Section B · Page 4 The University Daily Kansan Monday, December 7, 1998 Wildcat fans devastated, shocked by team's bid to the Alamo Bowl The Associated Press MANHATTAN — From the president's office to crowded residence hall rooms, pain and grief turned to shock and anger for Kansas State fans. Instead of playing in a major bowl, where they feel they belong, the Wildcats will be playing Purdue in the Alamo Bowl. "How can we go from being one point away, one play away from playing Tennessee for the national championship to playing Purdue in the Alamo Bowl?" said Kansas State president Jon Wefald. If the Wildcats (11-1) had beaten Texas A&M in the Big 12 title game on Saturday in St. Louis; they would have moved up from third in the Bowl Championship Series rankings and met Tennessee in the Flesta Bowl for the national championship. Instead, the Wildcats lost 36-33 in double overtime. But although they remained third in the BCS and dropped no lower than fourth in The Associated Press poll, they were not one of the six teams selected for the other major BCS bowls — the Orange, Rose or Sugar. Brook Howard, a Kansas State cheerleader watching the announcement last night on television, said. "The Alamo Bowl? Are you kidding me? I guess they're just not ready for Kansas State to be a major college power." Kansas State was not even invited to the top second-tier bowls with ties to the Big 12 — the Cotton or Holiday. Wefala said, "We should be in a BCS bowl. I can speak for all our than we're hea- kened over losing to Texas A&M and extraordinaryly dis- appointed we're no in a major bowl." Kansas State players and coaches still were so upset about their loss to Texas A&M — in which they squander a 15-point lead in the fourth quarter — that they canceled a scheduled news conference last night. "Things are pretty sad around here today," said Kent Brown, sports information director. The streets of Manhattan were nearly deserted. A light snow had fallen, giving the campus a cold, lonely look that seemed to fit everybody's mood. "Everybody's in shock; every body's dead," said Terchell Carl Just 24 hours earlier, everybody was ready to head for the Fiesta Bowl and play for the national championship. "Everybody here is just pretty much devastated." said Mark Miller, assistant manager at Rusty's Last Chance, a popular gathering spot near campus. "This hurts as bad as losing to Texas A&M. This is devastating. How could they do this? All year long we're one of the top two or three teams in the nation. We've got one loss, and we're going where? To the Alamo Bowl? To play who? Purdue? Oh, for God's sake." The party at Tracie Dittimore's house was not what the 1980 Kansas State graduate had planned. Instead of celebrating a trip to the Fiesta Bowl, she and her fellow K-State alumni were left to ponder what seemed a gigantic insult. "What really upsets me is I think if it had been Ohio State "We should be in a BCS bowl. I can speak for all our fans that we're heartbroken over losing to Texas A&M and extraordinarily disappointed we're not in a major bowl." Jon Wefald Kansas State president that had been shut out of a major bowl like this, you'd hear the media all over the country screaming their heads off," she said. "But you won't hear a thing about us." Wefald promised to urge improvement in the bowl selection system. "They could have figured out a way to get us in to a major bowl," he said. "We could have played Syracuse in the Orange Bowl. Or we could have been in the Rose Bowl. I guess the BCS rankings only mean something for the top two teams. That's not right. That's another thing they have to change." Postseason football pairings announced Continued from page 1B Florida State, in fourth place last week, jumped ahead of UCLA and Kansas State with 4.91 points — 2 points for poll average, 1.75 for computer ranking, 0.16 for the fourth-toughest schedule and 1 for a loss. Kansas State was a distant third, with 9.96 points — 4 for poll average, 3.00 for computer ranking, 1.96 for the 49th-toughest schedule and 1 for a loss. Ohio State was fourth with 10.37 points and UCLA was fifth with 10.90 points. "I feel we arrived at two tremendously qualified teams to be ranked 1-2," BCS chairman Roy Kramer said yesterday. "They deserved to be there based on all the criteria. We want to create 1 vs. 2. The others are up to the individual bowls." The Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Ariz., was the site of the last 1-2 matchup in a postseason game. In the '96 Fiesta, a No. 1 Nebraska won the national title with a 62-24 rout of a No. 2 Florida. It also will mark the 12th time No.1 played No.2 in a bowl game. "We