By Josh Weinfuss
News Herald Writer
747-5069/ jweinfuss@pcnh.com

Forty-one years later and Duffy Daugherty still has a point.

Two weeks before he led the Michigan State Spartans to a 10-10 tie with Notre Dame, Daugherty called for the extinction of college bowls and the implementation of a playoff system.

In an Associated Press story that ran in the Nov. 1, 1966 edition of The News Herald, Daugherty proposed an eight-team playoff involving the champions of the six major conferences and two ranked independent teams. He emphasized that it would require less time away from the classroom for the players and more money for schools through television contracts.

“He worked ‘till his dying day to get a playoff system,” said Pat Gallinagh, the starting left guard on Daugherty’s 1966 team.

Daugherty died Sept. 25, 1987.

Daugherty’s strong convictions were inspired by the AP’s snub of Michigan State in the 1965 poll. Until 1968, the AP voted its national champion before bowl games, expect for that season.

That year Michigan State, undefeated during the regular season, lost to UCLA in the Rose Bowl and lost the AP title, but the Spartans were named national champs by the United Press International’s coaches poll.

The next season, Michigan State was bit by two old Big Ten bylaws that said league teams could only play in the Rose Bowl and not in consecutive years. That left the 1966 Spartans, 9-0-1 and Big Ten champs, without a bowl and relying on the Fighting Irish to lose and give them the title. Notre Dame defeated USC handily.

“We felt we lost the national championship on an open date,” Gallinagh said. “He just felt it was unfair the way they were determined. It’s kinda mythical, even with the BCS the way it is now.”

Not much has changed since Daugherty’s fight for a playoff. The four traditional bowls are still the epicenter of college football’s postseason.

Michigan State fullback Regis Cavender remembers Daugherty’s playoff philosophy was to decide who the best team was on the field and nowhere else.

Even before the infamous 10-10 tie, former Notre Dame coach Ara Parseghian agreed with Daugherty. Until 1969, the Irish weren’t allowed to play in a bowl.

“I think that when we would go to the American Football Coaches Association meetings, we would try to put it in the hopper,” Parseghian said of a playoff. “It was a very common annual review by coaches that would believe in it and by those that did not agree with it.”

Parseghian said every year the proposal would get denied, sometimes by the belief that academics would be affected. Then and now, bowls extend seasons by more than a month.

Daugherty’s playoff idea would have extended it by four.

His plan also included dividing the television revenue so all 120 schools would have received at least a $20,000 share.

Gallinagh said through AFCA coaching clinics, Daugherty pressured college presidents but the four traditional bowls wouldn’t budge. Daugherty was also against a trend that reared in last year’s BCS games and will be this year.

He felt there was an unfair disparity between West Coast teams and Midwest teams in their bowl games. The West Coast teams typically had only a few weeks break between their last game and their bowl. The Midwest teams sometimes had more than a month off. In last year’s championship game, Florida, which had just more than a month off crushed Ohio State, which didn’t play for more than 50 days.

“That’s something that Duffy didn’t like,” Gallinagh said.

Parseghian said 2007 is an awful lot like 1966.

“Basically what had happened, every year as you got toward the end of the season there was a big disagreement and argument about who was number one,” he said. “That same thing would crop up in the last quarter of the season and everybody would talk about it and nobody would do anything about it.”

Now, that discussion is magnified through television and the Internet.

Yet, Daugherty’s goal of a playoff is still where it was in 1966 — just a dream.

Parseghian doesn’t know if there will ever be playoffs, either does Gallinagh, but both see the possibility slowly developing.

“I’ve been out of it a long time, but I’ve seen the developments very slowly aiming in that direction,” Parseghian. “What we have now is better than what we had. What we have now could be better. And it’s a very slow moving process that I’ve witnessed as a coach and since I’ve been out.”

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After much deliberation and consultation with the BCS rulebook, What’s the Fuss has made its BCS predictions.

Rose Bowl — Southern California vs. Georgia
Jan. 1, 4:30 p.m., ABC, Pasadena, Calif.

Allstate Sugar Bowl — LSU vs. Hawaii
Jan. 1, 8:30 p.m., FOX, New Orleans, La.

Tostitos Fiesta Bowl — Oklahoma vs. Arizona State
Jan. 2, 8 p.m., FOX, Phoenix, Ariz.

FedEx Orange Bowl — Boston College vs. Kansas
Jan. 3, 8 p.m., FOX, Miami, Fla.

