2B
Thursday, December 1, 1994
SPORTS
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1
7 p.m.
7 p.m.
ESPN — NFL Football, Chicago at Minnesota
9 p.m.
PRIME — Men's golf, Million Dollar Golf, first round, at Johannesburg, South Africa (same-day tape)
Say it ain't so, Joe
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Joe Montana, whose tendency to get hurt was his only liability, stood as seven starters on the Kansas City Chiefs went down.
His luck lasted until he was caught in the pocket and tackled in the Chiefs Sunday 10-9 loss at Seattle.
Coach Marty Schottenheimer said Monday that Montana's injury was officially diagnosed as a sprained foot. A decision on whether he will play Sunday will be made at the earliest tomorrow.
He was knocked out of the AFC championship game at Buffalo with a conclusion — an injury that led his family to campaign for him to retire.
But Montana made it through 11 games this year with little more than nicks and bruises.
Forty-eight hours before he was hurt while trying to jump-start the offense. Montana said it was luck.
"It's just the way it goes. Sometimes you're the one who gets hurt and sometimes you're not," he said.
Steve Bono took all the snaps in a light practice Monday after relieving Montana in Seattle.
Even with Montana, the Chiefs have struggled offensively.
Injuries to Alt, tight end Keith Cash and halfback Marcus Allen will make life harder for Bono.
"It was OK," Bono said of his Seattle effort, which ended with a game-ending fumble by rookie receiver Lake Dawson. "It definitely could be better."
"I want to play, but I don't want Joe to be hurt. Unfortunately, those two things don't go together."
As basketball season licks in, the Jayhawks are once again ranked among the Nation's elite. Roy Williams' ballclub, however, is not the only KU squad garnering national attention. Following is a look at the Kansas teams with national rankings.
What's Next For Kansas Athletics?
Nine Jayhawk Teams Ranked Nationally
Ranked Women's Cross Country
18th For the second consecutive season, Schwartz guided the Jayhawk women's team to the NCAA Championships.
Ranked Men's Cross Country Head Coach: Gary Schwartz
16th A decision to redshift his two top runners gained Schwartz an invitation to the NCAA championships this weekend.
Ranked Men's Basketball Head Coach Ray Williams With one of the premier inside-outsideandems in college basketball (Greg O'Connor inside and Touque Virgin outside), the Jayhawks once again bring among the nation's best.
15th Like Roy Williams, Washington has a youth squad that prognosticates expect to come through with big results.
Ranked Men's Swimming
20th In senior Marc Bontrager, Kempf has an athlete that can compete with anybody in the nation in the sprint freestyle events.
THE BOWL PICTURE
Source: Kansas Sports Information Krista McGlohon/ KANSAN
Buffs pass up No.1 for Fiesta
BOULDER, Colo. — After passing up a chance to play in the Sugar Bowl, Colorado coach Bill McCarnney has been resigned to sugarcoating the Buffs' Fiesta Bowl matchup with unranked Notre Dame.
The Associated Press
McCarthney said athletic director Bill Marolt called Sugar Bowl officials Saturday afternoon to inquire about a possible bid. Marolt was told that Colorado would be invited to New Orleans if it could get out of its Fiesta Bowl agreement.
The Buffaloes could have flexed their muscles and asked Fiesta Bowl officials to release them from their bowl-callion obligation, McCarthy said. That would have enabled No. 5 Colorado (10-1) to stay in the national title hunt by accepting the Sugar Bowl bid and a matchup with No. 3 Alabama or No. 7 Florida.
"In order for us to get what we wanted, we would have had to violate the agreement (with the bowl coalition and Flesta Bowl)," McCartney said. "It became a question of principle. We decided to do the principle thing and stick with the Flesta Bowl.
"The Fiesta officials said what you're asking us to do is inappropriate. We thought about it, and it was inappropriate." McCartney said.
Fiesta selection committee head Don Meyers called the Colorado-Arizona and Colorado-USC matchups too regional and admitted the committee expected to hear criticism for choosing the Fighting Irish (6-4-1).
But then the Festa Bowl, which had pledged to match Colorado against the highest-ranked opponent, passed on No. 15 Arizona, No. 18 North Carolina and No. 21 Southern Cail in favor of unranked Notre Dame.
But McCartney, who will resign after the Jan. 2 game in Tempe, Ariz., is making the best of a bad situation.
"I feel good about what we did," he said, "and I'm fully satisfied with Notre Dame as an opponent."
K-State headed to Aloha Bowl
The Associated Press
MANHATTAN — Both Kansas State and Boston College would rather say Fiesta than Aloha. Beat Mother's Christmas Day.
The Wildcats were vying for a coalition bowl bid—and the bigger payoff—until Notre Dame finally agreed to accept the Fiesta Bowl invitation to play Colorado.
But above it is on Christmas Day.
K-State is tremendously disappointed to not get a coalition bowl bid after a 9-2 season that left the Wildcats ranked 11th, coach Bill Snyer said Tuesday.
K-State then agreed to a trip to Hawaii. The Aloha Bowl payoff is barely enough to cover the expenses of traveling to Honolulu.
But Snyder said in a statement from the athletic department that K-State was pleased to have an opportunity to play Boston College in the Aloha Bowl.
"We're very cognizant of the fact that Boston College is an excellent football team, Snyder said. "They had a tremendous victory over Notre Dame, and this will be a truly difficult preparation for us."
