The September 11th attack
Colleges try to reschedule games
By Richard Rosenblatt
Associated Press
The Swamp was silent yesterday. So were the Big House, the Orange Bowl and the Rose Bowl.
Following Tuesday's terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, big-time college football called off its games over the weekend, falling in line with the NFL, major league baseball and most other sports.
The next step for college officials is trying to put a plan in place for the rest of the season.
"Our attempt would be to continue to make the system as fair and equitable as possible," said John Swofford, coordinator of the Bowl Championship Series.
It won't be easy.
It took a few days before all 58 games involving Division I-A teams were postponed or canceled, but 10 of the 11 major conferences finally agreed not to play. The Big Ten says it did not postpone games; its teams and other conferences did the postponing on their own.
Assuming teams resume play this weekend, college football is looking at ways to adjust the regular season, now set to end Dec. 1.
Teams are scrambling to reschedule, with some games falling into place easier than others. No. 13 Washington will play at No. 1 Miami on Nov. 24. No. 8 Tennessee at No. 2 Florida, and No. 10 Georgia Tech at No. 6 Florida State have not been rescheduled yet, but Dec. 1 looks like a good bet for both.
And then there are dozens of other questions, such as: Will the BCS standings still work? Will the season be extended? Should all games be made up? Can bowls invite teams with .500 records?
Swofford says it might take 10 days to settle scheduling. Only then will he start making decisions.
"There may be a situation where some teams will not complete an 11-game schedule and there may be a timing issue as to the possible extension of the regular season," said Swofford, also the Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner. "We're evaluating any possible changes and I would expect that any adjustments would be minimal."
The BCS standings use The Associated Press media poll and the USA Today/ESPN coaches poll, eight computer ratings, strength-of-schedule and win-loss records to pick the teams for a national title game. This year, bonus points will be given for wins against teams in the top 15 of the final BCS standings.
Because of the complicated formula, the current system can only work as intended if national-title contending teams reschedule postponed games.
Here's one prediction of what might happen:
• The regular season will be extended to Dec. 8, allowing leagues with conference title games, such as the Big 12 and SEC, to use Dec. 1 as a last-ditch reschedule date. Dec. 1 is the only common open date for Tennessee-Florida, leaving the Gators with perhaps the toughest final month in the nation — at South Carolina (Nov. 10), home to Florida State (Nov. 17), at Tennessee (Dec. 1) and then a possible league title game (Dec. 8).
Other teams facing late-season big games include Miami, Florida State and Georgia Tech. Miami could be unbeaten before finishing with Washington and at Virginia Tech. A Dec. 1 Tech-Florida State game means the Seminoles would finish at Clemson, home to N.C. State, at Florida, an off week and then the Yellow Jackets. Tech, too, could be unbeaten heading into season-ending games against Georgia and Florida State.
• Innovative rescheduling: Illinois rescheduled its game against Louisville to Saturday, when it was supposed to play Michigan. The Illinois-Michigan game was moved to Sept. 29, which was an open date for the Wolverines.
• Teams with .500 records will qualify for bowl games: The NCAA will allow 5-5 teams to play in the postseason if the team is unable to reschedule a postponed game.
The NCAA said schools should make their own decisions on whether to play. But when it comes to changing the schedule, NCAA president Cedric Dempsey said he would make "appropriate accommodations such as extending playing seasons, altering schedules and adjusting criteria for championship selection" for schools that choose not to play and cannot reschedule their games.
