ESPNMAG.com - Another Fine Mess

20. A BMOC Soapbox Moment
With a projected revenue total of nearly $87 million this year, you'd think the BCS could get its rules right and, while we're at it, maybe find a computer ranking service that resides on the planet Earth.

Just in case you didn't hear the news, the BCS reversed its stance and now will allow Notre Dame's Aug. 31 Kickoff Classic victory against Maryland to count as a "non-exempt" game. That means all five Irish wins will count toward qualifying for a big-money BCS bowl appearance, which is good for ABC and even better for Notre Dame, which won't have to share its Rose, Orange, Sugar or Fiesta cut with conference members.

Of course, we're getting a little ahead of ourselves. Notre Dame still has to finish sixth or higher in the BCS standings to receive an automatic BCS bid, or win at least nine "non-exempt" games and be in the top 12 of the BCS standings to qualify for the at-large pool. That's why this recent ruling could be such a big deal. Instead of having to win five of their remaining seven games, the Irish's magic number has been reduced to four to gain entry into the at-large pool.

Notre Dame maintained all along that the Kickoff Classic should have been classified non-exempt because the game was moved from Aug. 24 to a week later, the same weekend many programs began their regular season schedule. According to its interpretation of the NCAA rules, this was a no-brainer issue. Problem is, the BCS wasn't privy to Notre Dame's interpretation of those rules. That led to confusion.

The BCS powers said the game was exempt. . . then said Notre Dame never checked with them. . . then said they were waiting for a Notre Dame appeal of sorts. . . then said they'd soon discuss the situation. . . then said, yes, the game is non-exempt. But Notre Dame insists this was never a BCS issue. Instead, it was an NCAA ruling pure and simple.

"We think this thing really was cut and dry," said a Notre Dame spokesperson.

It's obvious the BCS thought it had a say in the matter. That's fine: their $86,800,000, their rules.

But here's where we quibble with the BCS: Another rules tweak? Not a season goes by that the BCS doesn't pull out the eraser and change something in its formula, its selection process, its exempt vs. non-exempt status. The BCS wants credibility, but it's hard to take the thing seriously when the BCS power brokers keep reacting to every situation -- even those (if you buy Notre Dame's version of things) that aren't in the BCS' immediate jurisdiction. Isn't there some sort of football think-tank they could consult?

19. BCS -- Part II
Here's an idea: let's take some of that projected $86.8 mil and put some cement boots on the New York Times computer ranking. We drop it in the Hudson and. . . all done.

Did you see last week's NYT/Dr. Timothy Leary rankings? Notre Dame a mind-boggling No. 1, ahead of the No. 4 Miami Hurricanes, which could possibly beat the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals? . . . Texas at No. 29?. . . Auburn at No. 36?. . . Tennessee at No. 49, only nine spots ahead of Northwestern?

I don't know what Seymour Hersh is doing these days, but is he available for some quick investigative work?

Compare the Times' numbers to the Sagarin football ratings of Oct. 1: Miami is No. 1, Texas No. 6, Notre Dame a more realistic No. 10. Says Florida State's Bobby Bowden, whose Seminoles face the 'Canes Oct. 12 at the Orange Bowl: "It's Miami, and then the rest of the world."

The scary part about it is that the NYT computer formula is one of seven used by the BCS. The Times' computer wasn't part of the BCS last year, but returns this season because its owners agreed to delete margin of victory from its formula.

Too bad.

Of course, the numbers are going to be skewed this early in the process. That's partly why the BCS doesn't release its first official standings until Oct. 21. But early season or no early season, there's absolutely no logical way to argue that Notre Dame should be ranked higher than Miami.

18. Cha-Ching
Bruce Van De Velde didn't hire Dan McCarney (Gene Smith, now the AD at Arizona State gets credit for that), "but I re-signed him," says the proud Iowa State administrator. Yes, he did, which means McCarney has another five years left on his existing deal and then. . .

