Tampa Bay Times from St. Petersburg, Florida • 49

3c TIMES MONDAY. DECEMBER 8, 2003 COLLEGE FOOTBALL .4 eh yBiweScome iremmatch BOWL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES RANKINGS Annual rivals FSU and Miami aren't thrilled with an Orange Bowl pairing. By BRIAN LANDMAN Tim Staff Wrlfr Pod Comp AP EU Avg. AH RB CM KM NYT JS PW Avg. Str SRnk QWin Tot I.Oklahoma 3 3 3.0 1 1 1 2 5 1 1 1.17 11 0.44 1 5.11 2.

LSI) 22 2.0 2221 2 2 2 1.83 29 1.16 1 0.0 5.99 3. Southern Cal 1 1 1.0 3 3 3 3 1 4 3 2.67 37 1.48 1 0.0 6.15 4. Michigan 4 4 4.0 7 4 6 5 3 5 5 4.67 14 0.56 2 10.63 5. Ohio State 76 6.5 6644 8 6 7 5.50 7 0.28 2 0.0 14.28 6. Texas 5 5 5.0 5 9 8 7 4 8 10 6.83 20 0.80 2 14.53 7.

Florida St 9 8 8.5 8 8 5 8 7 7 6 6.83 15 0.60 2 0.0 17.93 8. Tennessee 6 7 6.5 10 7 10 11 9 10 11 9.50 46 1.84 2 19.64 9. Miami 10 9 9.5 9 5 7 9 10 11 9 8.17 13 0.52 2 19.79 10. KansasSt. 8 10 9.0 16 12 12 12 6 13 13 11.33 10 0.40 3 22.73 11.

Miami (Ohio) 14 15 14.5 4 10 9 6 22 3 4 6.00 68 2.72 1 0.0 24.22 12. Georgia 11 11 11.0 12 11 11 10 12 9 8 10.17 18 0.72 3 24.59 13. Iowa 13 12 12.5 14 16 15 13 15 12 12 13.50 16 0.64 3 28.94 14. Purdue 12 13 12.5 15 17 17 14 18 15 17 15.83 40 1.60 3 0.0 32.93 15. Florida 17 17 17.0 24 14 23 15 13 16 18 16.50 5 0.20 4 36.80 and what's good for Florida State," Orange Bowl executive director Keith Tribble said.

The Seminoles, notorious for not" bringing fans en masse to a game that doesn't impact the national champion- ship, weren't feeling the love in that-, room. The Fiesta owned the selection right, however, and stuck to its choice to pit the surprising Wildcats; against the next highest-ranked team, the defending champion who also have 30,000 alumni within a day's drive of Tempe, Fiesta Bowl 1, president John Junker said. The ange exercised that right last year to land Southern California and Iowa, much to the chagrin and anger of Rose Bowl, underscoring the reality that there is little cooperation the bowls. BCS commissioners chose not to intervene. "We talked about it at great length," a BCS coordinator and Big East commis-; sioner Mike Tranghese said.

"There is, not a great desire to unravel unless we can help both parties or help one party and not hurt the other. We felt here, by making a switch, we were going to negatively impact one bowl game. we would be doing is transferring the problem from the right hand to the hand." Yeah, yeah. Bowden has heard that before. his team's 22-14 win Oct 1 1 in Tallahassee, a turnover-marred game in which a driving rainstorm turned the field into a quagmire.

(FSU scored a cosmetic touchdown on the final play.) But wait. There's more of FSU-Mi-ami to come. Soon. The teams also meet as ACC brethren for the first time on Labor Day in Miami to kickoff the 2004 season. "I don't know if I would have agreed to that if I'd known we were playing them in the bowl.

That's too close," Bowden said. FSU athletic director Dave Hart said in a statement he is pleased about a BCS berth and a trip to the Orange Bowl, but agreeing to move their regular-season game to September "led to assurances a rematch would not happen." Coker said the bowl rematch will take much of the pizzazz out of next fall's game. "I don't think that's particularly good for college football," he said. So how did this happen? After the Fiesta Bowl designated Big 12 champion Kansas State as its host team and the Orange followed by naming Big East champion Miami its host, both wanted Ohio State. "From our standpoint, we made the effort to try to get the best possible game we could possibly get, to understand what's good for the Hurricanes Florida State coach Bobby Bowden has been down this road before and it's no more enjoyable.

