College Football 2003: Let the Games Begin
August 13, 2003
By Doug Mittler
SportsTicker College Football Editor
JERSEY CITY, New Jersey (Ticker) - The college football season cannot begin fast enough.
More than seven months have passed since that January night in the Arizona desert when Ohio State stunned Miami in the Fiesta Bowl to claim the national title and the time in between has seemed like an eternity. It has been filled with scandal, verbal battles and outright greed.
Two elite programs dismissed their coaches for transgressions that had nothing to do with football. A prestigious conference, looking to make its mark in football, enticed several members from another league to jump ship, leaving that league to fight for its survival.
Players from one school were disciplined for selling their championship rings on Ebay while the national champions scrambled to quell speculation of academic impropriety.
"Some people say controversy can stir up interest," said West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez, trying to put the problems in the best possible light. "At least it showed there is a passion for college football."
Rodriguez has a point. The only reason the public puts up with the mess is because college football remains a sport worth watching. Total attendance at Division IA games last season was 34.4 million, an all-time high. College football continues to have the most meaningful regular season in sports, one where national championships can be lost in September as well as January.
The Bowl Championship Series is not perfect, but it is better than the structured bowl system of a decade ago. Ohio State could not have played Miami in a title game in years past because it would have been tied to the Rose Bowl.
Sometimes the system works out just fine, like last year when the two remaining undefeated teams staged one of the epic games in football history.
Fast forward a few months and it is time for another campaign to play its course. The season begins in earnest on August 30 with a full slate of games, including Washington at Ohio State, two schools that endured a turbulent summer.
Washington begins life without coach Rick Neuheisel, who was fired for participating in an illegal NCAA basketball tournament pool. In Columbus, Ohio State hoped to bask in the glory of its first national title since 1968, but instead launched an investigation into the academic endeavors of its athletes after a newspaper story claimed star running back Maurice Clarett may have received some improper help in passing exams.
Other off-the-field issues prompted Ohio State to keep Clarett out of the team picture and at least the first week of practice.
Neuheisel claimed that he did nothing wrong, and his predicament seems far more dignified than that of Mike Price, who was fired as coach at Alabama without coaching a game. His date with destiny ended up being a visit to a strip club rather than an Iron Bowl battle with Auburn.
College football's biggest blemish was not Price but the decision of the Atlantic Coast Conference to stage a commando raid of the Big East. The decision to expand is a legitimate one, but the process was played out clumsily. The ACC first invited Boston College and Syracuse to join Miami, then left two schools at the altar and invited only Virginia Tech to join the Hurricanes next season.
"It took some turns that we did not anticipate," ACC commissioner John Swofford said. "While money was a factor, this was not all about the money."
Sure. And Alex Rodriguez signed with the Texas Rangers because he likes barbecue.
Miami and Virginia Tech will play one final season in the Big East, which has had a team play for the national title three times in the last four years. The Big East could add to that total this year thanks to Miami, which is stocked with talent and will hand the quarterback duties to Brock Berlin, a transfer who played for Steve Spurrier at Florida.
The Hurricanes' biggest threat in the Big East could come from Pittsburgh, which has emerged as a legitimate power under coach Walt Harris with one of the game's most exciting players in receiver Larry Fitzgerald.
The last team to repeat as national champion was Nebraska in 1995 and Ohio State will try to accomplish that feat with a team that returns almost all of its offensive starters, including quarterback Craig Krenzel.
Oklahoma again enters a season with national title expectations and could be headed to a clash in the Big 12 title game with Kansas State, which features quarterback Ell Roberson.
The Pac-10 Conference snapped a 20-year Heisman Trophy drought last season with Carson Palmer of USC, but has not won a national title since Washington in 1991. If coach Pete Carroll can find a replacement for Palmer, USC could be in the hunt this season.
One of the intriguing games on Labor Day weekend has USC visiting Auburn, which finally may be back in the SEC title mix under coach Tommy Tuberville. Georgia will give Auburn a run for its money, even if some Bulldog players hawked their SEC title rings on the internet.
Notable coaching changes in 2003 will have Mike Shula trying to clean up the mess in Alabama while Keith Gilbertson does the same in Washington. Dennis Franchione left Alabama to go to Texas A&M and Mike Riley is back for another stint at Oregon State.
Clarett put himself into the Heisman Trophy race as a freshman and can be a front-runner this season if he stays healthy and ends any doubts as to his eligibility. The field could include another Big Ten running back, Wisconsin's Anthony Davis, as well as quarterbacks Cody Pickett of Washington and Eli Manning of Mississippi.