The Big Eight Conference already had two entrants in coalition bowls with top-ranked Nebraska headed for a shot at the national championship in the Orange Bowl against Miami and Colorado going to the Fiesta.
"This was a hard-earned bowl invitation," said Boston College coach, Dan Henning. "The record of 6-4-1 was an outstanding record under the conditions."
K-State settles for a national television appearance after the presents have been opened Dec. 25, with ABC planning live coverage of the 2:30 p.m. kickoff.
"We have an opportunity to finish the season 10-2 and perhaps finish the season ranked in the top five," athletic director Max Urick said.
Possibility of playoffs could change system
The Associated Press
This season, the path to No. 1 isn't so clear. Alabama could finish 13-0 again and not even share the title.
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Two years ago, everything worked out fine for Alabama under the bowl coalition. The Crimson Tide kept on winning and wound up with the national championship.
A playoff system would give third-ranked Alabama a chance to render the polls meaningless, settle all the debate on the field. But the idea doesn't have much support around Tuscaloosa.
"It's too time-consuming," offensive tackle Kareem McNeal said. "It's kind of confusing the way it's set up now, but I wouldn't want a playoff because of the time it takes away from school. It's already hard enough to keep up in school, and a playoff would just make it that much harder."
Defensive tackle Shannon Brown agreed.
"The season is long enough as it is, especially at this time of year when we all have
finals coming up," he said. "People tend to forget the whole purpose of what we're here for, and that's to get an education."
Alabama (11-0) still has two games to go it has to concern itself with the rankings. The Tide meets No. 6 Florida in the Southeastern Conference championship game on Saturday, with the winner going to the Sugar Bowl to meet seventh-ranked Florida State.
Coach Gene Stallings and his players believe they can sway enough pollsters to their side by winning those two games, and they may have a point considering their last two victories were over No. 9 Auburn (the Tigers' only loss in the last two seasons) and 16th-ranked Mississippi State.
Neither top-ranked Nebraska (12-0) nor No. 2 Penn State (11-0) has to run that kind of season-ending gaudlet.
"If we go undefeated, we'll win it," offensive guard Jon Stevenson said.
Still, Alabama faces the longest odds of the three major contenders for No. 1. Nebraska and Penn State have only their bowl games remaining, and they already have all but one first-place vote.
"You'll never know what you could have done unless you play the best," safety Willie Gaston said. "Everyone feels Nebraska and Penn State are a lot better than us. But till we
play each other, we'll never know. It's just a matter of who they want to have it."
Gaston said he would prefer the teams settle things themselves. And though he may be in the minority, he doesn't buy the argument that a playoff would put too many additional demands on the players.
"I wouldn't have a problem with it," he said.
"We already play 13 games. What's one more? If someone is blessed enough to go on to the next level (NFL), you're going to play 16 anyway. Why not prepare yourself for it?" Staline said he feels differently.
Somenener along the line, you've got to say they play enough games," he said. "If two or three teams finish undefeated, you've got to vote for somebody. There's nothing wrong with a couple of teams tying for it."
Brown and quarterback Jay Barker said they would like to see a different version of the current system, something along the lines of the bowl alliance that goes into effect next year but incorporating all of the teams.
"Out of our conference, the top bowl is the Sugar Bowl," Brown said. "Why couldn't it be the Rose Bowl if that gave us the chance to play for the national title against somebody else? I don't know why it's so set in stone."
Florida vs. Alabama
leads overall; 17-9.
The No. 6 Gators (9-1-1) and No. 3 Crimson Tide (10-
0) meet Saturday in Atlanta's Georgia Dome in a repeat of last year's SEC Championship, won by
Nike - 38-12, Alabama.
aus overlaid, 19-3.
(National rank,
average yards
per game for
1994 season)
Offense
6th, 476.1 Total 74th, 342.2
57th, 160.8 Rushing 53rd, 167.3
3rd, 315.3 Passing 75th, 174.9
2nd, 45.2 Points scored 60th, 23.5
Defense
19th, 306.1 Total 15th, 300.7
5th, 81.7 Rushing 38th, 136.8
23rd, 106.5 Pass efficiency 18th, 104.2
13th, 16.6 Points against 5th, 13.6
SOURCE: National Collegiate Athletic Association
Knight-Ridder Tribune
Red Lyon Tavern
UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS LEAGUE OF UNDERGRADUATE ART HISTORIAN'S
944 Mass. 832-8228
A touch of Irish in downtown Lawrence
New sweaters and handbags have arrived.
GOING OUT OF BUSINESS
As the final days draw near we have re-priced everything.
- Sweaters ...$9.90
- Krazy Kat Blouses...$9.90
- Leggings...$9.90
- Turtlenecks ...$9.90
- Jeans ...$19.90
- Dresses ... $9.90
All Sales Final!
- Express Barn Jackets .$29.90
835 Mass.
The University of Kansas
Music and Dance
A HOLIDAY CONCERT
by the UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY DANCE COMPANY
Ballet Modern East Indian Jazz
8:00 p.m.
8:00 p.m.
Friday, December 2, 1994
2:00 & 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, December 3, 1994
Crafton-Preyer Theatre
General admission tickets are on sale in the KU box offices: Murphy Hall, 864-3982; Lied Center, 864-ARTS; SUA Office, 864-3477; public $6, students and senior citizens $3; both VISA and Master-Card are accepted for phone orders.
Partially funded by the KU Student Senate Activity Fee