So much for "peace in the valley ..."
Those were the words incoming Bowl Championship Series CoordinatorMike Slive used to describe last year's controversy-free season inwhich USC and Texas ended up playing a Rose Bowl for the ages.
Back in the valley on Sunday, wagons got overturned, Michigan gotmugged, and the BCS returned to being the most laughed-about way todetermine a championship.
In terms of ratings, interest and the "hoot" factor, thingscouldn't be better.
And something has to be done to fix it?
Yes.
Remember, convoluted is the BCS' operative word.
In case you missed it, Florida jumped Michigan for the No. 2 spotin the final BCS standings and will play Ohio State for the nationaltitle on Jan.8.
Michigan lost its only game, to Ohio State, on Nov. 18, and hasbeen losing ground ever since. First, it got passed by USC in thepolls, and now by Florida.
Florida claimed the No. 2 spot by the final total of .9445 to.9344. That's close even if you never got beyond basic math.
Florida and Michigan actually tied for second in the BCScomputers, leaving it up to the pollsters in the three-headed BCSformula that keeps headline writers busy.
It came down to this: People did not want to see a replay of OhioState-Michigan, so enough Harris poll voters and USA Today coachesswitched sides to turn the tide.
"We have a system," Michigan Coach Lloyd Carr said. "I've said allalong that system would speak. And it has spoken."
It said, "We want Florida."
It wasn't a clean break.
Ohio State Coach Jim Tressel did not cast his vote because hethought it was a conflict of interest.
"That was slick," Carr would say.
Florida Coach Urban Meyer said coaches shouldn't be put in thesekinds of situations.
"I'm never going to vote in the USA Today coaches' poll," Meyersaid. "No reason to ... imagine if Coach Tressel voted for us?"
Meyer then had to defend himself from charges that he shamelesslylobbied his Gators at the expense of Michigan.
Meyer grew up in Ohio ... enough said?
Meyer said last week people didn't want a rematch and thatMichigan had its chance against Ohio State.
Meyer said Sunday his comments were directed at the BCS system hewants to see bulldozed.
You could go over this with a comb and conjure conspiracytheories. Two Harris voters ranked Florida at No. 5 while another hadthe Gators at No. 1 ahead of Ohio State.
Crazy stuff.
USC and Michigan "fell" into a Rose Bowl neither school reallywanted to play in.
The Trojans and Wolverines will be parading on the heels ofdevastating losses to their arch rivals - defeats that cost each achance to win the national title.
The Rose Bowl, conversely, was thrilled to get the Pac-10 and BigTen back because two weeks ago it was looking at Rutgers orLouisville as possible anchors.
Carr, who won his only national title by winning the Rose Bowlafter the 1997 season, said the Rose Bowl was not a consolationprize.
"The day will never come in my life where there will be adisappointment of playing in the great tradition of the Rose Bowl,"Carr said.
Yet, emotions were getting tugged in so many directions.
On the BCS absurdity meter, actually, this year rates no more thantied for third.
This is the fifth time in the BCS' nine-year history that therehas been controversy involving the title game.
Nothing was worse than 2003, when USC finished No. 1 in both pollsbut No. 3 in the BCS, or 2001, when Nebraska staggered into thenational title game after a 62-36 loss to Colorado.
This year's hiccup will stir more barks for change.
The problem is the BCS doesn't quite know how to get off the fenceits sitting on.
Officials are torn between bartering the best regular season insports against any sort of NFL-style playoff.
If you took the Michigan "problem" out of this year's equation,most BCS officials would be thrilled.
Eight of the top 10 teams in the final BCS standings landed in amajor bowl.
The Sugar Bowl got Notre Dame to pair with Louisiana State in agame some Mardi Gras-bent pitch man will sell as "Beads vs. Beads."
The Fiesta Bowl got feel-good Boise State against Oklahoma, whichdidn't get knocked out of a BCS game because of that bad call in theOregon game.
Louisville, at 11-1, was not denied, and will play Wake Forest inthe Orange Bowl.
Yet, the latest controversy may kick-start the next baby step toreform.
Slive, who is serving as BCS coordinator as he also serves ascommissioner of the Southeastern Conference, is open to a sensiblesolution.
