[NU Sports] 6-6 Waivers (fwd)

[Mike Nolan]

> Their rationale is that their kids should not be penalized for playing in the Big XII Championship Game.  

> IMHO, that's a stupid argument.  

I totally disagree.  Conference championship games shouldn't be used to
determine bowl eligiblity except for the already existing waiver, which
makes a team bowl-eligible by winning its conference championship
regardless of its record to that point.

(It'd be funnier than anything if ISU pulled off the upset in KC, talk 
about upsetting the applecart!)

The NCAA rules are a bit muddled as to whether a conference championship
game is a 'regular season' game or not.  In some sports, notably basketball
and baseball, it is not considered a regular season game.  (This has come
up a few times when schools were sanctioned for rules violations.)

I think football deserves the same consideration.  The only games that 
should count for bowl eligibility are the ones that are definitely on 
the schedule at the start of the season.  

The difference here is that Northwestern players and coaches all KNEW they 
had 12 games scheduled and needed to go 7-5 before the season started, 
Iowa State did not.

The unusually balanced (aka weak) state of the Big XII North this year
is to blame.  Several of the polls predicted Iowa State to finish last
in the division.  

The Big 10 will be in this situation sooner or later, and some of the
division alignments I've seen could have produced the same problem in
years when the 'west' schools were all having bad years.
--
Mike Nolan