college

football

TCU unleashed its purple power against

No.6 Utah last Saturday, staking its claim
to a shot at the national championship.
But with college footballs power brokers
profiting from the status quo and blocking
the implementation of a playoff . . .

does it
matter?
By Austin Murphy
and Dan Wetzel
Photog ra ph b y pe t e r r e a d m i l l e r

frogs legs
Josh Boyce (82) and the Frogs
may be the best team in the
country, but without a playoff
the nation may never know.

efresh our memory, BCS acolytes: Why must college football never have a playoff?
Oh, yes, thats right. Because a postseason
tournament would devalue the sports singularly
meaningful regular season.
But if regular-season wins and losses mean
so much, how did Boise State drop two places
in the APpoll after eviscerating Hawaii 427 last Saturday?
How do the Broncos fall from No.2 to No.4 after outgaining
the Rainbows 737yards to 196?
So please spare Boise the platitudes about the sanctity of
college footballs regular season. And spare us Talking Point
No.2: We believe the bowl system wouldnt survive a playoff,
predicts BCS executive director Bill Hancock.

bcs vs. playoff

what could be ...

It cannot happen, but whats the harm in dreaming of a playoff for the 2010
season? Sixteen teams (11 conference champs and five at-large teams),
15 games over four weeks and infinite bliss.
pac-10 champion
sec champion
1 oregon

auburn2

sun belt champion

mac champion

16 troy

northern illinois15

big 12 champion

big ten champion

8 nebraska

wisconsin7

at-large team

at-large team

oklahoma state10

9 ohio state
kellen moore, qb boise state

college
football could
have an opera.
instead, it has
a soap opera.

at-large team

at-large team

12 virginia tech

alabama11

wac champion

mountain west champion

4 boise state

tcu3

big east champion

c-usa champion

13 pitt

ig-time college football is a world-class

beauty with a wart on her forehead.
That blemish is the sports method for
determining a national champion. The NCAA
crowns 88champions in 23 sports. The only
champion it does not crown is in Division I-A
football, which, in its wisdom, has delegated
the task of determining which two teams will
contend for its title to a series of mathematically unsound computer formulas and often
confused and ill-informed poll voters.
As with many seemingly intractable prob-

44 | S p o r t s I l l u s t r at e D | n ov em b er 15 , 2010

stanford6

acc champion

tiny Hickory High wins the Indiana state

basketball championship with a buzzerbeater against a bigger, better-known South
Bend Central.
On a national scale, explained Patterson, we are Hickory.... Were trying to
get that one shot.
The difference being, of course, that Milan
High, the real-life team on which Hoosiers
was based, was able to earn its chance to play
for a championship, thanks to something
called a playoff. What a concept, huh?

at-large team

5 lsu

lems, there is a commonsense solution to

this one: a playoff, in which such matters
are settled on the field (and as has been done
for decades in DivisionsI-AA, II and III).
And as with most unimplemented commonsense solutions, there is a group of people
who have a vested interest in keeping things
the way they are because they are profiting
from the problem.
Hancock, the congenial executive director
of the BCS, takes exception to that characterization. Every conference has bowl agreements, and the commissioners can only act
after taking the temperature of their schools,
he says. And if the schools didnt want to be
part of the bowl system, there wouldnt be
a bowl system. Critics, Hancock contends,
are fixated on the [potential] money. We
prefer to do whats best for the student-athletes. And we hear them saying they prefer
the bowl system. He must not be listening
to the thousands of student-athletes whose
sports have been cut by cash-starved athletic
departments, even as the lack of a playoff
deprives universities of hundreds of mil-