He surprisingly learned Sunday that his No. 9 Seminoles will play No. 10 Miami for the second time this season in the Jan. 1 Orange Bowl. He had a bowl rematch of a regular-season opponent, Florida, in the 1995 and 1997 Sugar Bowls.

"I'd rather not replay a team that we played during the regular season," Bowden said. "I'd rather not play a rival (again). Miami is a rival. Florida is a rival. When you play Miami and you play Florida, there's more pressure involved than when you're playing a Michigan or a Kansas State or some body you don't know." Miami coach Larry Coker, excited to be playing in his first Orange Bowl, isn't enamored of a rematch, either.

"We're not playing for a national championship, so it would have been a great opportunity to see someone from out of the area; a Big Ten team, a Pac-10 team, whatever," he said. He saw enough of the Seminoles in POLL AVERAGE: The average of the Associated Press media poll and ESPNUSA Today coaches poll. Others receiving votes are calculated in order received. COMPUTER AVERAGE: The average of Anderson Hester, Richard Billingsley, Colley Matrix, Kenneth Massey, New York Times, Jeff Sagarin and the Peter Wolfe rankings. The computer component will be determined by averaging six of the seven rankings.

The lowest (worst) ranking will be disregarded. SCHEDULE RANK: Rank of schedule strength compared with other Division l-A teams of actual games played divided by 25. This component is calculated by determining the cumulative wonloss records of the team's opponent (66.6 percent) and the cumulative wonloss records of the team's opponents' opponents (33.3 percent). LOSSES: One point for each loss during the season. QUALITY WIN COMPONENT: The quality win component will reward to varying degrees teams that defeat opponents ranked among the top 10 in the weekly standings.

The bonus point scale will range from a high of 1 .0 points for a win over the top-ranked team to a low of 0.1 for a victory over the 1 0th-ranked BCS team. The final BCS standings will determine final quality win points. If a team registers a victory over a team more than once during the regular season quality win points will be awarded just once. Quality win points are based on the standings determined by the subtotal. The final standings are reconfigured to reflect the quality win point deduction.

NOTES: Teams on NCAA probation (i.e. not eligible for postseason competition) are not listed in the BCS standings. Teams with victories over teams on probation will receive appropriate quality win points. BCS from 1C I mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmm "JJIWH i'" imm a jf I 3 v' i AP I BOWLS NEW ORLEANS: New Orleans, Dec. 16, 7 p.m., ESPN2 MATCHUP: Sun Belt champion vs.

C-USA TEAMS: North Texas vs. Memphis GMAC: Mobile, Dec. 18, 7:30 p.m., ESPN2 MATCHUP: C-USA vs. Mid-American TEAMS: Louisville vs. Miami (Ohio) TANGERINE: Orlando, Dec.

22, 5:30 p.m., ESPN MATCHUP: ACC vs. Big 12 TEAMS: N.C. State vs. Kansas FORT WORTH: Texas, Dec. 23, 7:30 p.m., ESPN MATCHUP: AMarge vs.

C-USA TEAMS: Boise State vs. TCU LAS VEGAS: Dec. 24, 7:30 p.m., ESPN MATCHUP: Mountain West vs. Pac-10 TEAMS: New Mexico vs. Oregon State HAWAII: Honolulu, Dec.

25, 8 p.m., ESPN MATCHUP: C-USA vs. WAC TEAMS: Houston vs. Hawaii MOTOR CITY: Detroit, Dec. 26, 5 p.m., ESPN MATCHUP: Mid-American vs. Big Ten TEAMS: Bowling Green vs.

Northwestern INSIGHT: Phoenix, Dec. 26, 8:30 p.m., ESPN MATCHUP: Big East vs. Pac-10 TEAMS: Virginia Tech vs. California CONTINENTAL TIRE: Charlotte, Dec. 27, 1 1 a.m.

