10 —The Daily Collegian Thursday, Oct. 5,1978
Playoff backers must solve bowl, monetary issues
* Editor’s Note: This is the second of a
-two-part series by Daily Collegian
Sports Writer Eric Yoder on the
prospects for initiating a playoff to
determine the champion of Division I-A,
.•the big-time of college football.
•[Yesterday’s article dealt with the
/dispute over the principle of a playoff
[•system, today’s with what must happen
'for one to become reality.
[• Any playoff plan would have to be
►.introduced as an amendment at a
"-National Collegiate Athletic Association
• meeting, such as the next one, in San
/Francisco in January. The NCAA staff
.[.cannot generate policy, and while it is
/reported the people at the league office
in Shawnee Mission, Kan., are opposed,
only member schools have the authority
•to introduce, approve or kill the
legislation. Such ideas have met a quick
death before, but there’s nothing stop
ping proponents from trying again.
[ Penn State Athletic Director Edward
•Czekaj has this plan for getting the
[legislation through: “My thinking is
[■they will have to come up with three or
•[four complete plans and give the
[-members options and the ability to
’.compromise. The whole plans must be
explained in detail, especially the
•monetary consideration. But first,
must take the initiative.”
Why not Penn State’ •,., •
"When / was commis
■ sioner of the Big 8 and Bud
• Wilkinson was winning the
championship every year
at Oklahoma, they called
us 'Oklahoma and the
'Seven Dwarves.'Now
.they call the Big 10 'The
'Big Two and the Little B.'
We have a responsibility
to dose that kind of gap
jand a playoff is a step in
i the wrong direction."
Big 10 Commissioner
'Wayne Duke.
Czekaj paused and smiled as if to say
,“I wish we could” but faced reality,
saying, “we’d be blamed for it im-
mediately. You have to be careful who
submits it or it’s going to be, ‘Here we
go, the rich are tyring to get richer.’ We
need the support of the College Football
Association and the American Football
Coaches Association (which have no
votes as autonomous bodies at NCAA
meetings). We need wide-spread
backing so when someone objects with,
‘The rich are acting selfishly,’ we can
say, ‘Look how many schools are in
favor of it.’ That way, they couldn’t
single out any one school.”
But regardless of how many schools
present the plan, the “rich are trying to
get richer” argument will crop up. And
from some unexpected sources.
“One problem we have in college
football is the domination of the polls,
bowls and television by the select few,”
Big 10 Commissioner Wayne Duie said.
“A playoff would provide a fruther line
of demarcation, damage the difference
between the priveleged and the rest.
“If you look at the Top 10 teams the
last 10 years, you’ll find that Michigan
has been in the Top 10 nine times, Ohio
State and Penn State eight, Oklahoma
and Nebraska seven, Alabama, Texas,
USC and Notre Dame six. The cham
pionship would be determined among
these same teams.
“When I was commissioner of the Big
8, and Bud Wilkinson was winning the.
championship every year at Oklahoma,
they called us ‘Oklahoma and the Seven
Dwarves.’ Now they call the Big 10 ‘The
Big Two and Little Eight.’ We have a
responsibility to close this kind of gap,
and a championship is a step in the
wrong direction.”
Put simply, the fate of Division I-A
playoffs rests with how objections like
this are handled, meaning how the
money is handled. Parity between the
“haves” and “have nots” won’t be
gained easily, and domination of the
playoff by the select few —at least in the
short run is almost certain to occur.
All colleges could use the money, even
the “have” schools like Penn State,
which is now paying off the costs to
expand Beaver Stadium and will begin
renovating the indoor sports facilities
soon. Football alone bears this weight
although the athletic department hopes
for the basketball program to start
making money soon. Football also
supports 30 varsity teams and the in
tramural program. And since the in
ception of Title IX, which requires
women’s sports to be brought up to the
level of men’s, the big-time schools find
more money is a necessity, not a luxury.
The "have nots” need it worse, and Duke
and others fear these schools will
become discouraged by the windfall a
playoff promises the “haves,” and will
grow ever weaker in comparison,
possibly scrapping some programs.
Lions coach Joe Paterno has a plan to
prevent that.
