With a victory over No. 2 Miami, Penn State can "officially" accept its bid to the 1993 Blockbuster Bowl. But Saturday's game between the Nittany Lions and the Hurricanes will decide much more than a bid to the Blockbuster Bowl.

A Penn State victory would thrust the Lions into the thick of the national title race while a loss would likely drop the Lions out of title contention.

The Lions enter this weekend's clash ranked No. 5 in the coaches' poll and No. 7 in the writers' poll. Miami is a consensus No. 2.

Now, pause for a minute. Think back to the summer, when executives from the Orange, Sugar, Cotton and Fiesta bowls announced the formation of a Bowl Coalition that was supposed to produce more national championship bowl games. You remember, the coalition that apparently forgot that a major college football program existed in Happy Valley.

If Penn State beats the 'Canes (a big if), it will likely vault to at least No. 3 in both polls, behind No. 1 Washington and current No. 3 Michigan, setting up a very uncomfortable position for the coalition.

Or embarrassing as hell.

Washington and Michigan appear headed for another showdown in the Rose Bowl, which is not part of the coalition.

Chalk up two strikes against the coalition.

Should Penn State finish undefeated, the Lions are virtually assured of a position in the top three.

Three strikes and the coalition is out -- out of the national championship picture, that is.

That such a scenario could develop flies in the face of the alleged purpose of the Bowl Coalition.

And while the coalition is supposed to create more competitive matchups, it seems more likely that it will just keep deserving teams out of the prestigous coalition bowls in favor of more traditional teams, regardless of quality.

Take coaliton member Notre Dame, for example.

The No. 13 Irish are a modest 3-1-1, fresh off a 33-16 drubbing by the Stanford Cardinal.

But Notre Dame was all but guaranteed a spot in the Orange, Sugar, Fiesta or Cotton Bowls even before the season started. They must finish only with a 6-5 record or better to be eligible.

Penn State, on the other hand, was locked out of those four bowls before the season even began, no matter what its final rank or record is.

The Cotton, Sugar, and Orange bowls each extend an automatic berth to the champions of the Southwest, Southeastern, and Big Eight Conferences, respectively. Notre Dame also gets an automatic invitation.

The Coalition bowls will then fill the remaining four slots with "at-large" teams from within the coalition, which doesn't include the Big Ten teams or Penn State.

Even if the Lions finish the season 11-0, the highest ranked team that the Lions could face would likely be ranked around No. 15.

Just to show how inefficient the Coaltion is, let's just suppose that Penn State beats Miami and that the season would end on Sunday. Assume that the Lions would replace Miami at No. 2.

Here's a sampling of what the bowl matchups would probably look like with the coalition and other automatic berths:

No. 1 Washington vs. No. 3 Michigan in the Rose; No. 2 Penn State vs. No. 16 Oklahoma in the Blockbuster; No. 4 Tennessee vs. No. 8 Florida St. in the Sugar; No. 5 Texas A&M vs. No. 10 Virginia in the Cotton; No. 6 Alabama vs. No. 21 Ohio St. in the Citrus; No. 9 Colorado vs. No. 11 Stanford in the Orange; No. 13 Notre Dame vs. No. 14 Georgia in the Fiesta; No. 15 Syracuse vs. No. 18 Mississippi St. in the Gator.

I think you get the picture. Even if some interesting matchups are created, it doesn't really solve anything. If the Lions needed to prove that they are more worthy than Washington or Michigan, would a bowl game against No. 16 0klahoma really help?

Probably not, but Coach Joe Paterno and his Lions would have no say in who they play.

But before the Lions start to worry about a national title, they still must beat Miami.