Big bowl bucks bring out the bullies.

• Author: Barrett, Wayne M.

"You don't build winning seasons; you schedule them" long has been the axiom of any college football team wishing to break into the big time. That perverse truism, however, has been taken to new heights of absurdity this season by many members of the powerful Top 10. In addition to turning losing programs into winning ones by playing the proverbial Little Sisters of the Poor, the nation's upper-echelon teams have added a new wrinkle. They are piling up blowout after blowout by loading up their schedules with patsies. Even the honorable Joe Paterno - the Pennsylvania State University coach who lost last year's national title because he refused to engage in such shenanigans - has taken to running up the score.

The problem stems from the polls and the new Bowl Game Alliance. For years, the debate has raged over how to crown a national champion properly - and fairly. The old system, whereby certain conferences were tied to specific post-season bowl games, often precluded the best matchups from taking place. For instance, the Southeast Conference champion (say, an undefeated University of Florida) automatically went to the Sugar Bowl,

While the Big 8 champ (say, an undefeated University of Nebraska) had to play in the Orange Bowl. If both the Gators and Corn-huskers won their respective New Year's Day showdowns, who should be ranked number one? Frequently, the polls - Associated Press (sportswriters' vote) and United Press International (coaches' vote) - were split, and two, sometimes three, teams could claim the top rung.

Since having a clear-cut winner is so important to this country's football fans, a playoff system was proposed, in which a handful of the top-rated schools would fight it out in a single-elimination series of games. The idea never took off for a few reasons. First, how is it decided which teams make the playoffs? Again, NCAA football was faced with the prospect of strictly relying on the polls, because if conference champs automatically qualified, then a runner-up from a strong conference could have to stay home while a thrice-beaten champ from a weak conference would be invited to the party.

Second, any playoff structure smacked of the National Football League. While the college game is as greed-driven as the professional ranks, the powers that be are trying to maintain the illusion of "amateurism." Moreover, there was the time factor. Bowl games are a one-day extravaganza; a multi-tiered playoff could take weeks to complete.

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