Dan McCarney has led ISU to consecutive bowl games and is looking at another one this year.
"We're going to revisit it here shortly," says Van De Velde.

Or in ISU fan-speak: "Please don't leave. We're just getting good."

This is McCarney's eighth season at Iowa State, but if Van De Velde has anything to do with it, there will be many more to come. Van De Velde is discussing the parameters of another extension for McCarney with university administrators. "Right after the season we'll sit down with Dan," Van De Velde says. "We're very confident we have the program in place and the opportunities to keep him there."

Iowa State has some things in its favor, not the least of which is parenthood. McCarney has basically raised this program, from the low point of one win in 1997 to a combined 16 wins and two consecutive bowl appearances in the last two seasons. Another bowl invitation is likely on the way. That might not sound like much to Nebraska (well, maybe it does these days), but it means something to McCarney.

Plus, Van De Velde says the Cyclones return 40 of their top 48 players next season, have commitments from eight of the nine best recruits in the state of Iowa, and are about five weeks away from breaking ground on a new indoor football facility.

"I think Dan will find it hard to find a better [job], unless it's a top 10 program," says Van De Velde.

Or Wisconsin, which has occasionally found its way into the top 10. McCarney used to work with Barry Alvarez at Madison before taking the ISU job. He has family there. But Alvarez seems to be happy in Badgerland, though who knows what would happen if his alma mater Nebraska called one of these years.

Just to be on the safe side, Van De Velde has a short list of candidates to replace Mc Carney. "I know we can attract a real quality coach if it happens, but I don't think it's going to happen," he says.

17. Hunker Down You Hairy Dawgs
Saturday's Georgia at Alabama game was compelling for all sorts of reasons:

Bama was at home, a winner of three consecutive games, ranked No. 22 in the AP poll (and 113th in the New York Times poll -- just kidding), and playing inspired football despite NCAA probation and bowl ban, as well as several key injuries.

Georgia was undefeated, ranked No. 6, and beginning to show signs of life on offense.

And then came this little mushroom cloud from former Auburn coach and Georgia alum Pat Dye. . .

"I don't believe Georgia's man enough to beat Alabama," he said in a Birmingham radio interview.

Knowing a bombshell when he hears one, radio host Paul Finebaum asked if Dye might want to clarify the statement. Dye obliged.

"Alabama is gonna line up and run the football and they're gonna play defense and I don't believe Georgia is man enough to beat that," he said.

OK, a few possible explanations:

Dye was trying to fire up his beloved Bulldogs, who beat Clemson and South Carolina by a combined nine points and scuffled early against New Mexico State.

Dye was trying to make things difficult for Alabama. After all, he did used to coach at Auburn.

Dye, a no-nonsense kind of guy, was absolutely serious in his appraisal of Georgia's manliness.

"That's interesting," Georgia defensive end David Pollack told the Columbus (Ga.) Ledger-Enquirer. "He's not dressing out, is he?"

He didn't have to. Properly peeved by Dye's comments, the Bulldogs overcame a late Bama lead and won at Tuscaloosa, 27-25.

"I really think Pat Dye was trying to help us," Georgia coach Mark Richt said. "He's a pretty smart football coach. He knows the psychology of the football team.

"If anything, I need to give him a thank you card."

16. Mixed Signals

Chris Rix
FSU's Chris Rix strange season took another turn on Monday.
Shortly after the loss at Louisville, Florida State's Bowden defended quarterback Chris Rix by saying, "I haven't lost confidence in Chris, and I haven't lost patience in Chris." But then Rix gets dinged up late in the first quarter against Clemson last Thursday night and in comes the People's Choice, Adrian McPherson. And stays in for awhile, even though Rix looks fine on the sideline.

Afterward, Bowden said he had wanted to see McPherson, even if Rix hadn't taken a hit by Clemson defensive lineman Bryant McNeal. If so, it makes for lots of intrigue and a bit of confusion going into FSU's biggest game of the season: the Oct. 12 trip to Miami.

