8A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, December 6, 2001
40
Heisman contenders
not happy with BCS
Smith swaps long wait
for wrestling triumphs
NEW YORK (AP) - So Joey, tell us
what you really think of the Bowl
Championship Series.
Oregon's Joey Harrington livened up
a pre-awards conference call Tuesday by
criticizing the BCS system, which left
the Ducks sitting at No. 5 for the third
straight week despite four huge upsets
over a nine-day span, all involving teams
ranked ahead of Oregon.
"I don't understand it," he said during
the call with fellow Heisman candidates
Eric Crouch of Nebraska and Rex
Grossman of Florida.
Harrington, who also is a finalist for
the Davey O'Brien Award that goes to
the nation's best quarterback, said the
Ducks (7-1 Pac-10, 10-1 overall) should
have a chance to play for the national
title. Instead, Oregon almost certainly
will play in the Fiesta Bowl on New
Year's Day.
Undefeated Miami is No. 1 in the
BCS rankings, followed by Tennessee
(10-1), Nebraska (11-1) and Colorado
(10-2). If Tennessee beats Louisiana
State in the SEC title game on Saturday,
the Vols will play Miami in the Rose
Bowl for the national title. A Louisiana
State victory would likely send Nebras-
ka to Pasadena, even though the Corn-
Juskers were routed 62-36 by Colorado.
Oregon fans say their team, which
lost its only game of the season to Stan-
ford (No. 9 BCS), should have risen to
third following its 17-14 win over Ore-
gon State last weekend. That would have
put the Ducks in position to grab the No.
2 spot with a loss by Tennessee.
Harrington might have inadvertently
fired the first salvo in a likely Colorado-
Oregon Fiesta Bowl matchup by sug-
gesting the Buffs don't belong at No. 4.
"I don't know why Colorado is above
us. They have two losses" Harrington
said. "All the things that seem important
in years past, I guess, are thrown out
with the computers"
The conference call, set up as a prel-
ude to tonight's college football awards
show on ESPN, had a bland congeniali-
ty to it, as the featured players took turns
complimenting each other and their
teams. Then a reporter asked Harrington
about Oregon's place in the BCS stand-
ings, which had been released the day
before.
Asked whether the system works,
Harrington replied, "No."
"I don't know what the perfect system
is, but obviously when you have teams
with two losses involved in the mix, it's
not a perfect system," he said. "Col-
orado may be the best team in football at
this point, but they weren't all year long.
I think there are a lot of people who
agree with me."
Harrington also played the "East
Coast bias" card, saying that some writ-
ers don't follow Oregon closely because
a few of the team's games start at night
on the West Coast.
But he also noted that the Ducks
could have settled this argument easily if
AP PHOTO
Oregon's Joey Harrington Is contending for college football's biggest Individual
prize, but his team will not have a shot at the national title.
they'd beaten Stanford back on Oct. 20.
Instead, they were outscored 21-0 in the
fourth quarter and lost 49-42.
"We do that and there's no controver-
sy at all;' he said. "We left it up to other
people. And with other people, I mean
the East Coast, the Midwest and West
Coast, all the voters around the country."
Harrington has said he likes the tradi-
tion of the bowls, but said Tuesday there
should be a modified playoff system to
decide the champion, and Grossman
agreed.
"I don't really like the fact that the
people are voting on who gets to play in
the national championship," Grossman
said. "An eight-game playoff system
would be the most effective way to keep
the regular-season games important."
Harrington said he was "shocked and
upset" when he saw Monday's BCS list,
but that now his attitude is, "Let's have
fun in Tempe."
"If Colorado is the best team in the
country right now and we have a chance
to play them, that's all you can ask for
- the chance to play the best team,"
Harrington said.
By Matt Kramer
Daily Sports Writer
No one can tell Michigan
wrestler Kyle Smith that he hasn't
put in the time.
A three-time high school state
champion from Montana, Smith
came to Michigan in the fall of
1998 ready to contribute immedi-
ately to an already-strong program.
After redshirting his freshman sea-
son, Smith wrestled in his first
three varsity matches at the 197-
pound weight class.
Then the wait began.
Smith lost that spot for the rest of
the season to then-junior Joe
Degain. The next year he was
moved down to the 184-pound
weight class, only to spend the sea-
son behind All-American Andy
Hrovat.
Now, two years later, Smith is
finally back on the varsity team.
And he is making the most of his
opportunity. He is already 11-4 this
season and ranked No. 11 nationally
in his weight class by Amateur
Wrestling News.
"It was real hard not being in the
starting lineup for all that time,"
Smith said. "But sitting back makes
you want to work that much harder
and be that much better."
Michigan wrestling coach Joe
McFarland can see that Smith has
learned quite a bit while waiting for
his time to come.
"He is more selective on his
attacks and he has that ability to
explode now," McFarland said. "I
know it was tough on him not
wrestling at varsity for a few years,
but he has paid his dues."