"I’d give the participating teams a
fixed sum, enough to make it worth their
while,” he said, “then.take the bulk of
the money and establish an NCAA bank,
just like the world bank that helps un
derdeveloped countries. I wouldn’t touch
the money for maybe five years, until it
reached a certain figure,, maybe $5O
million.”
After that, the bank, administered by
a board from the NCAA schools, could
operate on the interest that money ac
cumulates. With additions every year,
the total could reach into the hundreds of
millions.
“With this money,” Paterno said, “we
could help schools with financial need.
We could build golf, swimming or
academic facilities. If a college wanted
ncaa play*
\
L ; '
to build a field house, I’d lend them a
million at two or three per cent interest.
Think of what we could have done to help
in that Evansville (Ind.) basketball
tragedy.”
The only thing preventing this,
Paterno said, is “we just don’t have
enough people who think big. Nobody
wants to buy this idea because they think
it’s too big, too much to accomplish. But
it would be very easy to do.”
Closely related to the monetary issue
is the question of the bowls. The bowls, to
be blunt, have enormous power, and as
much as anyone else, will have their
way. For now, they are waiting, like
hunters if you will, saying little, but
watching. “We are going to wait and see
what comes up,” Cotton Bowl Executive
Vice-President Jim Brock said. "The
bowls are an integral part of college
football and certainly we would be
against anything that would damage the
bowls. We do a lot for college football
we gave them $l4 (actually 13.8) million
last year.”
“At one time,” Brock added almost
l i»t .*rviu i
i • j . W ;
“I’ve got Pabst Blue Ribbon on my mind!’
Sir
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incredulously, “it was rumored they
were going to pick our games for us. I’ll
tell you this: We would be against that in
a midnight minute.” And they’d be
listened to.
The bowls are here to stay, so if a plan
is to survive it should detract as little as
possible from them. So a recom
mendation like the one advocated by
Arkansas coach Lou Holtz and sup
ported by Paterno and others would
seem to have the best chance.
In the Holtz .plan, the bowls would be
left alone, with the Big 10 and Pac 10
winners meeting, in the Rose,, and the
Southwest, Southeast and Big 8 winners
going to the Cotton, Sugar and Orange''
bowls, respectively. From those games
and the second-string bowls' like the
Gator and Fiesta, four teams would be
selected to play a semi-final the next
weekend, the championship game to be
held a week later, perhaps the day
before and in the same city with the
Super Bowl.
Holtz would have the semi-finalists
selected by a committee sure to
Illustration byßorb Van Dine
■im*s
arouse controversy based on a point
system considering their records and the
strength of opponents. Others would
simply take the four major bowl win
ners. Under the latter plan, for example,
the Nittany Lions would have been
inelegible for a playoff had one been held
last year, while with Holtz’ system,
Arkansas would have been replaced by
Penn State.
"I don't think it should go
too long into January. If it
would mean playing only
one more week of prac
tice. If it meant playing two
or three more games,
though, I might recon
sider. " Lions quarter
back Chuck Fusina.
The optimal championship, like Holtz’,
wouldn’t prolong the season more than a
week or two to satisfy the academicians
and the players.
“I’m in favor of a playoff,” Lion
quarterback Chuck Fusina said, "but I
don’t think it should go too long into
January. If it would mean playing only
one more game, heck, that’s only one
week of practice. If it meant playing two
or three more games, though, I might
reconsider.”
That plans are being considered at all
is a positive sign for those wishing to see
a championship series. And with
respected men with solid ideas like
Paterno and Holtz behind it, a playoff
system can become reality, perhaps
but not likely for next season. Will it
ever happen? Holtz, who is as in tune to
the situation as anyone, offers this
assessment: ( „
“It all depends on whether people look
at it objectively. Is it in the best interests
of college football? Nobody ever said it
wouldn’t be. I don’t know if they’ll use
my plan and I don’t much care. What’s
needed is a fair, equitable plan which
answers all questions. Looking at that
objectively, I don’t see how they could
refuse.
“Unfortunately, the powers that be
have little interest in it. Everybody’s
, passing the buck. Too many people are
content with the status quo, they like
things the way they are. I say things
never stay the same. You either improve
or you get worse.”