Bowden has won 328 games more than BMOC, so we figure he must know what he's doing. He says Rix is still is No. 1 quarterback, but what does that make McPherson -- No. 1A?

Maybe he wants to give Miami something more to prepare for. At the moment, neither Rix nor McPherson are playing particularly well. Rix was 8 of 13 for 114 yards and one touchdown against Clemson at home. McPherson took the passing collar: 0 of 6.

Maybe he hoped the Seminoles would respond to McPherson. Earlier last week, Rix was half-ripped by one of his own offensive lineman in the Orlando Sentinel.

Maybe he doesn't know how to fix a passing offense that depends so heavily on its quarterback to make smart decisions and let FSU's athletic wide receivers do the rest.

Conventional wisdom says you don't want to play Miami with your quarterback situation in flux. But that's exactly the situation FSU faces.

15. NCAA Alert At Tennessee
What with NCAA investigators snooping around most of the SEC these days, you can imagine the reaction when Tennessee announced it would hold a press conference with an NCAA official in the Neyland Stadium press box shortly before Saturday evening's game against Arkansas.

Relax (for now). The official was NCAA Executive Director Cedric Dempsey, who was the guest of Tennessee President John Shumaker and UT athletic director Doug Dickey. Dempsey also is scheduled to speak to the Tennessee's athletics staff Monday morning (can we get a transcript of that one?) and the Knoxville Quarterback Club later in the day.

By the way, still no word on who will replace Dempsey as NCAA leader.

14. Don't Know Much About History
Florida State school officials, fresh from their knucklehead decision to institute an "early fall break" and not schedule classes last Thursday and Friday, are considering more early "fall break" scenarios.

Other possible future reasons for FSU president Talbot "Sandy" D'Alemberte to cancel classes at FSU:

Torrential downpours. The Seminoles don't function well in the rain.

Two-for-One Night at bars on the Panhandle Riviera at nearby Panama City.

Oct. 12 loss at Miami. "Dude, you don't understand: I can't concentrate on English Lit when we're out of the national championship race."

Ann Bowden invites student body to house for milk and fresh-baked cookies.

An angry Osceola sets Strozier Library on fire with flaming feathered spear after loss at North Carolina State. (Renegade is cleared of all arson accessory charges.)

FSU's Sod Cemetery is closed until further notice.

13. Co-Players Of The Week

Tennessee and Arkansas
The Vols and Razorbacks play the second-longest game in Division I-A history -- six taut overtime periods, with Tennessee winning, 41-38. Anybody that puts on that kind of show deserves a backslap (but not too hard, they're tired).

Last November against Ole Miss, Arkansas won the longest OT game in I-A history -- seven OTs.

Notre Dame defense
The Irish return two interceptions for touchdowns in ND's tougher-than-it-looked victory against Stanford. One of the interception returns was really more of a takeaway than a pick -- still counts the same, though.

Backslaps also to defensive coordinator Kent Bear and his staff. Without Carlyle Holiday at quarterback, you knew there would be added pressure on the Notre Dame defense against a Stanford attack that had averaged 38 points.

Runners-up

Florida State RB Greg Jones
Jones couldn't do a thing in the rain at Louisville, but give him a dry field and he rushes for 165 yards and three touchdowns against Clemson, including one of the most impressive 21-yard power scoring runs you'll see all season.

Nebraska QB Jammal Lord
He's the starter. He's not the starter. He's the starter. That's what Lord went through in the days following Nebraska's loss to Iowa State. In the end, coach Frank Solich sticks with him and Lord responds with 218 rushing yards and three touchdowns, as well as 151 passing yards and another score in a win against poor McNeese State.

Texas Tech QB Kliff Kingsbury and Texas A&M QB Dustin Long
Kingsbury and Long combined for 841 yards and 12 touchdowns. Kingsbury was 49-of-59 for 474 yards and five TDs, while Long completed 21-of-37 passes for 367 yards and a Big 12-record seven TDs, a mark previously owned by Kingsbury.

