Times are not a-changin'

As Roy Kramer chatted with reporters prior to Saturday night's SEC championship game, he seemed considerably more at ease than one would expect of someone whose precious brainchild was possibly three-and-a-half hours away from being blown into complete chaos.

"This is not chaos," said the SEC commissioner and BCS' No. 1 advocate.

"But Roy," asked one reporter, "people are talking about how ..."

Kramer cut him off right there.

"Oh, really? People are talking?" he asked rhetorically, a devilish grin slowly spreading the width of his face. "Isn't that great? You know what they're talking about? College football."

People are talking, all right.

They were talking even before LSU knocked off Tennessee to open a three-way argument for No. 2. And even before the coaches inexplicably changed their voting habits, and the computers spit out the closest final margin since Bush-Gore.

It's just that now, they're talking in voices louder than the Tennessee band's rendition of "Rocky Top" played in a domed stadium.

But it's funny how the same tone an overwhelming majority of Americans would identify as outrage can be interpreted by one small group of men as something completely different. Kramer, BCS chairman John Swofford and the other powers-that-be that introduced this monstrosity to sports see this year's and all college football debates as ... refreshing.

And because of that, the BCS is not going away anytime soon. No matter how many angry fans call in to radio-talk shows, no matter how dejected Colorado coach Gary Barnett can look on national TV and no matter how many life-threatening diseases Oregon coach Mike Bellotti inappropriately chooses to describe his team's plight.

"If people are still talking after the season because there's two No. 1s, so be it," Kramer said. "It'll give them something to talk about going into next season."

The conferences, the bowls and ABC are tied into the BCS through the 2005 season. Any discussion of a playoff won't begin until then. In the meantime, the closest thing to change any reasonable fan can hope for is the usual annual tinkering. The kind that brought about the extremely redundant "quality win" component (the Miami clause) prior to this season, and the kind that may bring some sort of conference title bonus (a Colorado addendum) next year.

"I think it would help us to get to a point where we can leave this thing alone," Swofford said. "At the same time, our charge is to make it as fair and equitable as it can be. Certainly, we should be open enough to make those changes."

Illini, join the gallery!

A whole lot of people don't think Nebraska should be in the Rose Bowl. They think it should be Colorado. Or Oregon.

Where's the outcry for Illinois?

The BCS may not be popular, but it's become so deeply engrained in the public consciousness that a Big Ten champion is headed somewhere other than Pasadena for the first time in 55 years ... and no one cares!

Granted, we've known this day was coming for more than five years. In order to stage a "true" No. 1 vs. No. 2 game, the Rose Bowl had to enter the equation. If Oregon finished No. 1 in the BCS standings but was obligated to face No. 8 Illinois, there might be -- imagine this! -- split national champions.

Big Ten and Pac-10 loyalists held out hope league teams would end up there anyway. But in its four-year existence, neither the Big Ten nor Pac-10 has qualified a team for the championship game. (The other four BCS conferences all have). The Sugar-bound Illini haven't played in Pasadena in 18 years -- and they won't this season, either. Considering they're playing LSU in New Orleans, don't expect a lot of orange-and-blue in the stands.

But there's hardly been a whimper out of Champaign or elsewhere about Illinois' bad timing. That just goes to show how badly fans desire for the national champion to be decided on the field. The Big Ten vs. Pac-10 on New Year's Day has always been one of the sport's most revered traditions. But apparently fans are more than willing to sacrifice a little tradition in the name of advancement.

Now, if only we were actually advancing. It seems if this were the old days, Miami and Nebraska would still be playing ... in the Orange Bowl.

Right fit, wrong man

At first glance, the consummate Irishman George O'Leary seems a perfect fit as Notre Dame's football coach. Then you look at his actual credentials.

O'Leary did an admirable job at Georgia Tech, going 52-33 and reaching five bowl games. But it looks a lot worse when you look only at the years he didn't have current Maryland head coach and national sensation Ralph Friedgen at his side as offensive coordinator. Then the mark is 18-20. And while O'Leary deserves ample credit for resuscitating a program that went 1-10 the year before he took over in 1995, the truth is two of his last three teams, including this year's Seattle-bound installment, greatly underachieved.

Come to think of it, Bob Davie has more BCS bowl berths on his resume (one) than O'Leary (zero).

O'Leary certainly wore out his welcome in Atlanta. As the losses began to pile up late in the season, the moderator of a popular Georgia Tech message board temporarily shut down the site due to increasing negativity and obscenities. And an Atlanta Journal Constitution headline stripped across the top of a front-page column Monday read "Tech benefits from O'Leary leaving."

Maybe with the resources of the Golden Dome now on his side, O'Leary will take Notre Dame to greater heights possible than an at Georgia Tech. But at least one thing won't change. One opponent on ND's schedule next year: Florida State. The same team O'Leary went 0-7 against at Georgia Tech.

Stewart Mandel covers college football for CNNSI.com. The "College Football Beat" appears each Thursday during the season.

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