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Postponements help many teams N'western, Florida St., Washington are among winners
Though it actually would have been the fourth weekend of college football played this year, last Saturday looked as if it would be the unofficial start of the season. The two best teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference, Florida State and Georgia Tech, and the two best in the Southeastern Conference, Florida and Tennessee, were to play before national television audiences, as were the Nos. 2 and 3 teams from a year ago, Miami and Washington. The benefits of playing such a demanding game so early derive from what we'll call Fulmer's Law: If you must lose, lose early. The vanquished have time to overcome defeat and qualify for an at-large berth in a BCS game, a trick that Phillip Fulmer's Volunteers have turned twice in the last four seasons. It's no coincidence that the SEC has won a pair of BCS berths in two of the three years that the system has been in effect. If, as expected, both conference showdowns are moved to Dec. 1, the loser won't have time to recover its standing in the polls. Only one team gained an obvious edge in the BCS formula. Big Ten favorite Northwestern won't have its strength of schedule dragged down by playing Navy, which is 0-2 and hasn't given any sign that it will improve upon its 1-10 record of a year ago. That was a cancellation, one of a handful. Elsewhere, the postponements wreaked havoc for 11 teams, among them BYU, Georgia Tech, LSU, Oklahoma and Oregon State, that already had off dates scheduled for this Saturday. These teams suddenly find themselves with three weeks between games, not exactly the best way to stay sharp. "We were in here to start work on Aug. 1," Yellow Jackets coach George O'Leary says. "We're going into our eighth week and we haven't played a conference game yet." Georgia Tech also lost the advantage of playing against a Florida State quarterback who has made only two career starts. Seminoles freshman Chris Rix will have banked a season's worth of experience before he now has to face the Yellow Jackets, who have already racked up 11 sacks in three games. At least Rix will start such a big game at home. The postponements kept Washington sophomore Cody Pickett and Auburn freshman Jason Campbell, among others, from having to make the first road starts of their careers in games critical to the success of their teams this season. Last year Miami suffered its only loss on Sept. 9, when then-sophomore quarterback Ken Dorsey had to make his first road start at Washington. Husky Stadium is as noisy as it gets in college football, and the cacophony clearly rattled Dorsey. The Hurricanes fell behind 21-3 at the half and lost 34-29. What goes around should have come around last Saturday, when Pickett would have travelled across the country to play at the Orange Bowl against the No. 1 Hurricanes. Instead, Pickett will have 10 starts under his belt when Washington travels to Miami on Nov. 24. (One other benefit, Washington coach Rick Neuheisel points out, is that "Miami certainly has a different climate in November than September.") Campbell, who would have made his road debut before 90,000 fans at LSU in an important SEC West rivalry, instead will do so in the relative calm of the Carrier Dome against Syracuse. "It's definitely an advantage for us," Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville says. "Tiger Stadium ain't the place to go [with a new quarterback]." Not every game scheduled for last Saturday was a jewel, which means that there will be a lot of football zirconia on Thanksgiving weekend and Dec. 1. Many of the sport's storied rivalries will be dislodged from their long-held dates at the end of their teams' respective schedules. This will be the first year since Alabama and Auburn resumed playing in 1948 that the Tigers won't end their regular season against the Crimson Tide. That season, 1948, remained the last one that Washington didn't conclude against Washington State -- until now. At least Iowa and Iowa State, cross-state rivals that have played at season's end only three times in 48 meetings, will close out against each other on Nov. 24. Sports Illustrated senior writer Ivan Maisel is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com.
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