have been a resilient team all season and we've found a way to get it done." Vols coach Phillip Fulmer said after he watched UCLA and Kansas State lose before his team had all it could handle before beating Mississippi State. "We've been on the edge of playing in a national championship game, and now we have a chance to do it." Ohio State coach John Cooper, whose Buckeyes were ranked No. 1 until losing to Michigan State 28-24 on Nov. 7, said his team was qualified to play in the Fiesta. "We're happy to be in the Sugar Bowl, but I think we can make an argument that we're one of the top two." Coon said. In another bowl matchup announced yesterday, Arkansas (9-2) will play Michigan (9-3) in the Citrus Bowl on Jan. 1. --Gater; Georgia Tech (9-2) vs. Notre Dame (9-2), Jan. 1 —Liberty: Tulane (11-0) vs. Brightham Young(9-4). Dec. 31 —Humanitarian —Idaho (8-3) vs. Southern Mississippi (7-4). Dec. 20 Party canceled for K-State after crushing Texas A&M loss —Micron PC — North Carolina State (7-4) vs. Miami (8-3), Dec. 29 —Las Vegas — North Carolina (6-5) vs. San Diego State (7-4), Dec. 19 —Motor City —Louisville (7-4) vs. Marshall (11-1). Dec. 23 By Doug Tucker The Associated Press ST. LOUIS — Texas A&M must really be kicking itself now. If the Aggies hadn't lost to Texas in their regular-season finale, they might have had a chance at the Fiesta Bowl after beating Kansas State 36-33 in double overtime Saturday in a beauty of a Big 12 championship game. Instead, the No. 8 Aggies (11-2) got the Big 12's automatic invitation to a BCS bowl and wound up playing Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl. The disappointed Wildcats, in the meantime, will stuff all their broken dreams and dirty socks into a travel bag and head for the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio to play Purdue. If they had been able to hold a 27-12 fourth-quarter lead against an A&M team that looked so very beatable, Kansas State's worst-to-first story would be ready for the final chapter in the Fiesta Bowl. The Wildcats (11-1) would be set to play Tennessee for the national championship. But because Texas A&M came back and hit the winning touchdown pass in the second overtime, the Wildcats will forever wonder what might have been. comes from this is obvious." And it certainly was to quarterback Michael Bishop. "It's a sick feeling," said Bishop, whose late fumble led to the score that forced overtime "It's a terribly obstruction." Sirr Parker caught a 32-yard touchdown pass on third down, which completed the comeback from a 15-point deficit. After failing to mount much of a running attack all day, the Aggies took to the air in the second half and exploited a suspect secondary. "I just really think this is great," A&M coach R. C. Scolum said. Parker was one of the smallest players on the field at 5-foot-7. "But I was 6 feet tall on that play," Parker said. "I didn't know if I was in or not. I looked up, I saw the reef and went and celebrated with the Crime." Corps. Kansas State began the day in third place in the Bowl Championship Series standings and needed either Tennessee or UCLA to lose. The Wildcats got what they wanted earlier in the afternoon when UCLA lost 49-45 to Miami but failed to capitalize. The Aggies tied the game with 1:05 left in the fourth quarter when Parker caught a 9-yard scoring pass from Branndon Stewart and then grabbed a 2-point conversion pass. Stewart, who regained the starting job when Randy McCown broke his collarbone, was 15-for-31 for 324 yards. "I can't recall ever being this excited about a football game," Stewart said. "I couldn't wait to play all week. I honestly didn't ever feel I would get the opportunity to play at A&M ever again." Kansas State almost won on the final play of regulation when Bishop completed a 55-yard hail mary pass to Everett Burnett at the 2. After the teams traded field goals on the opening possession of overtime, Kansas State had to settle for a 25-yard field goal by Martin Gramatica. Texas A&M was backed up, nearly out of field goal range, when Parker caught a slant pass, slipped a tackle and then dragged Lamar Chapman into the corner of the end zone. "We came out and proved we were the better team," said A&M tight end Daniel Campbell. Bishop passed for two touchdowns and ran for a third and ended up with 442 yards of total offense. But he handed the Aggies their opportunity to force overtime when he fumbled at the Kansas State 35 with 2:26 to go. The Wildcats also hurt themselves with 13 penalties for 110 yards. Tigers to play in Insight.com Bowl Bv R.B. Fallstrom The Associated Press COLUMBIA, Mo. — Missouri's bowl game will be a homecoming of sorts