Anybody who thinks the BCS title game between Florida and Oklahoma is the only bowl that really matters is sorely mistaken.
OK, so the winner of college football's "national championship" Jan. 8 in Miami gets to take home a beautiful crystal football, and the notion it's the best team in the land. It's just that, a notion -- nothing more
And that's not meant to devalue the American Football Coaches Association's national championship trophy. That Waterford Crystal football, fastened to an ebony base, is handcrafted by an artist in Ireland and is said to be worth more than $30,000.
Whether it has the intrinsic value of symbolizing a true national champion is left to debate, along with the question of whether the BCS got its title matchup right.
With five other one-loss teams from BCS conferences and two unbeatens from non-BCS conferences also in the top 10 of the polls, deciding which two should play for the national title was a dubious undertaking. There was no way to get it right.
The only fair and sensible way to narrow the field to two would be to play it off. Of course, the shrinking anti-playoff constituency will argue there's no need for a playoff, because that's what the regular season represents.
If so, how does No. 2 Oklahoma (12-1) advance to the title game instead of Texas (11-1), after losing its only game at the hands of the Longhorns, 45-35, on a neutral field? Perhaps it was Oklahoma's style points, even though margin of victory isn't supposed to be an element in the BCS standings. The Sooners did score more than 60 in each of their last five games.
And how does Florida (12-1) climb to No. 1 in the AP poll and No. 2 in the coaches poll, after losing to No. 20 Mississippi, 31-30, in the Swamp?
No. 3 Texas lost to No. 8 Texas Tech, 39-33, in the waning moments in Lubbock. No. 5 USC lost at Oregon State, 27-21, and No. 6 Penn State lost at Iowa, 24-23. What makes their only losses, all on the road, worse than Florida's defeat at home?
Who knows, maybe Oklahoma and Florida would have been the last two teams standing in an eight-team playoff. At least there'd be no beef -- except for maybe Boise raising a stink about not making the field of eight. But that would pale in comparison to the stench the BCS system creates.
Probably no fewer than nine teams believe their bodies of work are worthy of a shot at the national championship. And nobody can say, for certain, that any one of them couldn't win it all.
Which brings us to why some of the other bowls matter almost as much. And no, they don't include the Hawaii Bowl and 6-6 Fightless Irish of Notre Dame.
Rose Bowl stakes are high, especially for Penn State and the much-maligned Big 10. A victory over USC could lift the Nittany Lions to as high as No. 3 in the final rankings. But more importantly, it could put to rest some misperceptions about the Big 10, and about the regular season representing a playoff of sorts.
Since the season began, the Trojans' sights were set on the ultimate prize, so they probably don't deem Penn State a worthy opponent. That attitude could prove a huge mistake, even with home-field advantage.
Fiesta Bowl stakes are equally as high, especially for Texas. The Longhorns could stake a legitimate claim to the national crown in the court of public opinion with a sound victory over No. 10 Ohio State. The Buckeyes are playing for redemption, respect for its conference and a top 10 finish.
Victories by Penn State and Ohio State, both 10-point underdogs, would definitely fuel the pro-playoff sentiment, particularly from the Nittany Lions' perspective.
And just imagine if No. 7 Utah upsets No. 4 Alabama in the Sugar Bowl and finishes the season unbeaten. Think the Utes, 10-1/2-point underdogs, might want to chime in on the BCS/playoff debate then? Of course, don't think the Tide hasn't thought about the consequences of winning versus losing in that same light.
No. 9 Boise State, the other unbeaten with no chance of winning a national crown, has plenty of incentive to win its Poinsettia Bowl game against No. 11 TCU (10-2) -- staying perfect, preserving a top-10 finish and beating a team from a rival conference. Two of those three motivating factors apply to TCU as well.
Maybe the rest of the bowls don't matter quite as much as the BCS title game, but don't kid yourselves... Players, coaches and fans from Oregon to South Florida have a vested interest in winning their bowls, for a number of reasons.
They matter, a lot.
(Contact John Tucker at jtucker@unionleader.com)
UNBALANCED LINEcolumnMust credit New Hampshire Union Leader
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