By Pigskin Pete

     Once again, the almighty dollar has made a mockery of justice for the University of Oregon football program.  As long as dollars dictate, that sham flying the Bowl Championship Series flag will continue to sail away from a playoff format that is followed at all levels of NCAA football except Division I.  Fortunately for fandom, the top two teams in 2005 play, USC and Texas, will meet in the Rose Bowl for the national title.  Then things get murky.  

Though Oregon had a 10-1 record, a pair of 9-2 teams, Ohio State and Notre Dame, will play in the Fiesta Bowl and Oregon is relegated to a lower rated Holiday matchup with 7-4 Oklahoma.  Duckdom can quack about a #5 ranking in the final BCS poll, but can't match the TV audience power generated by the Irish and Buckeyes.  An ideal bowl matchup would pit Oregon vs. Penn State, also with a 10-1 record.  Oh well, it has been a sterling regular season for the Ducks, who justified our preseason prediction of same (and lost only to an SC team that  will justify our opinion that it is the finest team in college football history).  

The BCS format changes in 2006, with a fifth bowl added and a provision proposed that would dictate that the top eight teams in the final ranking are guaranteed major bowl placement.   

Roses and Raspberries...blossoms aplenty for the University of Portland women's soccer NCAA champions, conclusive proof that school size is subservient to talent...a wakeup "boo!" to Portland State's repeated failure to reproduce past glories and the hope that playing in the largest urban market by far in the Big Sky is no answer for a weak coaching staff...roses are in order for Lincoln high school, which has demonstrated that the Portland Interscholastic League is capable of gridiron success in statewide playoff competition after decades of seeming to be the dominion's weakest 4A classification.

© 2005 Oregon Magazine