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Bowl Chaos System

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By JOEY JOHNSTON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 2, 2007

We have chaos in college football.

That became official Saturday night, when an unpredictable regular season was shaken by yet another seismic shift.

No. 1-ranked Missouri - beaten by Oklahoma 38-17 in the Big 12 Championship Game.

No. 2-ranked West Virginia - beaten at home by 28-point underdog Pittsburgh, 13-9.

So who will play for the national championship Jan. 7 in New Orleans? It's anyone's guess until the final Bowl Championship Series standings are revealed tonight on the Fox Network (talk about must-see TV).

The Ohio State Buckeyes (11-1), No. 3 in the BCS, should be elevated into the national championship game, even though they have been idle since winning the Big Ten Conference title Nov. 17.

Among the candidates to become Ohio State's BCS title-game opponent:

•Georgia (10-2), which didn't win its SEC division.

•Kansas (11-1), which didn't win its Big 12 division.

•Virginia Tech (11-2), the ACC champion that defeated Boston College 30-16 in Saturday's conference title game.

•LSU (11-2), the SEC champion that defeated Tennessee 21-14 in its conference title game and suffered both of its losses in triple overtime. LSU also beat Virginia Tech 48-7 on Sept. 15.

•USC (10-2), the preseason No. 1 and Pac-10 co-champion. The Trojans might be the hottest team in America.

•Oklahoma (11-2). After all, the Sooners just beat the No. 1-ranked team.

•Would you believe ... Hawaii? The Warriors (11-0) were the only remaining unbeaten team in Division I-A, heading into Saturday's late game against Washington.

There are no right answers.

There are no wrong answers.

There is only chaos - and what's certain to be renewed cries for a playoff system.

If Georgia or Kansas are selected for the title game, it would be reminiscent of 2001, when Nebraska reached the Rose Bowl despite not winning the Big 12 North (and losing to Colorado 62-36 in the regular-season finale).

If Ohio State is elevated to the BCS title game, the Rose Bowl would be left without a Big Ten anchor team. The Rose Bowl could select any eligible BCS at-large team as a replacement, even a SEC team such as Georgia, but it is expected to retain tradition and pick Coach Ron Zook's Illinois Fighting Illini (9-3) to oppose USC.

If that happens, it ruins the potentially enticing Capital One Bowl matchup between Florida and Illinois (matching Zook against UF, which fired him as head coach in 2004). Instead, Florida (9-3) will probably meet Michigan (8-4) in the Jan. 1 bowl at Orlando.

Elsewhere, it's all but certain that the South Florida Bulls (9-3) will face the Oregon Ducks (8-4) in the Dec. 31 Sun Bowl at El Paso, Texas.

Oregon, which was ranked No. 2 on Nov. 15 when it fell at Arizona and lost Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback Dennis Dixon to a season-ending injury, suffered its third consecutive defeat, losing in double overtime to Oregon State, 38-31.

"In all probability, that USF-Oregon will be our game," Sun Bowl selection committee chairman John Folmer said Saturday night. "It's what we wanted.

"We are good friends with Oregon. In a way, they have had a heartbreaking finish, but they were ranked No. 2 and some unfortunate things happened. That's a good team, though, and we've got a very nice matchup."

Also, Tampa's Outback Bowl appears to have a matchup between the Big Ten's Wisconsin Badgers (9-3), who accepted the official bid Wednesday, and the SEC's Tennessee Volunteers (9-4), who lost to LSU 21-14 in Saturday's SEC Championship Game.

The Outback could select an SEC West team, such as Auburn (8-4) or Arkansas (8-4), but it generally favors the Eastern Division for geographic reasons. Tennessee also appeared in last season's Outback Bowl, losing to Penn State 20-10.

Reporter Joey Johnston can be reached at (813) 259-7353 or jjohnston@tampatrib.com.

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