http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...22/1004/SPORTS
Jerry Green
Boise State, BCS come out legit
The little guys huddled up and called the plays with the imagination of a kid scratching out the diagrams in the sand on a playground.
The hook and ladder -- a forward pass plus a lateral -- was something Knute Rockne might have conjured up nearly a century ago at Notre Dame. And then the takeoff on the ancient Statue of Liberty play to win the Fiesta Bowl in overtime and stun a nation of hungover college football TV addicts.
All the ancient gimmicks except the flying wedge.
Boise State proved it was legitimate. Geographically isolated Boise State, from what is now referred to as a mid-major conference, with a wannabe program. And with the verve and audacity to knock off one of America's most prominent football powers in a bowl game.
A BCS bowl game to boot.
It was fun to watch, more fun than watching Michigan roll over and succumb to Southern California earlier on New Year's Day in the Rose Bowl.
And so much more imaginative than Mike Hart over left guard, Mike Hart over right guard, sack, punt.
So odd.
Boise State, out of Idaho, proved it belonged in college football's upper echelon with its 13-0 record.
And Michigan proved again that it was the second-place team in an inferior conference. Lloyd Carr's bashers are out again with their whips. But Michigan's undoing was not its unimaginative offense. It was the simple fact that Southern California played the Rose Bowl with superior personnel, with better football players, plus more sizzle.
The Tiny Ten Football Conference was back in flower, overrated as the football representatives of Middle America, basically creamed in the intersectional bowl games.
Only Ohio State can now rescue the Big Ten from the scoffers across the country by whipping Florida in Monday night's national championship game. And what once seemed destined to be a rout in the BCS finale in Arizona could become a genuinely competitive football game.
On the day that Boise State became legitimate as a qualified football power, Michigan legitimized the BCS.
A month ago the Michigan blues engaged in the traditional whining and wailing and griping when Florida vaulted from No. 4 in the standings to qualify to combat Ohio State for the national championship. It was explained that America did not wish for Ohio State to play Michigan in a rematch for the championship. The gripe was that Florida's leapfrog jump over Michigan, then No. 3, was unfair and dishonest and undeserved.
I joined the protesters. I believed in logic -- that when No. 2 Southern California went poof against UCLA, that No. 3 Michigan deserved be elevated to play in the championship game, not the No. 4 team.
My apologies!
Again, I had been blinded by Michigan's unexpectedly flawless season, unbeaten until it played Ohio State -- then beaten by the slim margin of three points.
But on New Year's Day there was the realization that Michigan never should be been voted to such a lofty spot as No. 2 in the polls. Nor should Michigan have ever been ranked as high as No. 3.
It was fluff -- the product of an early-season rout of Notre Dame in South Bend.
Notre Dame, so haughty and so respected before the season that it was considered a championship contender! Mighty Notre Dame, embarrassed victim of Louisiana State in the Sugar Bowl two days after Michigan's pratfall to Southern California.
Another example of football as played in the Midwest vis-À-vis the Southeast.
The BCS, with all the ridicule, with all its problems, with its convoluted selection process, now has come out as legitimate with Ohio State vs. Florida. Two conference champions in a climactic finale.
But the BCS needs a smidgen of fine tuning.
The rules should be -- must be -- amended: no second-place teams allowed in the national championship game. Only conference champions and/or specially qualified independents should be selected to participate in the ultimate BCS game. Thus, if Notre Dame ever regains its stature it would be eligible.
Michigan, as runner up in the Big Ten, never should have received consideration. Even before it was exposed in the Rose Bowl debacle.
But the muck mucks who control the NCAA and the BCS stubbornly refuse to exercise common sense. So college football ends every season with controversy and griping by delusional alumni and their fellow travelers.
No imagination.
Hurrah for Boise State!