Division I-AA Shows Argument For Playoffs Isn't All Academic

At 10 a.m., Hauser and Sherrill walked around the room, pulling out tests by name. Earlier in the week, the school provost e-mailed the entire ASU faculty and explained the circumstances: Football players with finals scheduled for the Wednesday before the Friday championship game would need to take the exams off campus, in the hotel.

After two years of handling the title game, teachers understood. They sealed tests in envelopes, to be gathered by academic support services and distributed in Chattanooga.

"That's really kind of a bogus argument," Hauser said of a playoff interfering with academics. "If you're structured and organized and doing your work the whole semester, it's not going to be that big of a deal at the end. It's certainly workable."

Roughly 70 minutes after he sat down, Lynch continued writing in the emptying ballroom. Lynch, a three-time all-American safety, prefers school this time of year to any other. In high school, his grades always improved during the season, the routine of practice helping him focus.

"I don't think I could have ever gotten through college without football," Lynch said. "When you're on a regimented schedule, you always study more."

After turning in his test, Lynch walked out of the Bessie Smith Room, hurried back toward the lobby elevator and paced to his room to change. He had practice later that afternoon.

Up for the Challenge

Though teams in division I-AA have been mixing exams with games for years, some still wonder if there could be similar success in I-A. At the end of the 2004 season, Virginia President John T. Casteen III declined an invitation to the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando because it would be played Dec. 21, the final day of Virginia's final exam schedule.

Instead, Virginia accepted a bid to the less prestigious MPC Computers Bowl in Boise, Idaho, on Dec. 27.

"I understood that," Cavaliers linebacker John Copper said. A playoff "might put a little more strain. But football is a priority, so I'd do what I have to do, if that was the case."

Outside forces, such as media demands, are amplified at the game's highest level, but division I-A schools also have larger budgets and more support staff to accommodate players.

"We still have the school year during the season, so we're kind of used to it," Ohio State defensive end Doug Worthington said. "We have a great support system that helps us manage it. It would be a little tougher when it comes down to finals week. The school probably would understand it and would help us in certain ways."

Said Ohio State tight end Brandon Smith: "I guess it would be interesting, but when you really think seriously about installing a playoff, you think about how long the season would have to be. . . . It's already long enough and here we are in January. How are you going to do it? I think it's just too much."

Some of the Appalachian State football players felt that way, crammed into the ballroom some 48 hours before playing the most important game of their season. Afterward, though, they also agreed the stress was worthwhile. Years from now, unlike whichever team wins tonight, the merits of their national championship will not be questioned.

"I would not want to see us make excuses for the guys -- 'Oh, well, you have playoffs.' " said Sherrill, the Appalachian State academic adviser. "It's, 'You've got a lot on your plate, so rise to the occasion.' I think the BCS could do the same thing.

"It's a challenge. But it's worth it."

Staff writer Eric Prisbell contributed to this report from New Orleans.