Jeff Agase Agase has seen the last two
years of UCLA football and fears the worst this Saturday. Feel free
to participate in some premature commiseration at [email protected].
Come Jan. 3, 2002, the team that hoists the national
championship trophy at the 50-yard line of the Rose Bowl will
probably be from somewhere in Florida, Texas, Oklahoma or
Nebraska.
Those who complain about the alleged East Coast bias in college
football rankings claim it’s frustrating and annoying, not to
mention unfair.
It shouldn’t be, but in the spirit of Canadian public
television, I’ll give the conspiracy theorists equal time and
a chance to have their case stated.
Their argument goes something like this: every Saturday,
geriatric media-types from the Eastern Seaboard nestle into
30-year-old indentations in their La-Z-Boys, watch SEC, Big XII,
ACC and Big 10 football, salivate over how great it is, wipe up
their drool, and cast their votes, elevating the teams they see on
television to the top of the polls.
Meanwhile, the Pac-10 surfer dudes aren’t starting their
games until 7:30 p.m. Pacific Time. As it is already 10:30 p.m. on
the East Coast, the guys with the votes are asleep, passed out on a
winning bingo card, with visions of Lee Corso dancing in their wee
little heads. If they are awake, they’re certainly not
watching Pac-10 football; instead, they’re doing something
stupid, like watching “Charles in Charge” reruns or
reading.
And while this conveniently creative scenario would likely make
Oliver Stone proud, I have, after laborious research (read:
glancing at my ESPN Sports Almanac), come to a simple two-step
solution to the Pac-10’s conundrum:
Step 1: Win more games.
Step 2: Repeat Step 1 ““ consistently.
What’s that you say? The Pac-10 had a great 2000 season,
posting a stellar non-conference record and finishing with three
teams in the top 10?
That would be just great, if it hadn’t so embarrassingly
sleepwalked its way through the 1999 season. One great year just
isn’t enough. Forget the cryptic Bowl Championship Series
formula, which is probably computed by that robot girl from
“Small Wonder.” If the Pac-10 begins to regularly field
two or three excellent teams, which many say it has done this year,
the rankings will take care of themselves.
You see, the Pac-10 has a bit of an image problem. It seems that
the rest of this great Union sees our brand of pigskin as
everything from pass-happy to flat-out weak. What it all comes down
to, many say, is that the Pac-10 plays diet football.
That may be why both of the polls, in addition to virtually
every other major college football publication, is reluctant to put
any Pac-10 team in their preseason top 5. Sports Illustrated has
Oregon State at No. 1, but television psychic Miss Cleo could do a
better job than SI at picking national champions. I can just see
her: “Oohh, the King of Cups is smiling down upon you, Coach
Spurrier!”
But I digress. The Pac-10 hasn’t won a national title
since Washington shared it in 1991 and hasn’t had a consensus
national champion since 1972. Every other major conference has done
it since then.
So let’s quit the complaining. Both SI and ESPN say the
Oregon-Oregon State “Civil War” game may decide who
plays for the national title, but the media’s attention is
fickle. Even though the Pac-10 seems to be the hippest thing in
preseason bandwagoning, a few disappointing non-conference losses
and we’ll be back to the drawing board, throwing up bowl game
cannon fodder for the nation’s more respected
conferences.
A repeat of 2000’s eye-opening early season performances
““ like last year’s UCLA wins over Alabama and Michigan
and Washington’s win over Miami ““ and the geezers on
the East Coast will have to take notice.
There’s little doubt that an undefeated Pac-10 team would
get a crack at the national title. The system simply lends itself
to it. But even if the conference champion should lose a single
game, another strong year from the Pac-10 may just break the
predictable polling cycle college football fans have grown to
loathe.
Nothing would satisfy West Coast fans more than seeing a Pac-10
school keep a 55-year-old tradition alive and play in the Rose
Bowl, site of this year’s national championship. This season,
more than any other in recent history, lends itself to the
possibility. For those who have bemoaned the nation’s
ignorance of West Coast football, it’s time to put up or shut
up.
Check the schedule.
“¢bull; Sept. 1: UCLA at Alabama (national TV),
Wisconsin at Oregon.
“¢bull; Sept. 8: Michigan at Washington (national TV), Kansas
State at USC.
“¢bull; Sept. 15: Washington at Miami (national TV).
“¢bull; Sept. 22: Ohio St. at UCLA (national TV).
It seems the fate of the Pac-10 may be decided in less than a
month. It’s simple, really. Either play great football and be
respected for consistency or do what the rest of the nation is
hoping the Pac-10 will do and once again fade away, playing games
no one watches, pathetically crying about the “East Coast
bias.”
It’s time to stop the whining and keep on winning.