Missouri QB Brad Smith
Smith had 391 total yards -- rushing for 213 yards and 2 TDs and throwing for 178 yards and a TD in the near-upset of No. 3 Oklahoma. Smith, a redshirt freshman, accounted for all but 58 of Missouri's yards.

Honorable Mention Minnesota RB Terry Jackson II (Jackson rushed for a career-high 159 yards against Illinois on just 16 carries). . . Cal QB Kyle Boller (Boller threw a career-high 5 TDs in win over No. 12 Washington). . . Air Force QB Chance Harridge (Harridge ran for a career-high 161 yards and 4 TDs and completed 6 of 7 passes for a career-high 107 yards).

12. Coach Of The Week

Notre Dame's Tyrone Willingham


	Tyrone Willingham has the Irish undefeated and looking at a potential BCS bowl bid.

We don't know how he does it, but Willingham continues to will his team to the weirdest, sometimes ugliest victories in Division I-A. This time the undefeated Irish beat Stanford without injured QB Carlyle Holiday.

Runners-up Penn State's Joe Paterno (Word is, JoePa jumped on his team hard in preparation for trip to Wisconsin. Nittany Lions could have felt sorry for themselves after questionable loss to Iowa a week earlier. Paterno made sure it didn't happen against previously unbeaten Badgers). . . Ole Miss' David Cutcliffe (Rebels put together tough defensive scheme against Grossman and Gators). . . Colorado's Gary Barnett (Say what you will about Barnett -- and we have -- but the guy has done a nice job of pulling the Buffs to 3-2 after 1-2 start and surprise departure of veteran QB Craig Ochs. CU has beaten UCLA and K-State in consecutive games).

Honorable Mention Baylor's Kevin Steele
Break up the Bears -- they've won two in a row. More important, they snapped a 29-game conference losing streak.

11. Rumor Of The Week
According to a former Penn State player who was on the sidelines for the recent Iowa game and stayed at the same State College motel as the Big Ten game officials, local police were summoned to the motel to disperse angry fans.

You remember the overtime game won by Iowa: a call in favor of Iowa, a call against Penn State. . . Joe Paterno breaking the outdoor sprint record as he rushed toward referee Dick Honig at game's end. According to the former Penn State player, the officials were verbally abused afterward by fans at the motel. Cops were called. Everyone lived happily ever after.

Big Ten supervisor of officials Dave Parry says he didn't hear a thing about the alleged incident. Same goes for the motel manager.

Whatever the case, the Big Ten decided not to discipline Paterno for his postgame behavior (smart call) that week. However, the conference did deep-six the future assignments of four officials who worked the Sept. 21 Purdue-Wake Forest game.

"During the course of the game these officials did not officiate well enough to meet Big Ten standards," said league commissioner Jim Delany, who has done a commendable job of making his conference's officials accountable for their actions.

But there is a twist to the penalty: according to the Chicago Sun-Times, the officials were scheduled to only work one more Big Ten assignment.

10. Still Standing
Contrary to some published reports, Iowa State's goal posts survived the postgame bedlam of beating Nebraska a couple of Saturday's ago. "I'm looking at them right now," said ISU's Van De Velde earlier last week. "Now they're crooked a little bit."

At $6,000 apiece, the reinforced posts aren't going anywhere anytime soon. But the Cyclones are, just as soon as they finish playing Texas Tech this Saturday.

Counting the upcoming Tech game, the Cyclones will have left the state only once since the Aug. 24 opener at Kansas City against Florida State (and that was considered a "home" game for ISU). But all that changes beginning Oct. 19, when the Cyclones travel to Oklahoma, then the next week at Texas, and two weeks later at Kansas State, then the next week at Colorado.

Five weeks, four killer road games.

Van De Velde did ask the Big 12 schedule makers to consider making an adjustment, but didn't push it. "We felt like the front part of our schedule was front-loaded for success," he said. "We knew we were capable of competing in those games. We knew we had a lot of home games."