for Larry Smith, after all. The 23rd-ranked Tigers yesterday landed in the Insight.com Bowl, Dec. 26 in Tucson, Ariz., where Missouri will play West Virginia. Smith coached at the University of Arizona from 1980-86 and still owns a home there in the foothills that's about a quarter-mile from where the team will practice. "Sure, it's something a little extra special," Smith said. "I think it's an opportunity to return to someplace where some of us have some very deep ties." Smith led a turnaround at Arizona similar to his experience at Missouri, which is going bowling for the second straight year after a 13-year postseason absence. It also is a homecoming for associate head coach Ricky Hunley, an All-American linebacker at Arizona whose name is on the stadium, and defensive coordinator Moe Ankney, who was an assistant there under Smith. "We're tickled to death to have Missouri come down and play in our bowl," said Mike Hoffman, chairman of the Insight.com Bowl. "We look forward to having a great game." Insight.com officials said last week they'd like to have Missouri (7-4) oppose West Virginia (8-3) if the Tigers were available when it was the officials' turn to pick. Texas A&M's upset of No. 2 Kansas State in the Big 12 championship game could have changed all that, moving the Tigers up a notch to the Alamo Bowl. Except that Kansas State was somehow left out of the eight-team Bowl Championship Series matches. Kansas State slid all the way to the Alamo Bowl, the Big 12's third bowl slot. after the Cotton took Texas and the Holiday selected Nebraska in a protracted selection process that pushed back Missouri's announcement more than an hour. "I wouldn't say this is a disappointment," Jones said. "It's just a change." Losing a spot in the series cost every Big 12 school $600,000. Smith doesn't understand how that all happened. "I think that is a real travesty," Smith said. "I don't understand how they can be left out." Smith thought the Tigers had a chance for the Alamo, a more attractive choice from a fan standpoint considering it's closer and not played the day after Christmas That said, Missouri plans on taking a more serious approach to the game than last year, when the Tigers lost to Colorado State in the Holiday Bowl. "We'll try to have a little fun, but more than anything we'll get ready," Jones said.
PollCompAPU-EAvg.STSagarinNYTAvgSkdQRnkLTot.
1. Tennessee111.01221.67200.8003.47
2. Florida St.222.02(2.25)11.7540.1614.91
3. Kansas St.444.041(4.0)3.00491.9619.96
4. Ohio St.333.0(6.75)635.25281.12110.37
5. UCLA655.534(5.25)4.0880.32110.90
6. Texas A&M898.56545.0050.20215.70
7. Arizona565.55997.67582.32116.49
8. Florida777.0108119.67321.28219.95
9. Wisconsin988.5910109.67612.44121.61
10. Tulane101010.0814(16.5)12.83963.84026.67
11. Nebraska141615.0117(13.5)10.50140.56329.06
12. Virginia131212.513181716.00431.72232.22
13. Arkansas111111.01712(21.75)16.92592.36232.28
14. Georgia Tech121413.016201216.00441.76232.76
15. Syracuse181717.5(17.25)16713.42240.88334.80
BCS STANDINGS LIST Key: Poll Average: The average of The Associated Press media poll and USA Today ESPN coaches poll. Others receiving votes are calculated in order received Computer Average: The average of The Hester & Anderson/Seattle Times, Jeff Sagarin's rankings and New York Times rankings. In order to prevent differences in individual formulas, a maximum adjusted deviation of no greater than 50 percent of the average of the two lowest computer rankings is utilized. Quartile Rank: Rank of schedule strength compared to other Division I-A teams divided by 25. This component is calculated by determining the cumulative won/loss records of the team's opponent (66.6 percent) and the cumulative won/loss records of the team's opponents opponents (33.3 percent). Notes: BCS rankings each week will list the top 15 or down to the lowest-ranked BCS-affiliated conference leader. Adjusted computer scores in parentheses (Seattle Times' raw scores: Ohio State 7; Syracuse 24. Sagarin's raw scores: Florida State 3. New York Times' raw scores: Kansas State 6; UCLA 6; Tulane 23; Nebraska 15; Arkansas 22) Emergencies happen when you least expect it EMERGENCY A medical emergency can be scary. Regardless of the emergency, regardless of the time, Lawrence Memorial Hospital has the right people and facilities to handle it. We understand your concerns and fears. Our staff is specially trained in emergency medicine. Plus, we're the only 24-hour, full-service emergency department in town, located just minutes from the University of Kansas. And that means we're here for you when you need us. 24-Hour Emergency Dept. 749-6162 325 Maine Street Lawrence, Kansas 66044 !