Football: BCS poll considers Irish 3-0
By: ANDREW SOUKUP
Sports Writer
Few college football fans expected Notre Dame to jump out to a 4-0 start this year. But the big surprise for Irish fans is that the BCS only considers the Irish 3-0, thanks to a dispute over whether or not Notre Dame can count its 22-0 win against Maryland in the Kickoff Classic toward the nine-win total needed to qualify for a BCS bowl.
But Notre Dame officials think it's obvious the game should count in BCS standings because the game was played after the date the NCAA considers the official start of the regular season.
According to NCAA rules, no team may play a game before the Thursday before Labor Day unless the school receives prior permission from the NCAA to play in an "exempt" preseason game. That game is then not counted toward the total number of games a team is allowed to play in a season.
In the past, the Kickoff Classic took place two Saturdays before Labor Day and never counted toward the total number of games a school could play in a season. Right now, BCS officials don't see any reason why it should be different.
"The Kickoff Classic has always been an exempt game," said John Paquette, associate commissioner for communications for the Big East Conference, whose commissioner serves as BCS coordinator this year. "But there's nothing to prevent them from asking [the BCS] to reconsider the situation."
The Notre Dame-Maryland game, originally scheduled for Aug. 24, was moved when Notre Dame officials discovered that the game would interfere with Freshman Orientation. They moved the game back a week and began the season the same time as most NCAA teams, automatically assuming the game would be considered "non-exempt."
"We always felt it was non-exempt from the beginning," Notre Dame associate athletic director John Heisler said. "In the past, the game was always exempt and under the original date, it probably qualified under that vein. But once the proposal to move it came about, we thought that changed it to a regular season game."
Notre Dame points to the fact that Maryland, already scheduled to play the NCAA-maximum 12 games, had to file a petition to add a 13th game because the date change would move the game inside the regular-season window. After Maryland's successful petition, Notre Dame simply assumed the game would count as a regular season game.
An NCAA spokeswoman said how the BCS selects teams is governed solely by the BCS committee, composed of the conference commissioners of the ACC, the Big 10, the Big 12, the Big East, the Pac-10, the SEC and Notre Dame athletic director Kevin White.
The Irish could possibly respond by petitioning the BCS committee to count the game as non-exempt. A BCS official said this is the first time the exemption status of a game is in doubt and there is no formal appeals process. Right now, the BCS considers the Kickoff Classic exempt.
Another option the Irish have would be to add another game to their schedule, either on the Nov. 16 open date or Dec. 7. Heisler said the possibility of the Irish adding another game remains extremely low.
"I don't believe we would be trying to add a game at this juncture," he said, adding that the Irish haven't decided what they plan to do.
If the Kickoff Classic counts as a non-exempt game, the Irish would need to finish the season 10-2 in order to be considered eligible for one of college football's four major bowls. Even if the game is counted toward the win total and the Irish finish 9-3, it is doubtful they would appear in a BCS bowl. No team with three losses has ever been selected for a BCS bowl.
"I don't think there is any question, I think the NCAA determines what's exempt and non-exempt," Heisler said. "[Based on the rule], the game is non-exempt."
Notre Dame coach Tyrone Willingham brushed off the issue when he was asked about it Tuesday at a press conference.
"Right now what this football team has to do is leave all of the details to others and let us focus on playing one game at a time," he said.
All Sports Stories for Friday, September 27, 2002
