Bring Me The Head Of Jim Haugh

PASADENA (AP) - It’s only fitting that the most insane college football season in recent memory has given us what will likely be the most insane bowl season in recent memory.

When it’s all over the morning of January 2nd, as many as nine different teams could have a claim to the national championship — and as many as five bowl games could play a role in determining it.

It all starts in Pasadena, with the Grand-daddy Of Them All. For the 62nd consecutive year, the Rose Bowl will pair the champions of the Pac-10 and the Big Ten. In this year’s chapter, consensus #1 Ohio State (11-1) takes on #6 USC (10-2). The Trojans are back at full strength, humming on all cylinders, and eager to show the world that they’ve recovered from their embarrassing mid-season loss to Stanford.

Both Ohio State and USC feel that a victory in the Rose Bowl will give them a claim to the #1 spot in the land. However, in New Orleans, SEC champion and #2 team in the land LSU (11-2) will face the nation’s only unbeaten team, #10 Hawaii (12-0). Having moved up to #2 in the season-ending poll, the Bayou Bengals feel they can stake a claim for #1 with a win and a Buckeyes loss. Meanwhile, the Warriors feel that beating the Tigers in their own backyard — a task #5 Virginia Tech, #9 Florida, and #22 Auburn all failed at — gives Colt Brennan’s squad a legitimate claim to the national championship. A Hawaii win, combined with losses by Ohio State and Kansas, would leave Hawaii as the sole unbeaten team in the land — and no one-loss teams.

But not so fast, says the honorable representative from the great state of Oklahoma. The #3 Sooners (11-2), Big 12 champions, are headed to the Fiesta Bowl to face #11 Arizona State (10-2). The Sun Devils play in their hometown bowl for the first time in 25 years, and will pose a tough challenge for the men from Norman. Of all the two-loss teams, ASU is ranked the lowest, but their two losses might be the most forgivable: to Oregon and USC when both teams were playing at their peak. They also beat Colorado, a point Sooner fans traveling to Phoenix will no doubt be reminded of.

Can the Fiesta Bowl decide the national title? The Sooners think they’d have a case against two-loss Ohio State, USC, and LSU teams. At #11 and with a late loss to USC, Arizona State probably can’t get into the national discussion, but a win would cap their best season since Jake Plummer was at the controls.

And the fun doesn’t end there. The venerable Orange Bowl isn’t played in the venerable Orange Bowl anymore, but it’s still one of the big games in the New Year’s Day football gorgefest. In the only pairing of Top 5 teams, ACC champion #5 Virginia Tech (11-2) takes on #4 Georgia (10-2). Can the vaunted Hokie defense slow super-freshman Knowshown Moreno? How will Georgia handle speedy quarterback Tyrod Taylor?

It’s hard to concoct a scenario where the Virginia Tech-Georgia winner wins a national title. But each team in this game has one #1 vote in the AP Poll, and will likely end the season with more than that. The winner of this game will take votes away from the other candidates, and will definitely impact the national title race. A decisive Georgia victory over Virginia Tech could take votes away from #2 LSU, for example.

In other New Year’s Day bowl games, two conference runner-ups face off in Dallas as #7 Missouri (11-2) takes on #14 Boston College (10-3). Both teams have expressed their disappointment at not winning their league championship, but will still get to play in one of college football’s most historic and important bowl games. Fittingly, BC quarterback Matt Ryan gets to play his last college game in the same bowl where Doug Flutie played his.

Other New Year’s Day games include #9 Florida (9-3) taking on fired head coach Ron Zook and #13 Illinois (9-3) in the Citrus Bowl; Big Ten runner up Michigan (8-4) versus SEC runner up #18 Tennessee (9-4) in the Outback Bowl; and a battle of contrasting run offenses between methodical #8 Kansas (11-1) and potent but erratic #9 West Virginia (10-2). And would you believe Kansas thinks it can get into the national title discussion with a win?

And as the last days of 2007 tick away, college football fans will enjoy Cincinnati-Arkansas in the Independence Bowl, BYU-Texas in the Holiday Bowl, a wild west shootout between Boise State and Texas Tech in the Aloha Bowl, and a battle between small-conference champions Central Michigan and Florida Atlantic in the Motor City Bowl. Don’t laugh; non-bowl teams like Alabama, Colorado, California, and Oklahoma State would gladly trade places with the Owls and Chippewas.

Of course, some have questioned the inherent fairness of letting human polls decide national champions. Some have gone so far as to demand a fairer, more organized system. One idea involves a mathematical formula, based on human and computer polls that would pre-select two teams before the bowl season begins, and require them to play each other in a pre-designated national championship game. It is believed that this system will eliminate debates about the national championship, while preserving the tradition of bowl games and generating better matchups.