Slive sees an opening to revisit the idea of a "plus-one" model,which would determine the national title participants after the fourBCS bowls are played.
The BCS is open to ideas.
Meyer says blow the BCS up now and start over.
Lloyd Carr says players should decide who plays for championships.
"They play the game," Carr said of players. "It's a game forcollege kids. We should make all the decisions based on what's bestfor them."
This isn't "peace in the valley" anymore.
2006-07 Bowl glance Tentative dates and schedule for collegefootball bowl games. Dates and times are subject to change. Bowl GameDate Time Site Matchup TV San Diego Poinsettia Dec. 19 8p.m. San Diego TCU vs. Northern Illinois ESPN2 PioneerPureVision Las Vegas Dec. 21 8 p.m. Las Vegas BYU vs. OregonESPN New Orleans Dec. 22 8 p.m. New Orleans Sun Belt Champvs. Rice ESPN2 New Mexico Dec. 23 4:30 p.m. Albuquerque,N.M. New Mexico vs. San Jose State ESPN Birmingham Dec. 23 1 p.m. Birmingham, Ala. South Florida vs. East Carolina ESPN2Armed Forces Dec. 23 8 p.m. Fort Worth, Texas Tulsa vs. UtahESPN Sheraton Hawaii Dec. 24 8 p.m. Honolulu Arizona Statevs. Hawaii ESPN Motor City Dec. 26 7:30 p.m. Detroit Middle Tenn. vs. Central Michigan ESPN Emerald Dec. 27 8 p.m. San Francisco Florida State vs. UCLA ESPN Independence Dec. 28 4:30 p.m. Shreveport, La. Oklahoma State vs. Alabama ESPNPacific Life Holiday Dec. 28 8 p.m. San Diego Texas A&M vs.California ESPN Texas Dec. 28 8 p.m. Houston Rutgers vs.Kansas State NFL Gaylord Hotels Music City Dec. 29 1 p.m. Nashville, Tenn. Clemson vs. Kentucky ESPN Brut Sun Dec. 29 2 p.m. El Paso, Texas Missouri vs. Oregon State CBS Insight Dec. 29 7:30 p.m. Tempe, Ariz. Minnesota vs. Texas Tech NFLChamps Sports Dec. 29 8 p.m. Orlando, Fla. Maryland vs.Purdue ESPN AutoZone Liberty Dec. 29 4:30 p.m. Memphis, Tenn.Houston vs. South Carolina ESPN Meineke Car Care Dec. 30 1 p.m.Charlotte, N.C. Boston College vs. Navy ESPN Alamo Dec. 30 4:30 p.m. San Antonio, Texas Iowa vs. Texas ESPN Chick-fil-A Dec. 30 8 p.m. Atlanta Georgia vs. Virginia Tech ESPN MPCComputers Dec. 31 7:30 p.m. Boise, Idaho Miami (Fla.) vs.Nevada ESPN Outback Jan. 1 11 a.m. Tampa, Fla. Penn Statevs. Tennessee ESPN AT&T Cotton Jan. 1 11:30 a.m. Dallas Nebraska vs. Auburn FOX Toyota Gator Jan. 1 1 p.m. Jacksonville, Fla. Ga. Tech vs. West Virginia CBS Capital One Jan. 1 1 p.m. Orlando, Fla. Wisconsin vs. Arkansas ABC RoseJan. 1 5 p.m. Pasadena, Calif. Michigan vs. USC ABC TostitosFiesta Jan. 1 8:30 p.m. Phoenix Boise State vs. Oklahoma FOX FedEx Orange Jan. 2 8 p.m. Miami Louisville vs. WakeForest FOX Allstate Sugar Jan. 3 8 p.m. New Orleans NotreDame vs. LSU FOX International Jan. 6 12 p.m. Toronto Cincinnati vs. Western Michigan ESPN2 GMAC Jan. 7 8 p.m. Mobile, Ala. So. Miss. vs. Ohio University ESPN Tostitos BCSNational Title Jan. 8 8 p.m. Phoenix Ohio State vs. Florida FOX *Bowl Championship Series: When not having a conference championparticipating in the BCS National Championship Game, the BCS willhave the following conference champions serve as host teams: RoseBowl Big Ten and Pac-10; FedEx Orange Bowl ACC; Allst
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