the BCS. It sure keeps the focus on college football, and that after all, is what it was supposed to do.
Jack Arute writes a column every Monday for BCSfootball.com.
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Notre Dame's QB Matt LoVecchio takes it in himself for a 13-yard touchdown run.
Bob Davie hopes his Irish have done enough to get into a BCS bowl.