Fifteen yards.
That's what stands between BYU and a national championship as Robbie Bosco goes up to the line and eyes the Oklahoma defense.It's third and five with 25 seconds to play. Bosco and the 90,000 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum know the Sooners will be blitzing.
They do. But Bosco doesn't need much time this close to the goal line. Tight end David Mills is all but tackled coming off the line. That option is out. Wideouts Glen Kozlowski and Mark Bellini are surrounded by Crimson jerseys. There's just no room to get them the ball.
And now there's no time to get anyone the ball. Too many blitzers. But Bosco doesn't need any more time. He knows exactly what he's going to do. The Sooners committed too many defenders to Kozlowski and Bellini.
But none to Lakei Heimuli, who after blocking a linebacker drifts unnoticed -by Oklahoma anyway - into the right flat. He could set up a picnic table before a Sooner could reach him.
An angry Brian Bosworth smashes into Bosco, knocking him to the ground and aggravating the knee injury Bosco sustained in the second quarter.
But a flick of the wrist an instant before the greeting by Bosworth has sent the ball spiraling lazily toward the alert Heimuli.
And as Bosworth stands over Bosco screaming, the biggest play of the season continues to unfold.
Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer yells on the sidelines vigorously pointing to Heimuli. The ball and Heimuli ignore him. Heimuli can jog, prance or run into the end zone. The choice is up to him . . .
* * *
That scenario could have happened had a college football playoff system been a part of the season in 1984.
And, there's good news to those who want a playoff.
It's coming.
The reason it will come about, explains Chuck Neinas, director of the College Football Association, is simple: Economics.
That's the reason the bowl alliance came about. "If you'd have told people a couple of years ago that the Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Sugar Bowl and Fiesta Bowl would get together in a spirit of cooperation, nobody would have believed you. But economics dictated that. And they'll dictate a championship format."
There's too much money to be made for it not to happen, he says.
Schools really don't make that much money on bowls, especially the middle level and lower level ones because of the expenses involved. A bowl may pay out, say, $750,000 per team but by the time the team pays its expenses - which includes flying the band and cheerleaders to say, Tampa, Fla., there may be only $200,000 left - to be divided by all the schools in that team's particular conference.
Neinas estimates that after expenses all of the Division I-A schools realize less than $30 million in bowl revenues. Under a 16-team playoff scenario studied by a TV committee in 1988, that included BYU's Glen Tuckett, the profit could reach $100 million, Neinas believes.
The NCAA earlier this month authorized a committee to study a playoff.
If the committee returns with a favorable report, NCAA schools would be able to vote on it at their 1995 January convention. If approved, it would likely go into effect at the end of the 1995 season.
The CFA's playoff scenario studied in 1988 had the eight first-round games take place at the site of the highest seeded teams; the quarterfinal games at various major bowl sites; a semifinal doubleheader held at the same site two weeks before the Super Bowl; and the final game held the day before the Super Bowl. (see accompanying chart on a mock 1984 playoff scenario).
A drawback is that the Pac-10 and Big Ten are not part of the CFA and as such are not included in that scenario.
Neinas and the majority of those who have been talking about a playoff indicate that at least initially it will involve two to four teams and take place after the bowls.
Even at that it would generate a lot of money. Estimates range from around $40 million for a one-game format to $100 million for a multiple-team arrangement.
And, with a two-team or four-team format the Rose Bowl winner might be able to be involved, lack of CFA membership notwithstanding.
Some have suggested using the bowls as part of a 16-team playoff process. In that scenario the winners of the eight major conferences (Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Eight, Big Ten, Pac-10, Southeastern, Southwest and Western Athletic) plus the highest-ranked eight at-large teams would square off in a formula used in the NCAA basketball tournament - the No. 1 seed plays No. 16; No. 2 plays No. 15; and so forth.
The problem with that plan is the separate TV and Rose Bowl agreements that the Pac-10 and Big Ten have, which go to beyond the year 2,000, thereby eliminating that proposal.
If there were no bowls, then there could be a playoff system identical to that of the 16-team one in Division I-AA.
But the bowls are what makes the Division I-A football program unique. It's doubtful even if they could be eliminated that NCAA member schools would want them to be. In the WAC, for example, that would likely mean just one post-season representative, the conference champion, as opposed to four this year (BYU, Utah, Fresno State and Wyoming) and five last year (BYU, Utah, Fresno State, Hawaii and Air Force).
"I think the interest is getting higher and higher and it's really time that we investigate (a playoff system)," said Utah Athletic Director Chris Hill.
"The economic impact of a playoff is something we have to look at," he added.
With gender equity mandates and more competition for the entertainment dollar facing them, college athletic departments face major challenges in funding their programs.
Concern has been voiced by college presidents and athletic department personnel about the effect more games would have on the student athletes who patrol the gridiron.
But Division I-AA teams play an 11-game season followed by a 16-team playoff. And it's doubtful there would be any complaints about lack of study time from the two to four teams that qualify for Division I-A post-bowl play.
Reality is something colleges preach to their students.
And the reality is new sources of revenue have to be found to keep athletic programs for men and women strong, or in some cases, afloat.
The reality, as expressed by University of Utah gymnastics coach Greg Marsden last year is this:
"The economy will determine the philosophy."
*****
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
1984 mock college football playoffs
First round
(at site of highest-ranked team)
December 8
BYU 38, TCU 14
SMU 27, Maryland 24
Nebraska 35, Texas 20
South Carolina 21, Floridas State 10
December 15
Florida 24, Notre Dame 21
Oklahoma State 35, Miami 31
Oklahoma 35, Auburn 21
Boston College 31, LSU 24
Quarterfinal games
December 31
Fiesta Bowl
Florida 24, Notre Dame 14
Orange Bowl
Oklahoma 34, Boston College 31
January 1
Cotton Bowl
BYU 31, SMU 21
Sugar Bowl
Nebraska 31, South Carolina 21
Semifinal games
January 12
Superdome, New Orleans
BYU 31, Nebraska 21
Oklahoma 27, Florida 17
Final game
January 26
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
BYU 28, Oklahoma 24