Evening star., 1951-12-23
Harrington Proposal
Would Have PIayoff
Decide Championship
By Lewis r. Atchison

A plan to divide the Southern
Conference into two divisions and
close the regular football season
with a championship playoff may
be discussed at the conference S
spring meeting, according to Max
harrington, president of the or
ganization. Thus far, however
it's only an idea, but one likely
to cause much speculation during
the winter.
The matter was broached at the
recent conference meeting at
which Maryland and Clemson
were suspended from meeting
league rivals in football next
season for accepting post-season
bowl invitations. Peculiarly, Mary
land. with a winning football
team and a stadium large enough
to make. a playoff game profitable
would figure Importantly in such
q set-up.
Its just an idea that has been
kicking around in the back of my
mind for some time" said Far
rington. who is director of mems
activities at George Washington
University. 1T probably is full CT
bugs, but they could be combed
out. l think the idea is sound" +"
Several schools have shown in
terest in the plan, Farrington
said.
Would Decide Champion.
"One Of its most Important fea-
lures is that it would decide a
bona fide champion" the CIV off,
cial pointed out. 'The newspapers
name the Winnel now. but with
two teams playing for the title
there wouk he 40 doubt who was
the real CHAMPION.
1t wouldn't be bowl game in
violation OF the new conference
code, since it would wind up the
regular season, being played on
the last Saturday of November or
the first Of December. Schedules
would be arranged so the date
selected would be left OPEN on all
schedules, conference basketball
teams leave open the last three
days of the first week in March fer
the annual title tournament.
Geary Eppley, dean Of men at
the University of Maryland and
the Terrapins' conference repre-
sentative, said the idea probably
has some possibilities"
The idea of having two divi-
sions and a championship play
of came up about a year ago."
Eppley said. but it was never
discussed officially. We talked
about it in bull sessions. but
nothing was done.
Study Time Important.
"The whole thing depends on
what you are TRYING to accom-
plish. If you are concerned with
the students welfare, you have to
consider how much time these
things take from his scholastic
work, and the more I study the
matter the more I favor bowl
games. A bowl game costs less
scholastic time than a game at
the end of the season."
Eppley said he thought the
players like to participate in the
big bowl games, and that it gave
them something to look for
ward to.
The biggest evil of bowl games"
the Maryland official continued.
'is the publicity they get in the
middle Of November. 1t takes the
edge off the remainder of the
regular schedule. You don't hear
much about the Yale Harvard
game, or nn-Cornell, or VMI-
VPI games, any more. for example,
because everybody is talking about
the bowl games. 1 think the dis
like for them that some colleges
have shown can be traced to this
publicity. If we can control the
publicity on bowl games, I think
it will be step forward in solv-
ing the problem"
It was suggested that the
Southern Conference might make
an agreement to have the team
winning the championship in the
play off be one of the teams in a
major bowl game, such as the
agreement the Big Ten and Pacific
Coast Conference have with Rose
Bowl officials. Eppley said such a
plan would be agreeable to him.
Would Share Receipts.
harrington would copy the Big
Tens plan of distributing bowl
game receipts among member
schools if the two-division plan
was adopted. The money received
by the Big Ten team is divided into
equal shares, with the partici-
pating teams school receiving two
shares and its fellow conference
members one each.
The two-division plan, roughly
would group teams in. the Mary
land, West Virginia, Virginia and
District of Columbia area against
Carolina teams. Harrington also Is
hopeful that Virginia could be
persuaded to rejoin the conference
The Cavaliers would add strength
to the league. and at their current
pace would be a perennial con-
tender for a playoff berth.
In the same division with the
Cavaliers would be Maryland
George Washington, West Vir-
ginia. William and Mary, Rich
mond, Washington and Lee, Vir-
ginia Tech and Virginia Military
Institute. The rival division, il
based on geographical locations
would include Clemson, Duke
North Carolina State, North Caro-
lima, Davidson, Furman, The Cita-
del, Wake Forest and South Caro-
lima.