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'Noles are vulnerable without Minnis
It's easy to suggest that taking one wide receiver away from Florida State is like lopping 10 more points off the NASDAQ. At this moment, who would notice? In many cases the metaphor would hold, but not when the receiver in question is senior Marvin (Snoop) Minnis, who this week was declared ineligible for the Orange Bowl national championship game because of academic problems. It seems Snoop was in good book shape until final exams and then crashed and burned, so now his career has ended prematurely. (By the way, props to Florida State for having the guts to nail Snoop; there are schools that wouldn't have done so.) Now, it's true that Bobby Bowden stockpiles wideouts like bottled water during hurricane season. The Seminoles are deeper than Dante on the perimeter, and in one game this year Heisman-winning quarterback Chris Weinke completed passes to nine different people in the first half alone. But Minnis was special. Finally out of Peter Warrick's shadow, Snoop (his mom nicknamed him because as toddler he was always "snooping" around ... sorry, I wish it was a better story, too) caught 63 balls this year for 1,340 yards, the most by a Florida State wideout in 32 years. Stats are part of the story, but Minnis was also Weinke's safe harbor, the guy he looked to before, during and after going through his reads. When in doubt, throw to Snoop. And Minnis had developed into a home-run threat from literally anywhere on the field (he and Weinke hooked up for a 98-yard TD in the Clemson game). Hey, Weinke is a mature player. He'll spread things around. Atrews Bell and Anquan Boldin would be setting records at lots of schools. But without Minnis, Weinke is going to have to work a little bit differently than he has all season and that's never a good thing in a bowl game. I like Florida State over Oklahoma in the Orange, but I don't like the 'Noles as much as I did with Minnis in the lineup. His absence makes them vulnerable. Why Florida doesn't play MiamiThe Miami-Florida Sugar Bowl matchup gives me a chance to shed a little light on the high finance of college football scheduling. An annual game between these two teams would complete the Sunshine State trilogy (Florida State already plays both Miami and Florida every year) and allow fans to declare an unofficial state champion. It's going to happen in 2002 and 2003, when the calendar allows the NCAA to expand schedules to 12 games. But it's only temporary, and will not become permanent. Here's why: According to Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley, a home game is worth roughly $1.6 million, and the school says it needs six home games to balance the athletic budget. (Most major programs operate on this assumption.) The Gators are locked into eight SEC games every fall, including one against Georgia in Jacksonville. In even-numbered years, Florida gets four SEC home games, plus three SEC games and Florida State on the road. Home games five and six are against non-conference opponents. In odd-numbered years, the Gators play three SEC teams and Florida State at home, plus two non-conference teams. In order to get the six games every year, two of the non-conference games (those other than Florida State) must be at home and therefore must be against teams that don't want a return game. Miami -- and most major programs -- will only accept home-and-home arrangements and therefore will never find a permanent place on the Gators' schedule. So enjoy the Sugar Bowl. New standards needed for bowl eligibilityThe bowl season has begun. Please wake me when the good games start. I'm a believer in the bowl system and the notion of rewarding good teams. But this is ridiculous. There are 25 bowl games this year, which means that 50 of the 115 teams in Division I-A are playing in the postseason, a ridiculously high percentage. To feed the bowl beast, we are treated to teams like Arkansas, which went 3-5 in the SEC and was outscored by 85 points. Or Texas Tech, which likewise went 3-5 in the Big 12. Current rules stipulate that to become bowl eligible, teams need to win more than they lose overall (teams that play 12 games have to be at least 7-5). That rule should be amended to require that teams from the six power leagues (ACC, Big East, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-10 and SEC) be at least .500 in conference play and that teams from lesser leagues have at least eight wins overall. If that means there aren't enough bowl-eligible teams to fill all the bowls, then, duh, we've got too many bowls. This year there are 34 teams at or above .500 in league play in the six power conferences, plus Notre Dame, and seven others with at least eight wins in lesser conferences. That's 42 teams, or 21 bowls, which is still too many, but better. Sports Illustrated senior writer Tim Layden covers college football for the magazine. He will report from the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans starting next week.
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