Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 18, 1995 TAG: 9505180048
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
His team is trailing Miami 31-30 with the national championship on the line. Does he kick the extra point and pray a tie won't ruin the Cornhuskers' No.1 ranking? Or should he go for two?
On that memorable Miami night in 1984, those were Osborne's only choices. But now, in a rule reversal Nebraska fans probably wish had taken effect 11 years earlier, he'll have a third and possibly better option.
He could kick the extra point and take his chances in the tie-breaker system that every bowl must employ beginning next season.
The NCAA's special events committee, acting on a recommendation by the football rules committee, decided this week to require all bowls to use the overtime tie-breaker system, which lower divisions already use in NCAA playoff games.
``I like it a lot,'' Oklahoma athletic director Donnie Duncan said. ``It will add a lot of excitement.''
If the rule had been in effect the night Nebraska failed on a two-point conversion and Miami captured its first national championship, there would have been a coin flip at the end of a 31-31 regulation tie and the game clock would have been turned off.
In an overtime period, each team gets an offensive possession at its opponent's 25-yard line.
Say Nebraska wins the coin flip and elects to take the ball. Miami then gets to choose on which 25-yard line the ball will be placed, which - depending on crowd and weather conditions - could be important.
The Huskers would keep the ball until they scored, committed a turnover or failed to convert on fourth down. Miami would then get the ball on the same 25-yard line with the same rules.
The game would end when the score is no longer tied at the end of an overtime.
As a running back and MVP of the 1960 Orange Bowl, Prentice Gautt would have loved it.
``But now I'm a 57-year-old and I've got mixed emotions,'' said the associate commissioner of the Big Eight. ``The players, especially the aggressive ones, will love it. Fans will certainly love it.
``But you see games where two evenly matched teams play their hearts out and give everything they have and end up in a tie. At times like that, you might think neither team deserves to go away a loser. Let's pat all the coaches and players on the back and say congratulations for a terrific game.
``That's the other side to it. But when I was 21, I wouldn't have seen the other side. From the players' perspective, especially the ones who instinctively want the ball in their hands when the game is being won or lost, they'll love it.''
So will the fans, some coaches predicted.
``It makes the last two minutes of the game more exciting if you have a chance to tie,'' said Vanderbilt coach Rod Dowhower, who came back to the college ranks in January after several years in the NFL. ``That's what it's all about. People come to see excitement, be a part of it and that will certainly enhance it.''
Said Texas Tech coach Spike Dykes: ``I think I would like for that to be a factor in my life - I'd like to be in a bowl game. But seriously, that's fine. It will probably add a little spice to it. It's for the fans, and that's what matters. We owe them everything. They're what it's all about.''
The football rules committee decided in February to let the tie-breaker be optional for bowls. The higher-ranking special events committee took it a step further and made it mandatory. The NCAA staff, deciding the rule change does not involve image, finances or safety concerns, let the decision become official without passing it up the chain as it normally would.
Keywords:
FOOTBALL
by CNB