Herald and Review from Decatur, Illinois • Page 17

HeralMReviev yd4 Monday, December 4, 0 2000 0 C1EW SHARP BCS caves in to Pao'10 Day in the NBA Milwaukee drops Indiana two games under .500 with a 92-80 victoryB2 fall The NFL nas a big day with four 200-yard rushers. RoundupB5 Ui THROUGH 0 0 OR I Records illlSSE if efffioialo Oklahom a vs, Monday, Jan. 1 Rose Bowl At Pasadena, Calif. Purdue (8-3) vs. Washington (10-1), 3 :30 p.m.

(ABC) Fiesta Bowl At Tempe Ariz. Oregon State (10-1) vs. Notre Dame (9-2), 7 p.m. (ABC) Tuesday, Jan. 2 Sugar Bowl At New Orleans Florida (10-2) vs.

Miami (10-1), 7 p.m. (ABC) Wednesday, Jan. 3 Orange Bowl At Miami Oklahoma (12-0) vs. Florida State (11-1), 7 p.m. (ABC) The matchup creates the possibility of split national champions.

The AP media poll and the coaches' poll have Oklahoma and Miami ranked 1-2. If Florida State beats Oklahoma and Miami beats Florida in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 2, there's a chance for co-champions. The AP poll's sports writers and broadcasters vote independently of the BCS, but the coaches' poll crowns the Orange Bowl winner as its champion. "If that happens, then that will be what it is," BCS coordinator John Swofford said.

"The BCS doesn't eliminate that possibility. We've known that all along. It does minimize the chances for it happening." Florida State coach Bobby Bowden understands his team could share a national title with the Hurricanes, who beat the Seminoles 27-24 on Oct. 7. Still, he says the BCS formula proves his team deserves to play in Miami.

"Everything was run through the computer," Bowden said. "We had nothing to do with it. The facts were fed in during the season and it came out ranking us second. We will accept that. "It's No.

1 vs. No. 2 in the BCS and if we were to beat Oklahoma, then I think we should be No. 1 in the nation in the BCS. But that probably won't happen in the AP unless Florida beats Miami." Miami coach Butch Davis said his team did its best to reach the BCS title game, being played in its own backyard.

B0WLSB4 Sooners, Seminoles meet for national title Florida State always seems to be in the mix no matter what system college football uses to decide a national champion. For the fourth time in the last five seasons, the No. 3 Seminoles (11-1) will play for a national title this time against No. 1 Oklahoma (12-0) in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 3.

The Bowl Championship Series' system of rating teams using polls, computers, schedule strength and losses, placed the Seminoles second behind the Sooners in its final standings released Sunday. JFLWEEK. 14 1 in rare for aiiiGf i liv "Jt i "1 4 Though flawed, the Bowl Championship Series computers have spoken with no legal recourse available for the disappointed. Florida State earned its third straight BCS title game invitation, making Seminoles coach Bobby Bowden one of the few in Tallahassee actually pleased with a political process. The BCS was born three years ago to subvert bowl politicization, but it proved itself equally vulnerable to outside manipulation with Sunday's pairings announcement.

Fearing what he considered an undeserving snub, Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen threatened secession from the BCS family last week if his conference, generally considered the strongest nationally this season, didn't receive one of the Fiesta Bowl's two at-large invitations. AND THE BCS blinked. The Fiesta Bowl passed on Virginia Tech No. 5 in the final BCS standings and an attractive team for television with quarterback Michael Vick in favor of No. 6 Oregon State as Notre Dame's opponent New Year's evening.

The BCS usually is market-driven. Its convoluted compilation of opinion polls and computer data serves as a deceptive disguise, concealing the closed-door, deal-making directed toward finding the most television-friendly, revenue-producing teams in the three non-title BCS bowls. So what does Oregon State bring to the equation? Name me one of its players quickly. Tell me something about its football tradition. Stumped, aren't you? The Beavers weren't the Fiesta Bowl committee's first choice.

Bowl officials were ecstatic a week ago over the TV ratings-gold possibility of a Virginia Tech-Notre Dame matchup, pitting the game's best player in Vick against the game's most storied program. BUT THAT was before Hansen flexed his political muscle, threatening to abandon the BCS when the contract expires following the 2005 season. Hansen was understandably outraged. How could his league have three of the top 10 BCS teams No. 4 Washington, Oregon State and No.

10 Oregon but only one BCS representative? The BCS is the product of the conference commissioners, so Hansen understands how quickly it could all unravel should it lose one of its most reputable conferences. A Pac-10 secession would steer college football closer toward a playoff, because its absence from the BCS would diminish the legitimacy of the championship selection process. The BCS couldn't afford to alienate one its of own, so it capitulated to Hansen's hardball tactics, pacifying the Pac-10 and fattening the conference's wallet with an additional check. Based on the final BCS standings, the No. 11 Irish aren't more deserving of a Fiesta Bowl invitation than Oregon State, Oregon or Virginia Tech.

But the BCS founding fathers factored enough variables into the series' constitution to accommodate Notre Dame should it finish the season rated no worse than 12th. BCS COORDINATOR John Swofford defended the system, foibles and all. "We've never said that ours was a perfect system," said Swofford, who doubles as Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner. "But we believe it's the best available to provide what fans, media and the representative institutions want as fair and objective a process as possible. But we're always open to any suggestions that could possibly improve the system." WTiat's the next move? Renaming the championship game the Florida State Invitational? Drew Sharp is a Detroit-based Knight Ridder columnist.