9. For What It's Worth
We talked to an NFL director of player personnel a few days ago. His no-brainer top-two draft picks are, in no particular order, Marshall senior quarterback Byron Leftwich and Michigan State junior wide receiver Charles Rogers.

And a prominent player agent told us that Miami's four starting defensive linemen will be drafted in the first round. And he said three of the four UM backups will eventually be drafted.

Interesting, since the supposed strength of Florida State's team is its offensive line.

8. Quote Of The Week
"I had to win the stinking game and I had to whip him to do it. It's not fun when you whip your son. [But] I didn't tell him to get into coaching."
-- Florida State's Bobby Bowden after his Seminoles defeated Clemson and son Tommy Bowden. It was Bobby's fourth consecutive victory against his son. Tommy is now 0-4 against FSU, 3-12 against ranked opponents. That said, we wouldn't want to face Clemson on a weekly basis.

7. Stat Of The Week
The Ole Miss offensive line gave up a sack against Florida Saturday. This is stop-the-presses stuff for the Rebels. The last time the Ole Miss O-line saw Eli Manning get sacked was last Nov. 17 against Georgia.

The Rebels have given up the fewest sacks in the SEC since 1999.

6. Dog Days
Nasty weather in Chicago delayed Ohio State's charter flight from Columbus last Friday evening, which meant the Buckeyes didn't arrive at O'Hare until nearly 11 p.m. That must have thrilled freshman Maurice Clarett, OSU's star running back who is scared stiff of flying. This was his first flight since playing in an all-star game in Texas last year.

And then it got worse.

Turns out the Buckeyes were staying at the same suburban Chicago hotel as -- and we're not making this up -- a chihuahua convention. In all, there were about 400 of the little yappy dogs at the hotel.

Didn't matter. Ohio State defeated Northwestern Saturday night, 27-16. Clarett rushed for 140 yards, two touchdowns, but fumbled three times. Clarett was so upset with the three turnovers that he apologized to his teammates after the game in the locker room.

"I could see the hurt in his eyes," said OSU coach Jim Tressel.

Did they forgive him? "That goes without saying," said tight end Ben Hartsock.

Meanwhile, Clarett literally begged Tressel after the game to let him drive back to Columbus with his mom rather than return on the team flight. Tressel said yes.

"When I'm done with this game -- if I'm blessed enough to play in the pros -- I'll be like John Madden and get a bus like his," Clarett said. "I'll be driving down the road next to his.

"When I'm done with this game, I'm going to drive everywhere. If I go to the Bahamas, I will probably drive."

Clarett's fear of flying might be the reason he ended up in a Buckeyes uniform. He took an unofficial visit to Notre Dame (he drove), but never went to his other short-list choices: Miami, Tennessee and Texas. If he had, said Clarett, he might have ended up as a Longhorn.

5. Shorties
Willingham wants a "sea of green" at Notre Dame Stadium and he's getting it: 44,000 kelly-green "Return To Glory" T-shirts have been sold and another shipment of 20,000 recently arrived. A portion of the Student Activities sales of The Shirt (that's what they call the annual SA-approved shirt) go to charitable causes within the Notre Dame community. . . The only thing Illinois has in common with the Kurt Kittner-led team of a season ago is 1-5 -- that's the Illini's record and Kittner's jersey number. Unless Illinois is careful, it could become the first Big Ten team to go from last to first to last in the league. . . Special teams continue to be a problem at Florida. Matt Leach had a field goal blocked against Ole Miss. And Texas' Dusty Mangum also missed a couple field goals in the Longhorns' squeaker win against Oklahoma State. . . Florida's loss to Ole Miss is the quickest two-defeat season for the Gators since 1992. . . Not a good week for Big Ten officiating. With supervisor of officials Dave Parry in attendance, the crew working the Ohio State-Northwestern game appeared to botch what should have been a Wildcat touchdown. Instead, Mark Philmore's beautiful one-handed, toe-dragging catch for a score was ruled incomplete. Upstairs in the press box, Parry and another Big Ten officials evaluator looked at the replays and said the same thing: touchdown. Instead of taking a 13-7, the Wildcats had to settle for a field goal and a 9-7 lead.

