How did we slip despite not playing? How is a three-point loss to the top-ranked team worse than a 10-point loss to the No. 10 team? Who doesn't want to see the greatest rivals in college football playing for the national title?

Reasonable queries all. With the bewilderment of the Maize and Blue in mind, here are 10 more burning questions for the college bowl season.

1. Will we see anything as gutsy as Urban Meyer's fake punt in the SEC championship game?

No way. It's hard to conceive of anything more courageous — insane? — than Meyer's 4th-and-10 fake from his own 15 with the Gators trailing Arkansas 21-17 late in the third quarter. Even Alabama's interim seatholder Joe Kines, who probably doesn't have anything to lose, wouldn't have the stones to call a fake punt inside his own 20 in a tight game. If Florida pulls off the upset in the title game, the play that got them there will go down in college football history as perhaps the gutsiest call of all time.

2. What does it mean when the West Virginia coach turns down the job at Alabama?

It means the mighty have fallen. And they can't get up. By tossing coaches like chewing gum wrappers 'Bama has turned one of the premier jobs in the country into a treacherous gig that no one wants. The Tide has been turned down by its entire top tier of choices, most recently WVU's Rich Rodriguez. I guess if you dump enough coaches that you no longer want, the one you do want might be a little gun shy about coming to your school no matter your tradition. After a 10-2 record in 2005, Mike Shula was considered a genius worthy of a six-year extension. Then he went 6-6 in the first year of that deal and got whacked. Word gets out when a school shows such a lack of loyalty to a guy who carried the program through four years of sanctions. Kines is considered one-and-done after the Independence Bowl, but he may end up with the job by default.

3. Will a bowl game — or even the national championship — turn on the new clock rule?

Yes. One or more of the 32 bowl games will feature a team going for it on fourth down with all of their timeouts because you can no longer force the 15-second three-and-out in college football. The dumbest rule change in recent memory has already impacted some big games — Tennessee-Florida comes to mind — and will no doubt affect another before they mercifully get rid of this idiotic rule.

4. Was MPC Computers Bowl-bound Miami really just one dubious call from back-to-back national championships a mere four years ago?

Yup. The celebration had already begun on Jan. 3, 2003 when that late pass interference flag came in and saved Ohio State after an incomplete pass on fourth down. It's all been downhill from there for the Hurricanes. Last season ended with a 40-3 humiliation by LSU in the Peach Bowl. This year was an unmitigated disaster, marked by an embarrassing brawl against Florida International. Just four years after coming so close to starting his Miami career with back-to-back national titles, Larry Coker was fired after going 6-6. What a long, strange trip it's been from juggernaut to three-point favorite against Nevada in Idaho.

5. Will Darren McFadden widen his already huge lead in the 2007 Heisman race in the Capital One Bowl?

No. In two crushing losses to close the season, Arkansas QB Casey Dick completed only 33 percent of his passes for a total of 177 yards while throwing three picks. Wisconsin will stack the line against McFadden, invite Dick to beat them and strike a blow for the Big 10 by knocking off the Hogs.

6. Will Notre Dame have one impressive win this year?

Unlikely. Time is running out for the Irish to post their first impressive win this season against what ended up being a cupcake schedule. If Notre Dame can beat a very physical LSU team, essentially playing at home in the Sugar Bowl, it will be a very impressive win indeed. But with so much trouble in pass protection and pass coverage, it seems highly doubtful the Irish will beat the Tigers. In their blowout losses against Rose Bowl participants Michigan and USC, the Irish were torched by big receivers Mario Manningham and Dwayne Jarrett for a combined 11 catches, 269 yards and six touchdowns. Tiger senior wideout Dwayne Bowe — 6-3, 217 — must be licking his chops.

7. Who has more to prove in the Fiesta Bowl, Boise State or Oklahoma?                                                                 
Oklahoma. Boise State wants to prove it belongs in the BCS, but the Sooners want to prove they belonged in the title game. If not for the worst officiating calamity in recent NCAA history, which cost the Sooners their game at Oregon, Oklahoma would have finished 12-1 with its lone loss to Texas. College officials — both the striped and bureaucratic types — are probably hoping Ian Johnson runs wild and Boise State pulls off the upset. Otherwise, that call — that nutty call — might forever be seen as costing Oklahoma a shot at the national title. If the Broncos win, however, it'll be hard to make a case that the Sooners would have beaten Ohio State.

8. If Michigan stomps USC and Florida wins an ugly title game, will anyone really believe Florida is the best team in the country?

Yes. People in Gainesville. Elsewhere, no. Florida won two games by one point, including a squeaker over South Carolina in the Swamp that required a blocked field goal on the game's final play. The Gators also had three wins by a single score, including decidedly unimpressive efforts against Vanderbilt and Florida State.

9. Who has more game speed, Ted Ginn, Jr. or Percy Harvin?

Draw. Ginn (4.35) and Harvin (4.38) are plenty fast when being clocked in the 40, but seemingly even faster with the ball in the air or a defender in hot pursuit. Michigan cornerback Leon Hall is a projected top-10 pick in next year's NFL draft. In the Buckeyes' six-touchdown explosion on Nov. 18, Ginn blew past Hall like he was Vince Wilfork. Harvin's jets, meanwhile, are the reason the Gators are in the title game. After bolting for a 41-yard TD run in a 21-14 win over Florida State, Harvin caught a 37-yard TD pass and blazed through the Arkansas D for a 67-yard TD run in the SEC title game. Harvin is averaging a mere 19.1 yards per carry on his last 10 runs.

10. Will this be the unsatisfying conclusion to a college football season that spurs us toward a playoff?

No. Ohio State will beat Florida and the BCS will once again trumpet its vindication as the best team is crowned. And we'll be stuck with this lousy system — and without a playoff — for the foreseeable future.

News Source: Fox Sports