Allstate BCS National Championship — West Virginia vs. Ohio State
Jan. 7, 8 p.m., FOX, New Orleans, La.

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Less than a day after resigning as Arkansas’ head coach, Houston Nutt reached an agreement to coach the University of Mississippi Rebels, the school announced Tuesday morning.

Both schools are in the Southeastern Conference’s West division.

He will be introduced as Mississippi’s 36th head coach at a press conference scheduled for Wednesday at noon. Nutt resigned from Arkansas early Monday and accepted the Ole Miss job late the same day, Mississippi Athletic Director Pete Boone confirmed.

Ole Miss fired Ed Orgeron on Saturday after three years in Oxford, Miss. This past season the Rebels finished last in the West with an 0-8 conference mark. They finished the year 3-9.

Nutt spent 10 years at Arkansas and won 75 games including seven bowls in that time. The Razorbacks are expecting an eighth bowl bid later this week, the school said. He resigned just days after Arkansas upset No. 1 LSU in triple overtime, 50-48, to finish third in the SEC West with a 4-4 conference record and 8-4 overall mark.

Nutt was under constant ridicule this season after the Razorbacks started the year with three straight Southeastern Conference losses. Before this season, Nutt tangled with one of his star recruits from the 2006 class, Mitch Mustain, who ended up transferring to Southern California. An Arkansas fan also used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain copies of Nutt’s phone records, which included calls to a local television personality.

Nutt called his decision to walk away from the Razorbacks and their star running back Darren McFadden difficult.

“I know I am making the right decision at the time for my family and for the Razorback program,” Nutt said. “I believe that it is in the best interest of my family to move forward. It is also my sincere hope that all fans from all corners of the state of Arkansas will come together and continue their passionate and strong support of the Razorback program.”

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Heisman voter Jeff Metcalfe of The Arizona Republic talked with What’s the Fuss about who he thinks will win, Tim Tebow and all the Heisman chatter.

Metcalfe, who covers Arizona State football for The Republic, needs to submit his top 3 choices by 4 p.m. CST on Dec. 5.

Who is your choice for the Heisman Trophy, and why?
Before the Oregon-Arizona game, it was Dennis Dixon by a small margin. Of course, I saw in person what Dixon did to Arizona State’s defense two weeks before that.

As of today, my No. 1 is Tim Tebow probably followed by Chase Daniel although I want to see what he does vs. Kansas and perhaps in the Big 12 title game.

I’m giving some thought to a defensive player in the top three, probably LSU’s Glenn Dorsey. I’d still like to put Dixon in my top three to credit the kind of season he was having, but I doubt if I’ll do so.

Does him being a sophomore make a difference?
None. Careers are too short and risky. If he deserves it now, he should get it.

What do you think of Tebow?
I don’t know what more he could do for Florida so it’s hard to subtract because of the three losses.

Being second nationally in passing efficiency is probably the clincher stat for me. Rudy Carpenter was first nationally in 2005 at 175.01 and started only five games. Tebow has started 11 and is at 177.5. That’s impressive.

Who do you think should be in the Heisman conversation, but isn’t?
Dorsey. Also I saw Colt Brennan play last year in a bowl game against Arizona State. Even though people know his name, he probably doesn’t get the credit he deserves because of the system he plays in and Hawaii’s schedule/game times.

Does all the outside Heisman talk influence voters? Does it influence you?
Only in making sure I’ve thought through all the candidates. No in the actual vote.

Is all the early-season Heisman talk a waste of time?
No, but I’m also someone who thinks the preseason and early polls are good for conversation.

When I vote in the AP poll, which I’m not doing this season, I don’t let my early votes limit changes that need to be made when results start rolling in. Plus it’s fun to look back and see how wrong people were in polls and Heisman talk after it plays out on the field.

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Florida’s SEC Championship Game hopes are over now that Tennessee and Georgia won on Saturday.

Here’s a look at the updated SEC East scenarios with a week left to play before the Dec. 1 title game:

- Georgia and Tennessee are the only two teams left from the SEC East with a chance of playing in the SEC Championship Game.

- Tennessee still controls its own destiny. If the Volunteers win out, regardless of what Georgia does, they will win the SEC East and play in the SEC Championship game because of its win over Georgia on Oct. 6.

- If Tennessee defeats Kentucky on Saturday, it will clinch a spot in the championship game.

- If Tennessee loses to Kentucky Saturday, Georgia will clinch a spot in the championship game.

- Georgia has earned a share of the East title, but loses a tiebreaker to Tennessee.

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