ESPN College Football

Originally Published: March 25, 2004

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By Ivan Maisel
ESPN.com
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Going to the White House on Tuesday was one of the cooler things I've done since I started covering college football.

It struck me as I watched the ceremony how different the football culture is in Louisiana than it is in California, and that difference has everything to do with the reactions from the two sides to the split national championship.

When President Bush welcomed the LSU team, the audience erupted in applause. He recognized the legislators in the audience. All but one member of the Louisiana delegation attended the ceremony. Joining them were many members of their staffs, toting footballs to be signed, cameras, and big, very big, extremely big, smiles.

When President Bush welcomed the USC teams (football and women's volleyball), the audience gave polite applause. Two members of Congress from California, Chris Cox and Diane Watson, came as well. The campus is in Rep. Watson's district.

When I phoned Rep. Richard Baker, an LSU graduate and the representative from Baton Rouge, he couldn't call back fast enough to talk smack about the Trojans. When I called Rep. Watson's office and asked her media official about "the controversy" concerning LSU and USC, he said, "What controversy?"

Or maybe it's just that Watson went to UCLA.

The passion for football in the SEC in general, and LSU in this case, spills over everything that happens at the university. It's not that way at USC. As I type that, it seems painfully obvious (Tonight on SportsCenter: People in the south like college football. Dah-dah-dah! Dah-dah-dah!). But seeing them together crystallized the difference in reaction of the two camps to the split national championship.

Note: As several Tiger fans have written to tell me, the LSU web site put up a nice, complete story about the visit of LSU and USC to the White House. The story didn't even have a begrudging tone.

March Madness note: Some of you may know that I graduated from Stanford. There's nothing like getting a phone call seconds after the final buzzer to hear your lovely, genteel mother (Alabama '48) talking smack.

Mailbag note: Don't forget. If you're interested in having your letter published, include your name and your hometown. And on with the show ...

I come to your defense regarding the misguided attack you received from Nebraska fan Jason Givens. Obviously he hasn't had the time to watch much college football the last few years, being all caught up in the slow decline of his beloved program. Otherwise he would have some inkling of an idea that Toledo, and a few other MAC teams, are quite capable of kicking the corn out of the Huskers.

Toledo Bruce Gradkowski is just another great QB from the MAC.

Buck up Husker fans, some day things might get better. But until that day, Toledo and similar teams certainly deserve to be ranked. So, pull your collective heads out of the silo, and give credit where credit is due.

Unapologetically yours,
Robert M. Wintle
New York

A man with a 3-9 team has perspective, and fans from a 9-3 team don't. Go figure. Hey, if you're 3-9, you just want to get back to respectability. If you're 9-3, all you can think of is you were just good enough not to win it all. Which brings up this letter:

During the 2003 NCAA football season the Associated Press ranked Texas A&M, Penn State, Notre Dame, Arizona State, Colorado and Alabama in the top 25. These teams finished the season with a combined record of 26-47.

Oklahoma, Ohio State, Kansas State, Miami, Michigan and Auburn received 65 first place votes in the AP preseason poll, USC and LSU received zero first place votes.

These facts tell me two things. First of all the AP is biased. Secondly, the AP is terrible at ranking college football teams.

So here are my questions to you: should the Associated Press vote for the top 25 and should the Associated Press play such an important role in the national championship, and why?

If a playoff system is out of the question and football fans aren't satisfied with conflict between human polls and the BCS, I think it's obvious the human polls need to go. At least the BCS never ranked Texas A&M (4-8), Alabama (4-9), Penn State (3-9) and Notre Dame (5-7) in the top 25 during 2003.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you.

Toby Cole
Houston, Texas

C'mon, Toby. The Sooners won their first 12 games with incredible power and ease. If ranking them No. 1 from August through Dec. 6 makes the AP biased, we should all be so biased. If the AP poll didn't start until mid-October, as the BCS does, then the Alabamas and Notre Dames wouldn't have been ranked. All together: "Duh!"

Bias? No. The AP spreads votes out across the country depending on how many I-A schools there are in each state.

Uninformed opinion? Yep, and don't forget to send me a copy of your prediction from last April that had the Marlins winning the World Series.

Let's not forget one thing. The AP poll's main purpose since its inception in 1936 has been, and will continue to be, to sell newspapers. Readers want to know where their team is ranked. Papers want to give readers a reason to buy the paper.

Because of tradition, history and the power of the press, the AP champion has been recognized as legit for decades. As long as there is no playoff, the poll champion will still be legit long after the BCS is gone.

The Cougars will have to replace QB Matt Kegel's 21 touchdown passes in 2004.

For the third year in a row, the Cougs finished in the Top 10 with a Holiday Bowl win over Texas. My question is - what weaknesses are you citing this year that will hinder the Cougs quest for a fourth consecutive 10-win season, another Pac-10 championship and another Top 10 finish?

Thanks a lot, and Go Cougs.
Kris Jones
Washington, DC

Of the Cougs' 22 starters from last season, 33 of them graduated. The current team isn't allowed out of the locker room without a campus map.

