Help Wanted

* The 2006 Emerald Bowl was not particularly memorable, especially for UCLA fans who suffered through a 44-27 defeat to a not-so-great Florida State team. But little did we know at the time that the game would feature two future Rhodes scholars, one from each team. Former UCLA offensive lineman Chris Joseph and Florida State defensive back Myron Rolle, who played in the game, were recently awarded the prestigious award.

* Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe could be facing a huge controversy if a three-way tie in his league's South Division forces the use of the BCS standings to break the tie. But Beebe is still against a playoff. The Big 12 was thought to be the "open-minded" conference last spring when the SEC proposed its "Plus One" model to commissioners in South Florida. The Big 12 ended all doubt about the plan when it strongly opposed the SEC model.

Beebe said his biggest fear of a playoff is, "we would be sitting here 10 years from now talking about why we did that and the effect it had on the regular season. The NFL has 37% of its clubs eligible for postseason. That keeps a high level of interest all through the regular season for a lot of teams. If 37% of the 120 Division clubs were eligible for a playoff, we'd have to have a 42-team playoff."

* Seven of the 61 panelists on this year's USA Today coaches' poll are from the Big 12. Those coaches may have to decide the fate of the Big 12 South champion as part of the BCS standings formula. Oklahoma Coach Bob Stoops can't help his own cause because he's not a voter. And neither this year is his brother Mike, the coach at Arizona.

Bob Stoops said keeping favoritism out of the poll is difficult. "You know, it's always interesting, because it's our life," he said. "It is what we do, so it's hard not to have those kinds of biases and your own agendas, but, again, you just have to deal with it."

Mike Stoops said he always tried to do "due diligence" when he was a voter. "Some coaches have motives for what they do," Mike said. "I tried to be as fair as I could to all teams, but obviously I have a personal attachment to Oklahoma."

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chris.dufresne@latimes.com