central florida14

f r o m l ef t: s t e v e co n n er / i co n smi; j o h n b ie v er

According to interviews
with numerous bowl executives, television deal makers,
athletic directors and conference commissioners, all the
bowlsthe major BCS ones,
the mid-tier ones and the
newbies youve never heard
ofwould survive, albeit in
the shadow of the playoff.
But for a playoff to exist,
it would mean that those
now presiding over the bowl
systemsome (not all) of the
BCS conference commissioners; some (not all) of the ADs
and university presidents
at whose pleasure Hancock
serveswould have to release
their grip on the sports levers
of power. And that, quite
frankly, isnt going to happen,
short of a successful antitrust
action by the U.S. Department
ofJustice.
Until that glad day arrives
and it may be on the waywe
are stuck with an inexact,
capricious, w idely despised
system that is propped up
and defended, in the main, by
the people who profit from it.
College football could have an
opera, a Shakespearean drama, a season that
builds to a stunning (and wildly remunerative)
climax. Instead, it has a soap opera.
Its like Days of Our Lives, says TCU
coach Gary Patterson of the ceaseless
intriguing and politicking that attends the
BCS rankings. Its Whos dating who this
week? and Are they mad at you? and Is
she gonna go back to him?
Im just going to be the milkman, he
concluded. [Im going to] deliver the goods.
The Horned Frogs delivered in last Saturdays Quake in Salt Lake, putting the wood
to sixth-ranked Utah 477. Thus did the
Frogs stay in the national title hunt, while
the Utes were free to start making plans
for the Maaco Bowl Las Vegas.
The 100 Frogs, ranked No. 3, will probably finish undefeated but will still need
help, in the form of a loss by No.1 Oregon
or No.2 Auburn, to get to Glendale, Ariz.,
site of this seasons title game. That helps
explains a movie clip Patterson screened for
his guys the day before the Utah game. They
watched scenes from Hoosiers, in which

lions of dollars every year and enrages fans.

Todays exercise is not to advocate for a
playoff (although we do present a perfectly
good one above). Rather, let us shine a light
on the people blocking reformthe smiling,
backslapping, money-making traditionalists
heavily invested in the status quo.
Representing this cartel at Saturdays
game in Salt Lake City, and rocking a
migraine-inducing array of strident blazers,
were 10 bowl representatives, who took up
most of row3 in the press box at Rice-Eccles
Stadium. They were chipper, and why not?
Working for bowls is a great gig, if you can
get it. Youre not exactly planning a moon
shot. Youre putting on one game a year. Yet
the money is excellent, even for such inconsequential games as the Kraft Fight Hunger
Bowl, whose executive director, Gary Cavalli,
is unlikely to go hungry, having pocketed
$377,475 in 2009. Cavalli, of course, is a
bargain compared with Sugar Bowl CEO
Paul Hoolahan, who made $607,500 in fiscal 2007. Coming in just behind Hoolahan
is John Junker, who is president and CEO of

john clay, RB Wisconsin

we are stuck
with an inexact,
capricious,
widely despised
system.

the Fiesta and Insight.com bowls. Junkers

salary is nearly $600,000; in addition, three
times hes taken out zero-interest loans from
the Fiesta Bowl, which he has since repaid.
Not to worry about the bowls, they can afford to pay those salaries and perks. The Sugar
Bowl finished 2007 with $37million in assets
and turned an $11.6million profit. Whats
more, the Sugar Bowl accepted $3million
from the Louisiana state governmentthis a
year before it was announced that the state was
running a $341million shortfall in its budget.
Yes, the bowls are doing very well, thank
you. Though the majority of bowl games
enjoy tax-free, not-for-profit status with the
IRS, its a misleading designation. There is
plenty of profit involved. Cash-rich bowl execs
spend lavishly on travel, parties, political
consultants and, of course, their own salaries.
In September, Marcus Owens, the former
head of the IRSs Exempt Organizations Division who is working with the lobbying group
Playoff PAC, asked the IRS to review the
nonprofit status of three BCS bowl games
because of excessive compensation. Junker

and the Fiesta Bowl, which

will run this years BCS title
game, are also under investigation by the Arizona attorney generals office. In
December 2009, five former
or current Fiesta Bowl employees told The Arizona Republic they were instructed
by Junker to donate money to
certain political candidates,
to be reimbursed in the form
of merit pay, which would be
a violation of state and federal
laws. Junker and the Fiesta
Bowl have denied those accusations. The Republic also
reported that the bowl spent
more than $4million since
2000 to curry favor from BCS
bigwigs and elected officials
including almost $400,000
for its 08 F iesta Frolic, a
golf-intensive gathering of
ADs and head coaches.