Smith's biggest triumph came last,
month when he won the Michigan
State Open. In the semifinals, he
defeated the Spartans' All-Ameri-
can Nik Fekete, 11-5.
Smith gets another chance to take
Fekete down Friday when the
Wolverines travel to East Lansing to
take on the Spartans in a nonconfer-
ence meet.
"This is his first year in out line-
up consistently and Kyle is doing a
great job," McFarland said. "His
goal is to be an All-American and
he can do that.
"He is just that good. I an sure
he learned some things from
Degain, and it was a good thing to
have a guy like him fighting every
day to get into the lineup. Now he is
getting that chance. I'm happy for
him."
Getting the chance to shine is all
Smith wanted.
"Sure, it was hard not wrestling
at the varsity level but I'm just get-
ting to where I have always wanted
to be," he said. "I'm always looking
to improve and help our team make
the national championships."
McFarland knew he had landed a
tough competitor when he signed
the Butte, Mont. native four years
ago, but he also knew he was raw.
"He was a tough kid from a tough
town and he's been behind some
pretty good guys," McFarland said.
"I loved his intensity but the control
just wasn't there."
While it was tough sitting back
and watching early in his career, the
thought of transferring never
crossed Smith's mind.
"I love it here. Our team is the
best I have ever seen as far as being
a close group," he said.
And Smith has leapt into a lead-
ership role on the team as rapidly as
he leapt into the national rankings.
"Kyle is a leader," McFarland said.
"He's been in our program for a
number of years and he knows how
we do things here."
For now, Smith just wants to keep
concentrating on pulling his part of
the load.
"I'm not satisfied with being
ranked No. 11 in the nation even if
it's my first year on varsity," Smith
said. "I'm pushing myself real hard
this year. You never forget that feel-
ing when you're not their in the
starting lineup."
Cameron axed after his best season
BLOOMINGTON (AP) - Even a strong finish could-
n't save Cam Cameron's job.
Cameron, who was 18-37 in his five years at Indiana,
was fired yesterdays as football coach even though the
Hoosiers won four of their last five games.
Cameron, 40, came to Indiana in 1997 after three
years as quarterbacks coach with the Washington Red-
skins and the previous 10 years as an assistant at Michi-
gan. The job with the Hoosiers was his first as a head
coach.
"Five years is an important time to demonstrate suc-
cess on the field and in the classroom," athletic director
Michael McNeely said. "We expect to be successful on
the field and in the classroom.
"There is not compelling evidence that the current
direction of the football program will yield a higher level
of competitive success" with Cameron, McNeely said.
Cameron, who has three years left on his contract, did
not attend the news conference. He will be paid about
$150,000 per year for the next three years.
A handful of players attended the news conference but
stood in the back of the room with sullen expressions
and did not talk about the decision.
McNeely said he made his decision Tuesday night,
slept on it, then made his recommendation to Indiana
President Myles Brand.
"I accept our athletic director's assessment that the
team's on-field performance has been disappointing dur-
ing Cam's tenure," Brand said in a statement.
Cameron's best season was his last, when he went 5-6.
AP PHOTOU
Indiana's Cam Cameron could not put
together a winning season.
Despite tradition, Irish
not the draw it once was
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Join us for our annual service of carol
singing and hearing the Scriptures of
Advent and the birth of Christ Jesus.
Sunday, December 9th
7pm, 1001 East Huron
GRIND
Continued from Page 5A
Willingham's supporters point out
his ability to win at a school that has
tougher academic standards than
Notre Dame. Correct me if I'm
wrong, but a 35-33-1 record isn't
much to brag about. In his first five
years at Stanford, Willingham had
two losing seasons and won just one
bowl game - those are the kinds of
numbers that got Davie fired.
In addition, Willingham has had
no pressure on him from Stanford
fans, who - unlike Notre Dame
fans - don't expect the Cardinal to
go 10-1 every year. Willingham also
coaches in the wide-open Pac-10
and has the luxury of recruiting
players to what may be the nicest
campus in the country. Stanford
doesn't have Notre Dame's reputa-
tion for football, but the Cardinal do
have arguably the best athletic pro-
gram in the nation - Stanford has
won 14 NCAA team championships
in the last four years and has 79
NCAA titles overall.
Make no mistake, Willingham is a
fine coach, but Notre Dame fans
don't want a fine coach who goes 6-
5 - they want a Knute Rockne
clone who can win national titles
under completely impossible cir-
cumstances. Notre Dame fans are
dreaming if they think that the
Fighting Irish will consistently win
big again, and I have a feeling that
whoever ends up as Notre Dame's
next coach (whether it is Willing-
ham, Tom Coughlin, Jon Gruden or
someone else) is in for a brutal
wake-up call.
Arun Gopal can be reached ai
agopal@umich.edu.
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