No. 1 Miami To Play Nebraska In Title Game

Dec 9, 2001

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By RICHARD ROSENBLATT
AP Football Writer

Nebraska will play for a national title after all.

In an astounding turn certain to send out a cry for a playoff or changes inthe Bowl Championship Series, the Cornhuskers squeezed into second place overColorado in the final BCS standings on Sunday.

Even though the Buffaloes routed the Huskers 62-36 three weeks ago, Nebraskawon the points battle that counted most and will play undefeated Miami in theRose Bowl on Jan. 3.

Thanks to LSU’s 31-20 upset of Tennessee in Saturday night’s SoutheasternConference title game, the Huskers were the BCS computer’s choice – by a scantfive hundredths of a point. A win by the Vols would have sent them to Pasadenainstead.

In the final ranking, Miami finished first with 2.62 points, Nebraska secondwith 7.23 points, Colorado third at 7.28 and Oregon fourth with 8.67 points.

“Colorado and Oregon are great teams,” Nebraska coach Frank Solich said.”Anytime you don’t have two clear-cut, undefeated teams, you’re going to havecontroversy.”

Nebraska (11-1) was No. 4 in both the AP media poll and the USA Today/ESPNcoaches poll on Sunday, but held a sizable edge over No. 2 Oregon (10-1) andNo. 3 Colorado (10-2) in the computer portion of the BCS formula.

The final margin was so close that if the Buffaloes were one spot higher inany of the computer ratings they would have been off to the Rose Bowl insteadof the Huskers.

In the Rothman ratings, for example, Colorado would have moved up one placeand into the Rose Bowl if it had beaten Oklahoma State by 17 points instead of22-19 on Oct. 27.

The BCS standings were devised by SEC commissioner Roy Kramer in 1998 inhopes of ensuring that the top two teams play for a national title. Therankings use a formula that incorporates the AP media and the coaches polls,eight computers, strength of schedule, won-lost record and bonus points for bigwins.

Heisman Trophy winner Eric Crouch and the Huskers, in fact, didn’t even wintheir conference – Colorado took the Big 12. But Nebraska will go to the RoseBowl as an at-large team, the first time that’s happened in the BCS’s four-yearhistory. The winner of that game is automatically crowned the coaches’champion.

“How you’re playing at this point – seems to me that should be thoughtof,” Colorado coach Gary Barnett said.

Oregon and Colorado will play in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 1, with thepossibility of split national champions with the winner claiming the No. 1ranking in the final AP poll.

AP voters will turn in their ballots right after the Rose Bowl, and allteams are eligible for the title.

“I think controversy comes into play when the final BCS standing differsfrom the AP poll and the coaches poll,” BCS chairman John Swofford said.”With the kind of year we had, you’re going to have three, four or maybe fiveteams feeling they’re as good as anybody in the country and should have achance to play for the national championship.”

The Ducks and Buffaloes seem to have legitimate gripes about being left outof the Rose.

-Oregon won the Pac-10 Conference title and finished No. 2 in the polls,part of the BCS’ complex method for determining its top teams.

-Colorado took the Big 12 with a 39-37 upset of Texas on Dec. 1, a weekafter beating Nebraska, and finished No. 3 in the polls.

Tennessee’s loss was a costly one, dropping the Vols (10-2) out of the BCSpicture and into the Citrus Bowl against Michigan (8-3). If that wasn’t enough,the Orange Bowl chose Florida (9-2) – 34-32 losers to the Vols on Dec. 1 – toplay Atlantic Coast Conference champion Maryland (10-1) on Jan. 2.

The Sugar Bowl will match SEC champion LSU (9-3) against Big Ten championIllinois (10-1).

Problems arise in the BCS when only one team finishes with a perfect record.Oklahoma was the only unbeaten team last year, and the BCS computer picked aone-loss Florida State to play the Sooners over a one-loss Miami even thoughthe Hurricanes beat the Seminoles during the season.

The BCS then tweaked the formula to give a team a bonus points-deduction fora quality wins. The Buffs, despite their big wins over Nebraska and Texas,could not overcome two losses and an unfriendly computer or two.

Miami’s 2.62-point breakdown was: 1 point for poll average, 1 point forcomputer average, .72 for strength of schedule, 0 for won-loss record and a .1bonus point deduction for a 65-7 win over Washington on Nov. 24.

The bonus award – new this season – is based on a sliding scale from 1.5points for beating a first-place team down to .1 for a win over the 15th-placeteam. The bonus is awarded after the other elements are calculated.

Nebraska (7.23) had 4 points for poll average, 2.17 points for computeraverage, .56 for strength of schedule, 1 for won-loss record and a .5 pointbonus deduction for beating 11th-place Oklahoma 20-10 on Oct. 27.

Colorado (7.28) had 3 points for poll average, 4.50 for computer average,.08 for strength of schedule, 2 for won-loss record and a 2.3 bonus deductionfor beating Nebraska and seventh-place Texas.

Oregon (8.67) had 2 points for poll average, 4.83 for computer average, 1.24for strength of schedule, 1 for won-loss record and a .4 bonus deduction forbeating 12th place Washington State.