f t h e 120 a t h l e t ic departments that

play I-Afootball, 106
lost money in 2009, according
to an NCAA report. Budget
shortfalls forced the University of California in September
to cut five sports. Virginia hit up students for
$11.9million in fees for the 200809 school
year to offset athletic department operating
expenses. Cincinnati reached two consecutive
BCS bowls and still found itself $24million
in debt. All over the country, schools are turning to student fees, academic funds and taxpayer support to balance the athletic departments books, which helps explain the uptick
in so-called pay games (Hey, LSU, good luck
this Saturday against Louisiana-Monroe!),
conference realignments and expansion of
the mens basketball tournament.
In the teeth of the worst economic downturn in several generations, it stands to reason that university presidents might look favorably on ideas that could dramatically raise
revenue. Speaking to Congress in 2005, no
less staunch a playoff opponent than BigTen
commissioner Jim Delany estimated that an
NFL-style football playoff would generate
three or four times more than the current
system does. That could mean an estimated
$700million to $800million annually to
be distributed among the I-A conferences.

n ov em b er 15 , 2010 | S p o r t s I l l u s t r at e D | 45

bcs vs. playoff

Not only are the I-A presidents leaving

hundreds of millions of dollars on the table
by forgoing a playoff, but by outsourcing their
most lucrative product (postseason football),
theyre also handing over more than half the
profitsmoney that could replace tax dollars
in the balancing of public schools athletic
department budgets. Think about it: The
NFL and its teams collect every penny of
revenue, from television to tickets to parking to popcorn. In college football the bowl
games grab the biggest pork chopand then
help themselves to a few more, often more
than 50% of a games revenue. (The 2007
Chick-fil-A Bowl generated $12.3million in
revenue but paid out just $5.9million total

to the participating schools, Auburn and

Clemson.) They do it by thinking of every
conceivable way to profit from their supposed partners.
Ask Iowa. Halftime entertainment at the
Jan.1, 2009, Outback Bowl was provided
by the Hawkeye Marching Band. And how
did the TampaBay Bowl Association, which
runs the game, thank the band for that gratis
performance? By charging the university $65
a head for each of the 346band members.
According to university records submitted to
the NCAA, the school was forced to purchase
face-value tickets totaling $22,490 for the
band, even though the game wasnt sold out.
Very few bowls do, in fact, sell out. Aware

of this, their directors require a ticket commitment, which obligates the purchase of
thousands of tickets at face value. Schools
must then resell those tickets or risk losses
that can run into seven figures. Before Internet ticket sites democratized the market, the
deal made sense to the participating schools.
Now, for all but the biggest games, fans can
avoid paying full priceas they must when
they go through the schools
ticket office. Tickets to the
2009 Music City Bowl were
available on St ubHub for
19cents.
The commitment guarantees
only one thing: the fattening of

... and what likely may be

46 | S p o r t s I l l u s t r at e D | n ov em b er 15 , 2010

the ducks
cant simulate
newton, and
the tigers
havent faced a
back like james.

c lo c kwise f r o m to p l ef t: j ed jaco bs o h n (2); b il l f r ak e s

like an NHL coach shuffles his lines, the defense

is fresh deep into the fourth quarter while the opposing offensegoaded into a futile attempt to
match Oregons scoring pacegasps for breath.
Still, neither defense would be prepared for
the opposing offense. The Ducks cant simulate
Auburn quarterback Cam Newton. At 6'6" and
250pounds, Newton is bigger than most of Oregons defensive ends. And the Tigers havent faced
a back who combines the tackle-breaking ability
and top-end speed of Oregons LaMichael James.
When the analysis ends and the game begins,
Newton immediately will show why he won the
Heisman Trophy in a landslide. On Auburns second play he picks his way through the defense for
a 68-yard touchdown. When the Tigers follow a
defensive stop with an 18-yard Onterio McCalebb
touchdown run to take a 140 lead, Auburn fans
launch into the S-E-C! chant in
anticipation of the conferences
fifth consecutive national title.
But Kelly isnt fazed. He signals in a zone-read play for
James, and it gains nine yards.
Seconds later the same play
gains 12. On the third consecutive iteration of the play, James
blasts into the open field for a
54-yard touchdown run. Following cornerback Cliff Harriss
interception, quarterback Darron

bowls do similar damage to schools thrilled

by a mere invitation. The euphoria of playing in the postseason quickly wore off for
Western Michigan two years ago when the
Broncos athletic department was able to
unload only 548 of the 11,000tickets it was
required to purchase by the good folks at
the Texas Bowl. Western Michigans loss of
$462,535 (before adding in travel and lodg-

ing costs) probably hurt more than its subsequent 3814 defeat at the hands of Rice.
Paying full price for unused seats in halffilled stadiums is just one of the ways bowls
stick it to desperate universities, like unscrupulous undertakers who see that their clients are compromised and turn the screws.
Preoccupied with perception, recruiting and
job security, athletic department officials are
in a poor bargaining position. They tend to
agree to anything. Like paying $65 a head
for the band.