ESPN2 MATCHUP: ACC vs. Big East TEAMS: Virginia vs. Pitt ALAMO: San Antonio, Texas, Dec. 29, 9 p.m., ESPN MATCHUP: Big Ten vs. Big 12 TEAMS: Michigan State vs.

Nebraska HOUSTON: Dec. 30, 4:30 p.m., ESPN MATCHUP: AMarge vs. Big 12 TEAMS: Navy vs. Texas Tech SILICON VALLEY: San Jose, Dec. 30, 10:30 p.m., ESPN2 MATCHUP: WAC vs.

At-large TEAMS: Fresno State vs. UCLA HOLIDAY: San Diego, Dec. 30, 8 p.m., ESPN MATCHUP: Pac-10 vs. Big 12 TEAMS: Washington State vs. Texas SAN FRANCISCO: Dec 31, 10:30 p.m., ESPN2 MATCHUP: Mountain West vs.

Big East TEAMS: Colorado State vs. Boston College MUSIC CITY: Nashville, Dec. 31, Noon, ESPN MATCHUP: SEC vs. Big Ten TEAMS: Auburn vs. Wisconsin INDEPENDENCE: Shreveport, Dec.

31, 7:30, ESPN MATCHUP: SEC or at-large vs. Big 12 TEAMS: Arkansas vs. Missouri in the country We look at it as the Rose Bowl is the national championship game for us." The Sugar Bowl, however, is where, at the very least, the ESPNtfSA Today champion will be crowned. The coaches who vote in that poll are contractually obligated to vote the champion of the BCS title game as the national champion. "Football coaches always say it's a game of inches," Sugar Bowl executive director Paul Hoolahan said.

"Unfortunately, with the BCS, it's become a game of fractions. That's what we're dealing with." Indeed, a minuscule amount separated LSU and USC. Tranghese said the human polls and computer polls used in the BCS system basically offset each other, with the deciding factor coming down to strength of schedule. And the Tigers made a big jump, from 53rd to 29th, by playing Georgia. Meanwhile, USC was hurt by games Saturday that were otherwise meaningless.

Losses by Notre Dame (to Syracuse) and Hawaii (to Boise State), teams the Trojans defeated this season, hurt USC's strength of schedule, which ended at 37th. "It's unfortunate that somebody can't play because we don't have a playoff," LSU coach Nick Saban said. "I don't think anybody will know who the legitimate national champion will be unless all three teams get to play each other. I think what we have to do is take the system we have, respect it. We're going to play in the BCS national championship.

Whichever team wins the game is certainly going to have a claim to the national championship." "The system is what it is," Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said. "I don't apologize. I'm incredibly proud of our players. We all knew the system going into the year and at the end of the year, we're No. 1 in that system.

So there is nothing to apologize about" The BCS standings are determined by the AP and ESPN USA Today polls, seven computer rankings, strength of schedule, losses and a bonus-point sys-tern for victories over teams that finish in the BCS's top 10. Tranghese pointed out that tweaks 1 Strength of schedule favored coach Nick Saban and LSU, which won the SEC Championship Game, over Southern Cal in the BCS. North. BCS representatives discussed the situation but made no changes. "There was a fear that there would be someone who didn't win a (conference) championship game who clearly needed to be in the (national championship) game," Tranghese said.

"There just wasn't collective support for it. But obviously the fact that it's happened for the second time in three years it's something we have to talk about." to the system have been made. After FSU earned a championship-game spot opposite Oklahoma three years ago despite losing to Miami during the regular season a quality win component was added to the system. But Tranghese appeared troubled that another team made it to the title game without winning its conference championship. Two years ago, Nebraska played Miami in the Rose Bowl despite not even winning the Big 12 AP Thomas Hill hoists Big 1 2 trophy won by Kansas State, whose win Saturday over Oklahoma helped disrupt the BCS.

APPOLL The top 25 teams in the Associated Press college football poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Saturday, total points based on 25 for a first -place vote through one for 25th and previous ranking: Rec Pts Pvs 1. Southern Cal (42) 11-1 1,595 2 2. LSU(21) 12-1 1,580 3 3. Oklahoma (2) 12-1 1,491 1 4. Michigan 10-2 1,437 4 5.