Warner's return can't prevent loss to Carolina CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) It won't matter who the St. Louis Rams have at quarterback if they keep turning the ball over. Kurt Warner, out the past five games with a broken finger on his throwing hand, marked his return to the lineup Sunday with four interceptions one returned 88 yards by Jimmy Hitchcock for the game's only touchdown in the Rams' 16-3 loss to the Carolina Panthers. "I made some throws I wish I could have back," Warner said.

"I'm the one out there playing, and when I throw it to somebody else, that's my fault and no one else's fault." The Rams (8-5) had seven turnovers while dropping their third straight. They have a combined 14 turnovers in the three losses, but seven of them came while Trent Green was filling in for Warner. The Rams went 2-3 while Green was at the helm, and they eagerly awaited Warner's return. Before the injury, he had thrown for 18 touchdowns and a then-NFL best 2,445 yards. But last year's Super Bowl MVP was unable to pick up where he left off.

He was sporadic against Carolina (6-7), looking sharp on short passes, but badly overthrowing his receivers on long bombs. Warner, whose previous high for interceptions in a single game was two, finished 18-for-36 for 189 yards and the four interceptions. "I made too many mistakes, and it seemed like every mistake I made they capitalized on it," Warner said. Offense hibernates in 28-6 home loss CHICAGO (AP) Another milestone for Brett Favre helped produce yet another victory for the Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field. Favre reached 3,000 yards passing for a ninth straight season to tie Dan Marino's NFL mark set from 1984-92 while leading the Packers past the Bears 28-6 Sunday night.

"I wasn't really aware of it until Joe Theismann brought it up. I think the most important thing is that I've been able to play," said Favre, who started his 138th straight game. "By playing every week and being in the lineup, those individual records will come." Green Bay (6-7) kept its slim playoff hopes alive by winning its seventh straight game at Soldier Field. The Packers haven't lost in Chicago since 1993. As Green Bay's defense throttled Chicago's anemic offense that has mustered one touchdown in the last 18 quarters, Favre carved up the Bears' secondary, completing 19 of 31 passes for 225 yards.

"The one constant we have to have is No. 4," Favre said, referring to his own number. "We're not good enough right now to overcome early turnovers or deficits like we did at Carolina last week or like we did against Chicago earlier. "I can't dig a hole for this team." The Bears, who won 27-24 at Lambeau Field in October, fell to 3-10 Chicago's fourth straight season of double-digit losses. Favre threw a 5-yard TD pass to Antonio Freeman and set up two other scores.

It was his 50th career touchdown toss to Freeman. "It's amazing to have a combination like that. It's hard to do," Favre said. "It's hard enough to throw one touch- (I Associated Press GETTING A TWIST: Green Bay Packers tight end Bubba Franks has his face mask grabbed as he is tackled by Chicago Bears cornerback Thomas Smith during the first quarter of Sunday's game in Chicago. Matthews and returned it 38 yards for a touchdown early in the final quarter.

That made it 28-3. "Brett just throws the balls where he finds the open guys. He got hot and made BEARSB4 down, let alone 50, to one guy." Green Bay, bouncing back from a five-turnover performance last Monday night at Charlotte, clinched the victory on a cold night 33 degrees at kickoff with a 21 -degree wind chill when Tyrone Williams intercepted a pass from Shane Baldwin first woman elected head of USOC On Sunday, former English professor and now real estate executive Sandra Baldwin became the first woman to be "A elected president of the United States Olympic in its 106-year history. spot in USOC leadership since 1993, at the head of an organization trying to rebound from problems with finances, administration and morale. "There are those who would suggest that this is an organization that is in disarray, that this is an organization that doesn't know where it is going," outgoing president Bill Hybl said.

"I would suggest that is inaccurate." Baldwin beat George 108-96, the difference of roughly five ballots among 115 in a weighted voting system that gives more power to athletes and sports federations who control 70 percent of the membership. The delegates later voted George to one of three vice-chair spots, along with Alabama-Birmingham athletic director Herman Frazier and Bill Stapleton, an athlete representative and agent for Tour de France winner Lance tion, now formally called the chair. That snapped a 106-year run of 21 men in the presidency, all but one of them white. "I didn't know if this organization was ready for a woman, but they were more ready than swimming was," Baldwin said. "I think many felt the need to send a statement to the world.

It was important for that statement to come from an organization that has been perceived as very, very conservative. "There were just people who felt that sports should be run by men for a long time." The victory for Baldwin was the latest big gain for women in the U.S. Olympic community, where almost half the world-leading 97 medals from the Sydney Games came from female athletes. It also placed Baldwin, a direct-spoken, no-nonsense administrator with a WASHINGTON (AP) When she ran for president of U.S. Swimming in 1984, Sandra Baldwin encountered a powerful foe Bill Lippman, widely known as the father of the sport in America.

"He told me he didn't think swimming was ready for a woman president," Baldwin recalled. "I told him, 'Maybe not, Bill, but they're ready for On Sunday, 16 years after Baldwin unanimously won that election to become the first female president of any widely based American sport, the U.S. Olympic Committee decided it finally was ready for a woman as leader, too, and that Baldwin once again was the one to choose. The 61-year-old former English professor and now real estate executive from Phoenix won a narrow vote over Massachusetts attorney Paul George in balloting by the USOC's board of directors for a four-year term in the top posi-, think many felt the need to send a statement to the world. It was important for that statement to come from an organization that has been perceived as very, very conservative.

Sandra Baldwin ii.