4. Eyes Of Texas (Tech)
Remember the preseason media guide mess at Texas A&M? Texas Tech did.

Early copies of the Aggies media guide contained a reprinted story from an A&M alumni magazine. Tech fans were described as, "even uglier than the barren stretch of dirt some West Texans call a city." In other words, Lubbock -- home of the Tech campus. And to add to the fun, Red Raider fans were called "classless clowns," which isn't very nice to say.

An embarrassed A&M president Robert Gates offered a public apology, as well as a written one to Tech president David J. Schmidly. Replied Schmidly: "We accept President Gates' gracious apology, and we look forward to continuing our healthy rivalry with a renewed spirit of good sportsmanship."

We're pretty sure Red Raiders coaches made sure to remind their players of the insults. Tech overcame an A&M lead, sweated out OT and left College Station with an impressive 48-47 win against a Wrecking Crew defense that entered the game ranked No. 3 in total defense and scoring defense.

The only semi-encouraging news for A&M: for a second consecutive game, new offensive coordinator Kevin Sumlin (he's also assistant head coach) made a difference. The Aggies scored 31 points against Louisiana Tech and then 47 against a not-so-great Red Raiders defense.

3. Heisman Trophy Race

Willis McGahee
Willis McGahee has 640 yards and 10 TDs this season.
Bring a coat and tie to the Yale Club: Miami RB Willis McGahee, Oregon RB Onterrio Smith, Michigan State WR Charles Rogers, Iowa State QB Seneca Wallace.
Moving up: Auburn RB Cadillac Williams, Marshall QB Byron Leftwich, Texas Tech QB Kliff Kingsbury.
On the radar: Ohio State RB Maurice Clarett, Texas RB Cedric Benson, NC State QB Philip Rivers, Miami QB Ken Dorsey, Kentucky QB Jared Lorenzen, Mizzou QB Brad Smith, Tennessee QB Casey Clausen, Florida State RB Greg Jones (we had to put the lug back on the long list after his performance against Clemson).
Slipping: Florida QB Rex Grossman (Ole Miss hammered him. He finished with only 19 completions in 44 attempts for 205 yards, two touchdowns and four killer interceptions. All the good he did against Tennessee was undone in Oxford). . . Texas QB Chris Simms, Ole Miss QB Eli Manning, Washington QB Cody Pickett.
Thanks for stopping by the booth: No blood.

2. Whatever Happened To. . .
Oregon State?

The Beavers bandwagon is considerably lighter after consecutive losses, the latest at home to UCLA. That makes Oregon State 0-for-Los Angeles-based teams (it also lost to USC a week earlier).

After a 4-0 start (but against iffy competition), all that talk about the Beavers being the cagey pick to win the Pac-10 has quickly disappeared.

One Hack's Weekly Elite
Fiesta Bowl Matchup
Miami vs. Virginia Tech -- Hokies off Saturday; get to watch UM-FSU.
3. Texas -- Horns barely avoid look-ahead-to-OU upset to Oklahoma State.
4. Oklahoma -- See above, but substitute Missouri for Oklahoma State.
5. Oregon -- Back-to-back road games, this time against solid UCLA team.
6. Notre Dame -- First 5-0 start for a first-year Irish coach since 1964.
7. Ohio State -- Buckeyes try to stay interested until trip to Wisconsin.
8. Iowa State -- Cyclones' next 3 games: Texas Tech, at OU, at Texas.
9. Georgia -- Richt asks Pat Dye to say UGA "not man enough" vs. Tenn.
10. Air Force -- Unbeaten Zoomies face BYU, then Notre Dame at home.
Waiting list: Iowa, Florida State, Penn State, Auburn, Washington State, Tennessee.

Gene Wojciechowski is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine. He can be reached at gene.wojciechowski@espnmag.com.