Texas 10-2 1,322 6 6. Tennessee 10-2 1,228 7 7. Ohio St. 10-2 1,208 8 8. Kansas St.

11-3 1,151 13 9. Florida St 10-2 1,128 9 10. Miami 10-2 1,075 10 11. Georgia 10-3 1,018 5 12. Purdue 9-3 849 11 13.

Iowa 9-3 771 12 14. Miami, Ohio 12-1 756 14 15. Washington St. 9-3 638 15 16. Mississippi 9-3 637 17 17.

Florida 8-4 619 16 18. Boise St. 12-1 540 18 19. TCU 11-1 392 19 20. West Virginia 84 320 21 21.

Oklahoma St. 9-3 299 22 22. Nebraska 9-3 278 23 23. Maryland 9-3 221 24 24. Minnesota 9-3 134 25 25.

Utah 9-2 106 Others receiving votes: Bowling Green 95, Pittsburgh 73, Southern Miss. 56, N. Illinois 22, Oregon 20, Clemson 19, Michigan St. 15, Missouri 1 3, Virginia Tech 8, Virginia 5, Connecticut 4, Louisville 1, North Texas 1 ESPNUSA TODAY The top 25 teams in the ESPNUSA Today college football poll, with first place votes in parentheses, records through Saturday, points based on 25 for a first -place vote through one for 25th and previous ranking: Rec Pts Pvs 1. Southern Cal (37) 11-1 1,542 2 2.LSU(18) 12-1 1,516 3 3.

Oklahoma (8) 12-1 1,449 1 4. Michigan 10-2 1,393 4 5. Texas 10-2 1,272 6 6. Ohio State 10-2 1,168 7 7. Tennessee 10-2 1,145 8 8.

Florida St 10-2 1,124 9 9. Miami 10-2 1,044 10 10. Kansas St. 11-3 1,039 13 11. Georgia 10-3 999 5 12.

Iowa 9-3 839 11 13. Purdue 9-3 762 12 14. Washington St. 9-3 699 14 15. Miami (Ohio) 12-1 664 15 16.

Boise State 12-1 557 17 17. Florida 8-4 550 16 18. Mississippi 9-3 524 18 19. TCU 11-1 429 19 20. Minnesota 9-3 379 20 21.

Nebraska 9-3 337 21 22. Oklahoma State 9-3 263 22 23. West Virginia 8-4 190 24 24. Maryland 9-3 134 25 25. Utah 9-2 80 NR Also receiving votes: Pittsburgh 55, Southern Miss.

54, N. Illinois 40, Michigan St 33, Bowling Green 32, Clemson 30, Virginia Tech 27, Missouri 25, Louisville 24, Oregon 21, Oregon State 9, Auburn 7, New Mexico 5, Wisconsin 5, Marshall 3, North Texas 2, Arkansas 1, Connecticut 1, Fresno State 1, Navy 1, Syracuse 1 SUN: El Paso, Texas, Dec. 31,2 p.m., Ch. 10 MATCHUP: Pac-10 vs. Big Ten TEAMS: Oregon vs.

Minnesota LIBERTY: Memphis, Dec. 31,3:30 p.m., ESPN MATCHUP: C-USA champ vs. Mt. West champ TEAMS: Southern Mississippi vs. Utah MEET NO.

13 IOWA Outback from 1C -rmmam nrnnn. i OUTBACK: Tampa, Jan. 1,11 a.m., ESPN MATCHUP: SEC vs. Big Ten TEAMS: Florida vs. Iowa ncounu; a-o uverdii, a-j Diy icn I COACH: Kirk Ferentz (31-29 in five seasons); Big Ten coach of "Hi the vear in 2002 after leading the Hawkeyes to their first GATOR: Jacksonville, Jan.

1, 12:30 p.m., Ch. 8 MATCHUP: ACC vs. Big East TEAMS: Maryland vs. West Virginia conference title since 1990 and most wins (1 1) in school history. MASCOT: Herky the Hawk FAST FACTS: Iowa has won 20 of its past 25 games.