As for the Pac-10 championship, conference spokesman Jim Muldoon confirmed that as of March 24, USC is still in the league.

Well, Muldoon would have if I had called him, but it's 5:39 a.m., PST, as I type this, so let's just assume.

Dear Mr. Maisel,

I enjoy your columns for ESPN.com. I do have a question about one of your most recent ones, "Schlegel ready for action with OSU." You wrote, " [Anthony] Schlegel grew up in Dallas, and was leaning toward returning near home and playing for TCU. Ohio State expressed an interest, and when the national champion calls, you pay attention. Schlegel hopped onto a plane."

Isn't it a violation of NCAA rules for a school to make first contact with a potential transfer?

Thanks,
Tim Puko
Columbia School of Journalism
New York

Well, fine, Tim, if you want to be literal about it.

Actually, an Ohio State assistant caught wind of Schlegel's interest, and phoned Air Force to find out if it was true. Schlegel took over from there.

Tim, are you sucking up to the professors here, or what?

Kyle, every reader in Beaver County, Pa., just keeled over.

Technically, you're right, but it reminds me of a conversation I had a few years ago with then-SEC commissioner Roy Kramer. As some in Division I-A lobbied to make the membership standards tougher, to keep I-AA teams from moving up, Kramer suggested just the opposite. Eliminate the difference, and make every Division I, with no As.

Kramer's point was that history and tradition usually determine whether schools deem football important enough to spend the money necessary to be a major college football team.

"Thirty years ago, who were the top programs?" Kramer said, and I'm guessing this was 2000. "Texas, Michigan, Alabama. Today, who are the top programs? Texas, Michigan, Alabama. Call it (I-A) whatever you want to call it."

Ivan, First, to the guy who wrote about Oregon State playing LSU and USC in one year, sorry if I don't shed a tear for you.

My Auburn Tigers have played them BOTH the last TWO years in a row.

We managed to get outscored 54-7 in the two games combined last year. (USC 23-0 & LSU 31-7) Good luck Beavers, and thanks again for embarrassing Notre Dame a few years ago. Ivan, do you think Tommy Tuberville's hire of Al Borges will dramatically improve the AU offense?

Last year, we would throw a pass 40 yards but would only end up with a gain of three yards downfield--if the receivers caught it (see Ole Miss game).

Do you think Borges can breathe new life into the passing game and take some pressure off Carnell Williams and Ronnie Brown?

If so, how good do you think Auburn could be?

The defense may not be as good this year, but it should be able to hold its own. Most of the SEC teams we play this year are breaking in new quarterbacks this year with the exception of Georgia and Alabama (and Brodie Croyle might be broken down by the time we play Alabama at the end of the year if he does not get any offensive line help.)

Give your hometown boy some mailbag love!
Chad Cate
Mobile, Ala.

If the rest of you object to me answering e-mail from a homeboy, get over it.

Al Borges has a track record of success. He ran the offense on the UCLA teams of the late 1990s, when the Rose Bowl became just another Bruin home game.

That said, he can only teach Jason Campbell and his friends the new offense. They still have to run it effectively.

Good point about the new quarterbacks in the SEC. (Note to readers: good story suggestions will get you printed, too).

By the way, Chad, I went to the Connecticut-Auburn women's hoops game Tuesday night, where the Lady Tigers looked as if they were channeling the football offense from the beginning of last season. Auburn missed its first 17 field goals of the second half.

Being sufficiently bored by the rout, I took my 12-year-old daughter Sarah over during a TV timeout and introduced her to Auburn athletic director David Housel. David, gave her one of his big smiles and said, "So when are you comin' to Auburn?"

Next week: Tim from Columbia will report on whether that was a recruiting violation.

You have always been considered by me a great read. However, in your pre-season predictions, you seemed to have lost your way.

As I reflect back on last year's season, I can't help but think that the two best teams played for the national championship. LSU and OU were stellar.

All Jason White did in 2003 was lead the Sooners to the title game and win the Heisman.

Anyway, LSU and OU are still the best two teams in the Country! As per OU's lackluster running game, well, you missed it. OU signed the best running back to come into the college game in decades! Adrian Peterson is awesome!&The Sooners will meet my Tigers again this year for the Championship! What a rematch!

Joe Clark
St. Louis

Sorry, Joe, but I'm going with Stoops here. Do I start a Heisman Trophy winner with one good leg and a 12-1 record? Or do I give the mop-up guy his first start with a national championship on the line?

I don't think Thompson is the answer to the Sooners' running game. I'd rather have a better o-line and a better tailback.

Sooners and non-Sooners alike have written to tell me that Peterson will make a brief stop in Norman on his way to the NFL, the College Football Hall of Fame and, the crowning achievement of any athlete's career, a SportsCenter ad.

Peterson may do all of that (Scott Van Pelt, please call extension x2000). But Peterson has to learn the Sooner offense first, particularly the part where tailbacks help pick up the blitz. That's the reason that even the best freshmen don't get more than a carry or two before midseason.

Ivan Maisel is a senior writer for ESPN.com. Send your question/comments to Ivan at ivan.maisel@espn3.com. Your e-mail could be answered in a future Maisel's Mailbag.