es, you may be saying to yourself,

but what about the big bowls, the
major BCS games like the Fiesta,

two for
the show

In a not-so-absurdly-early look at a title game

between Auburn and Oregon, one thing is certain:
They will score and score B y a n dy s ta p l e s
ake the over.
No matter how many points the
oddsmakers in Las Vegas think Auburn and Oregon would combine to
score in the BCS title game, it cannot
be enough. When future historians study the score
from Jan. 10, 2011, they will wonder why someone
included the result of a college basketball game.
Gus Malzahn, the offensive coordinator at Auburn, wants basketball scores. If you have ever
watched the pace of an up-tempo basketball
game, that is the pace you want to carry over
to the football field, Malzahn wrote in his 2003
book, The Hurry-Up, No-Huddle: An Offensive Philosophy. While it may sound a little crazy, you
can get the same advantages in football as you
would if you were controlling the tempo of a basketball game.
Chip Kelly, Oregons second-year head coach
and the mastermind of the Ducks speedy spread
attack, is Malzahns hurried-up brother from another mother. The difference? Kelly doesnt allow
the fitness of his defense to get in the way of his
offensive pace. Malzahn dreams of a day when
the Tigers can run 95 plays (as the Ducks did in
the season opener against New Mexico), but Auburn coach Gene Chizik sometimes asks Malzahn
to dial back the speed to give the Tigers defense
a break on the sideline.
Kelly doesnt do that. Because Oregon defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti shuffles his players

the bowls profit margins. For their appearance in the 2009 Orange Bowl, VirginiaTech
and the ACC agreed to purchase 17,500tickets at $125 per seat, but they could sell only
3,342, according to university documents.
The result: a $1.77million bath for the school,
not the bowl.
Ohio State ate $1.01million in unsold
tickets at the 2009 Fiesta Bowl. Smaller

Thomas hits wide-open

receiver Jeff Maehl for a
James (21 and
39-yard touchdown to tie
left, top) and
Newton both
the score. At halftime Authrive in hurryburn leads 2724.
up, no-huddle
Offense rules the third
offenses that
might tilt the
quarter. By the fourth,
scoreboard if
both defenses are exOregon and
hausted. Kelly and MalAuburn were
to meet in the
zahn know this, and they
BCStitle game.
press the gas pedal harder.
After Newton flattens a linebacker at the goal
line to give the Tigers a 6259 lead with four
minutes remaining, Kelly gathers his offense on
the sideline. We will not do anything desperate,
he says. We will run our offense.
James chews up yardage on the zone-read.
Maehl catches short passes over the middle.
Thomas, whose rushing yardage has been limited by the Tigers sideline-to-sideline speed, finally gets the corner and goes out-of-bounds at
the four-yard line with a minute remaining.
After an incomplete pass Thomas runs a
keeper to the one-yard line. Auburn stuffs
James up the middle on third down, setting up
one play for the crystal football. Before all the
weary Tigers can realign themselves, the Ducks
snap the ball. James plows in over the left side
for a 6662 lead.
After safety Eddie Pleasant picks off a desperation heave from Newton to seal the win,
the celebration begins. Kelly raises the trophy,
and the Ducks carry him off the field. Meanwhile,
copycat offensive coordinators everywhere burn
their playbooks. By the end of January, Malzahns
book sits at No.3 on The New York Times nonfiction best-seller list. By the first weekend of the
2011 season, only 50 of the 120 DivisionI-A teams
use a huddle.
n ov em b er 15 , 2010 | S p o r t s I l l u s t r at e D | 47

bcs vs. playoff

Rose, Sugar and Orange bowls? Surely the

teams who play in those get lucrative bowl
payouts? And, in fact, Ohio State earned
$18.5million for making it to the Rose Bowl
in January2010. Thats a serious boost to
any teams bottom line.
So it would have been, if the Buckeyes
actually got to keep the money, which they
did not. The $18.5million went to the
BigTen, where it was added to a pool of bowl
revenue that was then sliced into 12shares
one for each team, one for the league office.
That still left Ohio State with a tidy $2.2million to spend, which the Buckeyes did. Ohio
States team travel costs were $352,727. Unsold tickets ran the school a cool $144,710.
The bill to transport, feed and lodge the band
and cheerleaders came to $366,814. Throw
in entertainment, gifts
and sundry other expenses, and the Buckeyes lost $79,597.

