Wiedmer: Longest wait in football

The Southeastern Conference football championship game between Alabama and Florida inside the Georgia Dome is 19 days away.

Some believe that will be the longest, most dreary 19 days of this college football season. Nothing to do but wait to see which team out there in the hinterlands joins the SEC winner in the Bowl Championship Series title game.

And it will probably shake out that way. Either Alabama or Florida will likely emerge to face Texas inside the Rose Bowl in early January for the national championship.

Just don't try selling that to Auburn or Florida State fans today, among others. Shocking as it might seem, Auburn still stands in the way of Alabama reaching the SEC title tilt undefeated.

(Well, assuming the Crimson Tide doesn't lose this week's trap game against our gritty, gutty, scrappy University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Mocs.)

Then there's Florida State's visit to Florida's Swamp on the same day Auburn hosts Bama. Sure, the Seminoles look pretty harmless at 5-5 and without Christian Ponder at quarterback for the rest of the season.

But reserve quarterback E.J. Manuel was more than solid in Saturday's 41-28 win over Wake Forest. Moreover, Florida again appeared tired, bored or just pretty good in their victory at South Carolina.

Also don't dismiss the Bobby Bowden factor if FSU decides it's time for the coaching legend to retire. If this officially becomes Bowden's final game against the Gators, who knows how his 'Noles might react?

The point is, this BCS dream matchup of the Bama-Florida winner versus Texas still has a few hurdles to clear. When rivalry games stand in the way of perfection, there's always a chance for imperfection.

So even though both Alabama and Florida have already reached the SEC title game, there remains at least a sliver of uncertainty that either will arrive there undefeated. And if one or none is unbeaten, there is also a chance neither might reach the BCS championship game.

What appears far more certain is that Notre Dame will part company with Charlie Weis after Saturday's loss at dangerous Pittsburgh. And it may have as much to do with the fact that a Weis-coached Irish squad has only beaten one team that finished the season ranked in his five seasons on the job.

That was Penn State in 2006, his second season in South Bend. Every other Irish win has come against a school that completed its season out of the rankings.

So expect ND's boosters to pay the $20 million or so necessary to buy out Weis and his staff, as well as bringing in a replacement on the order of Florida's Urban Meyer, Bama's Nick Saban, Cincy coach Brian Kelly, Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh or current Monday Night Football analyst Jon Gruden.

All those men have Midwest ties. All are proven winners, though Gruden's never been a college head coach. All would seemingly deliver the Irish the kind of elite coach they haven't had since Lou Holtz -- who was also the last guy to guide ND to a national championship -- left South Bend.

But there's one question concerning Notre Dame that those candidates must consider: Why is ND apparently no longer the national draw for recruits that it was under Holtz 15 years ago?

And assuming it's not, does it not say as much about the country as about the Irish head coach?

This isn't to say Notre Dame's for everyone. It's a top-flight academic school not known for bending to athletes. It's a cold-weather campus. It's not exactly in the backyard of any major city, being at least two hours from both Chicago and Indianapolis.

But a Notre Dame diploma sets you up for life, especially if you're a football player. You'd think parents would understand that to the point of begging the Irish to sign their sons.

Instead, they look at the cold and the tough academics and decide their Jimmy or Joey can get to the NFL a lot easier through the SEC, Pac 10 or Big 12.

Trouble is, if Jimmy or Joey don't get to the NFL, they're often left with vastly inferior career options for having basically been used by Big State U.

So the decline in ND's talent pool may say as much about our priorities as a society as their recent choices in coaches.

But buy out alum Weis and bring in a football factory CEO such as Meyer or Saban and perhaps that will change. Let's just hope Notre Dame doesn't elect to change what makes it special to again become special to the college football masses.

As Tennessee's Big Orange Banditos proved again last week, selling out for football is best left to the SEC.