Orderly Finish Not on College Agenda

ABC got what it wanted, a national championship game, and the winner, Florida, no doubt will get what it wants, a national championship.

Going into Thursday night’s Sugar Bowl, it was clear that the winner would be crowned the national champion, no matter what kind of case Ohio State fans believed they had.

But it’s still an imperfect system.

What college football needs is a nice, neat orderly tournament. It’s also what television needs.

Even after the Rose Bowl joins the bowl alliance next season, all we’ll get is a “national champion” in name only. Under this system, there’s no closure.

In all other college sports--and also in football in the smaller divisions--there is closure.

It would be so logical to create a Division I-A football tournament. All that’s needed is for a selection

committee to choose 16 teams. The first round of eight games would be played on college campuses.

The second round could be the Fiesta, Orange, Citrus and Cotton bowls. The semifinals could be the Rose and Sugar bowls.

The national championship game could be a week later, going to a different city each year, much the way the Super Bowl bounces around.

Another thing a tournament would do is reduce the logjam on and around New Year’s Day.

By the time of the Sugar Bowl was played, we had all had our fill of football.

Look at the NFL. We had four playoff games last weekend, we get four more this weekend. Then two, then the Super Bowl.

Nice, neat and orderly.

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A strong proponent of the playoff system is CBS studio host Craig James.

“I completely disagree with a few people running around in the back rooms making decisions for all of college football,” he said. “I will say it to the face of everyone of the committee members, ‘You’re not doing a justifiable service to college football.’

“There are too few people being represented in college football right now. Even the fans are not being represented well.

“Let’s get it out of the hands of a few people--let 16 teams go out there and win on the field.”

Offering a point of view from the other side is CBS’ Terry Donahue.

“The fans and the media want a national playoff system,” he said. “From a coach’s perspective, my only concern was that there are certain teams that are going to be precluded from realistically winning a national championship because it’s not a level playing field.

“With the current bowl system, some of those teams still have an opportunity to go to postseason play, which is beneficial for their fans, alumni, players and coaches.

“Sometimes, when all you do is strive to be No. 1, that causes more abuses and more problems than it does good. There is nothing wrong with going back home as the Fiesta Bowl champions. You didn’t win the national championship, but you enjoyed success.”

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Was that really Dick Vermeil coming unglued during Wednesday’s Rose Bowl telecast? He has never been that animated.

With 33 seconds left and Ohio State at the Arizona State 19, Sun Devil defender Courtney Jackson grabbed Buckeye receiver Dimitrious Jackson’s jersey and jerked on it. But there was no flag.

“Pass interference!” Vermeil yelled. “That’s pass interference!”

The replay showed Vermeil was right.

“Those guys down there on that call ought to donate their paychecks to charity. That’s too obvious,” Vermeil said.

When Arizona State’s Marcus Soward was called for interfering with Ohio State’s David Boston on the next play, Vermeil was still incensed about the previous play.

“They did call it that time,” he said. “There’s no way anyone is going to get away with that anywhere, unless you’re on the other side of the field [where the previous non-call had taken place].”

Vermeil’s outrage may have been a little unprofessional, but more than anything it was refreshing. The Big East officiating crew had left Vermeil and ABC partner Brent Musburger, not to mention viewers, confused on previous occasions, and the frustration no doubt had been building.

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Ohio State Coach John Cooper, the featured guest on ESPN’s “Up Close” on Thursday, wasn’t complaining too much about the officiating. But then he too thought the call that had Vermeil so upset was obviously holding.

“I agree with [Arizona State’s] Bruce Snyder that you don’t want the officials to nit-pick and determine the outcome of a game, but when [an infraction] is there, you’ve got to call it,” Cooper told interviewer Chris Myers.

TV-Radio Notes

An up-and-comer in broadcasting is Artie Gigantino, the CBS commentator for Tuesday’s Sun Bowl game between Stanford and Michigan State. Gigantino, former defensive coordinator at California and USC and also an assistant with the Rams, was tremendous. He worked for SportsChannel in the San Francisco Bay Area this season and is just breaking in with CBS. Only one problem--his singing. He was talking about Michigan State linebacker Reggie Garnett’s mother, who was Ruby of Ruby and the Romantics. Their big hit was “Our Day Will Come.” Gigantino’s rendition left a lot to be desired. . . . Another outstanding commentator during the bowl season was ABC’s Todd Blackledge. He worked the Aloha Bowl with Brent Musburger on Christmas Day. ABC has been using Blackledge in the studio, where he does fine work, but he’s even better as a commentator.

Ready for gymnastics on radio? UCLA, which has the No. 1-ranked women’s team, is going to put its home meet with No. 3 Georgia on Jan. 12 on KWNK (670). . . . Attention soccer fans: The Los Angeles Cup ‘97, which begins Sunday, will be available only on closed-circuit television in bars and restaurants. Event Entertainment of Rolling Hills Estates is distributing the telecasts. . . . When Fox Sports West 2 makes its debut on Jan. 27, it will simulcast XTRA’s morning show with Steve Mason and John Ireland for two hours, from 7-9 a.m. Mason and Ireland will do their entire 5-9 a.m. show from the Fox Sports West studio in Century City. . . . For the record: The last time Chick Hearn missed a Laker game, on Nov. 20, 1965, he was grounded by bad weather in Fayetteville, Ark., after he worked an Arkansas-Texas Tech game for NBC. As reader Richard Fond wrote to point out, it couldn’t have been Arkansas-USC because USC lost to UCLA that day.

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What Los Angeles Is Watching A sampling of L.A. Nielsen ratings for sports programs Dec. 28-Dec. 31.

SATURDAY

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Event Ch. Rating Share Pro football: Minnesota at Dallas 11 17.3 43 Pro football: Jacksonville at Buffalo 4 16.7 40 Hockey: Colorado at Kings 9 2.3 4 Figure skating: Continents Cup at Edmonton 2 2.2 5 Skiing: World downhill at Crested Butte, Colo. 2 1.6 4 Tennis: Nike Cup at New York 4 .8 2

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SUNDAY

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Event Ch. Rating Share Pro football: Philadelphia at San Francisco 11 22.3 49 Pro football: Indianapolis at Pittsburgh 4 18.8 45 Figure skating: Continents Cup at Edmonton 2 2.9 6 Golf: Wendy’s Three-Tour Challenge 7 2.4 5 Skiing: King of the Mountain at Mammoth 2 1.2 3

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TUESDAY

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Event Ch. Rating Share Orange Bowl: Nebraska vs. Virginia Tech 2 6.7 13 Sun Bowl: Stanford vs. Michigan State 2 3.8 10

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Note: Because of the holiday, ratings for New Year’s Day bowl games were not available Thursday.