Its losses this season came at Michigan State, Ohio State and Purdue. The Hawkeyes are 0-1 against Florida. The Gators won 1 4-6 in the 1 983 Gator Bowl. Iowa fell 38-1 7 to Southern Cal in the 2003 Orange Bowl Eight Hawkeyes hail from Kirk Ferentz CAPITAL ONE: Orlando, Jan. 1, 1 p.m.,Ch.

28 MATCHUP: SEC vs. Big Ten TEAMS: Georgia vs. Purdue ROSE: Pasadena, Jan. 1, 4:30 p.m., Ch. 28 MATCHUP: BCS TEAMS: Southern Cal vs.

Michigan ORANGE: Miami, Jan. 1,8:30 p.m., Ch. 28 MATCHUP: BCS TEAMS: Miami vs. Florida State I Florida, including three from the Tampa Bay area. Cornerback Antwan Allen and linebacker Chris Brevi are from Tampa.

Free safety Marcus Paschal is from Largo. EXTRA INFO: To learn more about the team and traditions, visit hawkeyesports. is com. for us to be going to back-to-back January bowl games. Hopefully it will be easier to focus on our preparation now that we know where we are going.

We are playing an excellent football team in Florida. I saw them on TV a week ago against Florida State. They have a lot of great players. They are a great traditional football program. It's going to be a great challenge.

It's a great location and a great opponent You can't ask for anything more." Iowa running back Fred Russell has rushed for 1,205 yards and six touchdowns this season, second best in the Big Ten. The team also features Out-land Trophy finalist Robert Gallery and two 400-yard receivers Ramon Ochoa and Maurice Brown. All-Big Ten kicker Nate Kaeding, a Lou Groza Award winner, leads the Big Ten with 17 of 18 field goals and 36 of 37 PATs. No. 17 Florida (8-4) is making its second straight appearance in the Outback Bowl.

The only other time the teams have met was in the 1983 Gator Bowl Florida defeated Iowa 14-6. "We are looking forward to playing a very talented Iowa team," Florida coach Ron Zook said. "They are an experienced squad, who start nine seniors on offense and play tough defense, allowing just oyer 16 points a game. Kirk Ferentz, who led Iowa to Because this is the first trip to the Tampa Bay area for Hawkeyes fans. McVay said bowl officials are expecting a strong turnout A shipment of 15,000 tickets will be.

sent to the Iowa athletic department this morning and tickets locally are selling fast According to the Big 10 championship a year ago, will have his team ready to play. They've had some big wins this year, including a victory against Michigan. We are looking forward to a great challenge." Ferentz, who heavily recruited Florida quarterback Chris Leak, said playing in Tampa likely will be an advantage for the Gators, but hopes Iowa fans also will be a formidable presence. "Hopefully our fans will be able to grab as many tickets as they can outside of our allotment" he said. "I would assume the Gator fans have grabbed as many tickets as they codd this past COTTON: Dallas, Jan.

2, 2 p.m., Ch. 13 MATCHUP: SEC vs. Big 12 TEAMS: Mississippi vs. Oklahoma State PEACH: Atlanta, Jan. 2, 4:30 p.m., ESPN MATCHUP: ACC vs.

SEC TEAMS: Clemson vs. Tennessee FIESTA: Tempe, Jan. 2, 8 p.m., Ch. 28 MATCHUP: BCS TEAMS: Ohio State vs. Kansas State HUMANITARIAN: Boise, Idaho, Jan.

3, Noon, ESPN MATCHUP: ACC vs. WAC TEAMS: Georgia Tech vs. Tulsa SUGAR: New Orleans, Jan. 4, 8 p.m., Ch. 28 MATCHUP: BCS 1 vs.

BCS 2 TEAMS: Oklahoma vs. LSJJ Mcay, about 1.000 tickets remain to be purchased from Ticketmaster. "We will use up every one of them," McVay said. "We protected some tickets for them and we went out of our way to look out for the (Tampa area) hospitality industry. Their fans will bring a lot of enthusiasm.

Theyjl be up and down, the1 lit-aches and everywhere.".