TEMPE, Ariz. -- Ohio State coach John Cooper has made his appeal to the voters in The Associated Press poll: If No. 2 Florida State barely beats No. 1 Tennessee in the Fiesta Bowl, consider the Buckeyes for the national title.
Seminoles coach Bobby Bowden says it won't work."I don't blame John one bit for feeling the way he does," Bowden said Sunday. "John might have the best team in the nation, but if Tennessee wins, it will be the national champion. And if we win, we will be national champions. That's the way it was drawn up this year, and I sympathize with John because I've been in his place before."
Under the new Bowl Championship Series setup, the winner of tonight's Fiesta Bowl automatically finishes No. 1 in the USA Today/
ESPN coaches' poll. No. 3 Ohio State, 11-1 after a 24-14 win over Texas A&M in the Sugar Bowl, cannot be considered for the title in the coaches' poll.
The AP media poll, which has no such restrictions, will be released early Tuesday after the 70 voters cast their ballots. It's certainly a longshot, but at least the Buckeyes would have a chance to share the title.
If the Seminoles win, they would improve to 12-1, and they also have a win over Texas A&M -- 23-14 in the Kickoff Classic.
Says Florida State defensive end Tony Bryant: "They lost one game. We lost one game. They won their bowl game. I think the Fiesta Bowl should decide who the national champion is, but it's not up to us. We can just hope and pray that if we win, we will be national champions."
HEART-TO-HEART: On the Monday after Florida State's 24-7 loss to North Carolina State, coach Bobby Bowden had a rare "heart-to-heart" with his players.
"They could have not responded if they wanted to," Bowden said Sunday on the eve of the Fiesta Bowl . "But they wouldn't have been around very long afterwards."
Obviously, the Seminoles responded by winning their next 10 games and squeezed their way into a title showdown against No. 1 Tennessee only after losses by the two teams ranked ahead of them -- Kansas State and UCLA -- on the final day of the regular season.
Bowden said if his players didn't respond, he was set to go with a youth movement.
"I hit them with the fact that they, us, we, were trying to live off last year's reputation, or the year before, or the year before, or the year before," Bowden said. "The biggest enemy you have when you're successful is overconfidence."
Defensive lineman Corey Simon said Bowden could have saved the speech.
"We knew that we had to step it up," Simon said. "The coaches didn't have to say anything."
BCS FUTURE: The Bowl Championship Series got through its first season with a minimum of controversy and a maximum of interest -- thanks largely to last-game losses by previously undefeated Kansas State and UCLA that set up a Tennessee-Florida State matchup in the Fiesta Bowl.
Next season, the BCS' designated title game is the Sugar Bowl Jan. 3, 2000, at New Orleans. The Rose and Orange bowls will be played Jan. 1, the Fiesta Jan. 2.
After the 2000 season, the big game shifts to the Orange Bowl Jan. 1, 2001. The Rose and Fiesta bowls are Jan. 1, the Sugar Jan. 2.
After the 2001 season, the top game moves to the Rose Bowl Jan. 3, 2002 -- the first time the game will be played at night. The Sugar and Fiesta bowls are Jan. 1, the Orange Jan. 2.
NO. 1 VS. No. 2: Florida State will be playing in a No. 1 vs. No. 2 game for the fifth time in the 1990s. The Seminoles are 2-2 entering the Fiesta Bowl against top-ranked Tennessee.
Florida State beat No. 1 Florida 24-21 Nov. 30, 1996, but then lost in the Sugar Bowl rematch and the Gators won the national title.
Florida State beat No. 2 Nebraska 18-16 in the 1994 Orange Bowl, and won the '93 national title.
Notre Dame beat No. 1 Florida State 31-24, Nov. 13, 1993.
Miami beat No. 1 Florida State 17-16 Nov. 16, 1991.
EXTRA POINTS: The Fiesta Bowl marks the 32nd time No. 1 has played No. 2 since the AP poll began in 1936. It's also the first 1-2 game since Florida State beat No. 1 Florida 24-21 Nov. 30, 1996 . . . . The No. 2 team has won 10 of the last 16 1 vs. 2 games . . . . Florida State is 2-1 in Fiesta Bowls, 2-0 under coach Bobby Bowden.