system that indeed spreads the wealth. Bowl

directors privately admit that fewer than
half the bowls could survive without the
financial support from the schools.
Meanwhile, the sad sack programs that
fail to qualify for a bowl often end up in the
best financial position. As former Michigan
AD Bill Martin said after the 2009 season,
The fact we didnt go to a bowl game the
last two years means we actually made
money.

we are like
hickory [high
in hoosiers],
patterson
says. were
trying to
get that
oneshot.

its-luck BigEast will finish the season

with no teams in the Top25. Yet, thanks
to its status as one of the BCSs six automatic-qualifying (or AQ) conferences, it
will make around 10 to 13million more
from the BCS this year than some non-AQs
who will have teams very high up [in the
polls].
The Big East will reap this windfall
not because theyre great negotiators,
says Fishel, but because a cartel came together to do this. They
colluded, and others got
marginalized in a manner that my colleagues
and I believe is illegal.
If t he Big Ea st is
using what Fishel calls
its ill-gotten benefits
(its remunerative place
at the BCS table) as a
way to recruit teams
f r om ot he r c on f e rences (TCU is one of
the schools reportedly
being considered for
membership), theres
s ome t h i n g t e r r i bl y
w rong w it h t hat, in
our view.

hy do the
schools put
up with
this? W hy are universities so willing to
engage in what WAC
commissioner Karl
Benson deemed bad
business deals? Ben this year of No Concause it works out nicespicuously Domily for coaches, who land
na nt Tea m, TCU
tidy bonuses for even
could easily be the best,
minor-bowl glory. ADs,
most complete squad
third and short
too, reap a windfall
in the country. Yet, in
Ranked No.3 in the BCS, Patterson
(above), Dalton and the Frogs still
for a bowl invite. The
this flawed system, the
need either Auburn or Oregon to lose
going rate: one months
Frogs find themselves
in order to reach the title game.
extra salary for an apin the unseemly posipearance in even the lowliest game. Oregons
tion of having to hope a nother team stubs
he success of non-BCS programs such
Rob Mullens receives $50,000 if the Ducks
its toe. They deserve better. Undefeated
as Boise State, TCU and Utah has
go bowling. Kentuckys Mitch Barnhart colNo.4 Boise State deserves better. And so
brought attention to the inequilects $30,000.
do college football fans.
ties in the system, and some authorities
A few years ago our ADs came to me
On the field after Saturdays game, Utahs
have taken notice. Utah attorney general
and said, Youve got to start some bowls,
talented punt returner Shaky Smithson
Mark Shurtleff is investigating the BCS for
Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompfound Gary Patterson. You scared us all
possible antitrust violations. Last week he
son says. I said, Youll lose money. They
week, said the coach. We had extra special
traveled to Washington to persuade Justice
[each] said, I dont care.
teams practice because of you!
Department officials to join him in an antiThe truth is that the lower-tier bowls
Thanks, Coach, I appreciate it, said
trust action. He also met with Alan Fishel,
exist because athletic directors are willing
Smithson. Youve got a great team. I hope
a partner at the law firm Arent Fox, which
to prop them up (in the process forfeiting
you go all the way.
has been retained by Boise State and the
their universities money), and because most
But TCU isnt Hickory High. The Horned
Mountain West Conference.
conferences pool all their bowl payouts,
Frogs may not get the chance.

High on Fishels radar last week were

using the bigger-money BCS games to cover
rumblings from the BigEast about expandthe losses incurred in the smaller games.
Dan Wetzel is coauthor of the book Death to the
ing from eight football-playing members to
Thus does the Rose Bowl help subsidize the
BCS and a sports columnist
10. Its quite likely, Fishel
Now on SI.com
Little Caesars Pizza Bowla bowl bailout
forYahoo!
notes, that the down-on-

Stewart Mandel projects

matchups for all 35 bowls
every week at SI.com/cfb

j o h n b ie v er (2)

48 | S p o r t s I l l u s t r at e D | n ov em b er 15 , 2010