phipps@fortune.UUCP (Clay Phipps) (11/11/83)
-------------------------- I must (sadly) admit the practical reality of the necessity of running up scores to collect votes for the mythical national championship. Didn't Fred Akers insist, after seeing that Nebraska beat Oklahoma State this season by only 14 - 10 (or something like that), that because of THAT SCORE, his Texas Longhorns deserved to be voted Number One (instead of Nebraska) ? If we had the championship play-off that all but the top NCAA football division has, the teams involved could let their progress up the play-off ladder determine whether they ultimately became Number One. The existence of a play-off, which would obviously lengthen the seasons of the teams involved, would force changes in coaches' attitudes toward use of players. It would then be much more important to save the star players for the play-offs by pulling them from the game as soon as practical; the potentially higher scores wouldn't be worth the risk of injuries to the stars. Likewise, with the longer season, it would be more important to ensure that the non-starting players get game experience, in case late-season or play-off injuries force them into a starting role, so they would be substituted sooner. The likely side-effect of this change would be to drastically reduce the occurrence of run-up scores. Maybe I'm just a foolish idealist on this; scores might have some bearing on selection of teams for the play-offs, as they presntly do in the NFL. -- Clay Phipps