UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Monday, August 19, 1996
9B
FOOTBALL Q & A
It's a whole new bowl game in college football
By Richard Rosenblatt AP Football Writer
Twenty questions about college football in 1996:
Q : Can Nebraska win a third straight national championship?
A: No team has ever won three national titles since the AP poll began in 1936, but the Cornhuskers have the ingredients to be the first. The biggest question is whether Scott Frost can adequately replace versatile Tommie Frazier, who ran and passed the 'Huskers to a 25-game winning streak for the past two
streak for the past two
Despite the offfield problems coach Tom Osborne has had to handle, he has all-star player
returning to nearly every position,
including tailback Ahman Green,
defensive end Jared Tomich, linebacker Terrell Farley and center Aaron Taylor.
The Big 12 schedule looks relatively easy for Nebraska, except for a game against Colorado Nov. 29 in Lincoln and a probable conference title game against Texas or Texas A&M D. 7 in St. Louis.
Other teams with two consecutive titles are: Minnesota 1940-41; Army 1944-45; Notre Dame 1946-47; Oklahoma 1955-56; Alabama 1964-65; Nebraska 1970-71; Oklahoma 1974-75; and Alabama 1978-79.
Q: Any new bowl games this season?
There are now 19 bowl games certified by the NCAA.
A: The Haka Bowl, of course.
The game, named after a Maori war dance, is set for Dec. 26 at 8 p.m. EST in Auckland, New Zealand, the first non-All-Star game to be played outside the United States since the 1937 Bacardi bowl in Havana. Created by former NFL player Riki Ellison, who was born in New Zealand, the Haka Bowl matches the Pac-10's third place finisher against an at-large team. Each school will be paid $1.5 million.
There are now 19 bowl games cer*
Q : Is there really overtime this season?
A: Incredibly, yes. Thirty years after the sport's most memorable tie — Michigan State 10, Notre Dame 10 in 1966 major college coaches, athletic directors and presidents finally agreed on a major change.
In February, the NCAA rules committee, chaired by Georgia athletic director Vince Dooley, approved the change, formally known as a tiebreaker.
How it works: If the score is tied at the end of regulation, the game
clock is turned off, a coin is tossed,
and the teams begin an overtime period. The ball is placed at the opponent's 25-yard line and the teams play until the tie is broken after both have had an equal number of possessions.
Last season the tiebreaker was approved for bowl games and was used in the Las Vegas Bowl. Toledo beat Nevada 40-37 by scoring a touchdown after Nevada kicked a field goal on its possession.
: Who are the new faces in new places?
A: Bob Toledo is replacing Terry Donahue at UCLA, John Blake for Howard Schnellenberger at Oklahoma and Jim Donnan for Ray Goff at Georgia. Donahue was hired by CBS Sports. Goff is living on his farm in Athens, Ga. Schnellenberger returned to Miami.
Bill Oliver, longtime defensive coordinator at Alabama, moves to Auburn in a similar capacity.
Steve Mariucci, passed over once before at California, finally gets his chance as Keith Gilbertson's replacement.
Homer Smith is offensive coordinator at Arizona after being fired at Alabama. ... At The Citadel, coach Charlie Taaffe was suspended for the season for his second DUI in three years. His replacement is defensive coordinator Don Powers.
: Any mismatches this season?
A : How about Notre Dame-
Navy? If it isn't enough that
the Irish have a 50.9 record
the Irish have a 1959 IRecord against the Middies and haven't lost to them since 1963, then try this: This year's game is being played in Dublin, Ireland, on Nov. 2.
There's also The Citadel, Division I-AA, at Miami. Originally, the Hurricanes were to play Colorado on Sept. 7, but when the Big 12 was born, the Buffaloes retooled their schedule.
Oklahoma State, meanwhile, gets a break. The Cowboys don't play Nebraska this year. The Huskers are 33-2-1 in the series, with the Cowboys winning the first two games.
Where are the top games this season?
A: Michigan at Colorado, Sept. 14; Florida at Tennessee, Sept. 21; Notre Dame at Texas, Sept. 21; Ohio State at Notre Dame, Sept. 28; Florida State at Miami, Oct. 12; Navy vs. Notre Dame at Dublin, Ireland, Nov. 2; Michigan at Ohio State, Nov. 23; Southern California at UCLA, Nov. 23; Colorado at Nebraska, Nov. 29; and Florida at Florida State, Nov. 30.
Don't miss the Big 12 and SEC title
games on Dec. 7, where the winners may end up being ranked 1-2 and meeting in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 2
Q : When are the best tradi tional rivalries played?
A : The biggest day is Nov. 23.
The highlights are: Kansas-
Missouri, Harvard-Yale,
Stanford-Cal, USC-UCLA, Michigan-
Ohio State, Indiana-Purdue,
Arizona-Arizona State, Alabama-
Auburn, LSU-Tulane and South
Carolina-Clemson.
Others of note: Pitt-West Virginia,
Aug. 31; Texas-Oklahoma, Oct. 12;
Tennessee-Alabama, Oct. 26;
Florida-Georgia, Nov. 2; Texas-
Texas A&M, Nov. 29; Georgia-Georgia
Tech, Mississippi-Mississippi
State, Tennessee-Vanderbilt and
Notre Dame-USC, all on Nov. 30; and
Army-Navy, Dec. 7.
Q : Do regular-season games now have corporate sponsors?
game is the Dr Pepper Red River Shootout. Dr Pepper guarantees each school $125,000 for the title sponsorship
A : Sure enough. For the second year in a row, the Oklahoma-Texas
And then there's the Dowdy Aviation Football Classic, better known as Florida State at Wake Forest on Nov. 9. The game has been moved from Winston-Salem, N.C., to Orlando, Fla., because Dowdy Aviation has promised a payout of $900,000 to the teams.
Florida State also has a road game against Maryland on Nov. 23 in Miami. Sponsors are putting up about $900,000 per team for that one too.
: Any Northwesterners out there?
: Which coaches are on the hot seat?
A: Here's one opinion: Alabama's Gene Stallings, Mississippi State's Jackie Sherrill, Pitt's Johnny Majors, Indiana's Bill Mallory, Illinois' Lou Tepper, SMU's Tom Rossley, Oregon State's Jerry Pettibone and Kentucky's Bill Curry.
A: As the season starts, six teams are on NCAA probation: Alabama, Miami, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Texas A&M and Washington State. Mississippi is banned from postseason games. None of these teams are banned from TV. All six had their scholarships reduced, and all but Alabama were cited for lack of institutional control.
: Who's in trouble with the NCAA?
Q : Where are the top quarterbacks?
A : Tennessee's Peyton Manning tops the list, with Florida's Danny Willett
ning tops the list, with Florida's Danny Weurfeil right behind. Those capable of terrific seasons are USC's Brad Otton (29-of-44 for 391 cups and 2 TDs in the Rose Bowl), Syracuse's Donovan McNabb, Arizona State's Jake Plummer, Penn State's Wally Richardson and Texas' James Brown. Notre Dame's Ron Poulus and Colorado's Koy Detmer, if he's healthy, could also have strong seasons.
Q: What's with Kentucky phenomenon Tim Couch?
A: He looks great, but coach Bill Curry plans to start Billy Jack Haskins ahead of him. If the Wildcats don't start well, and, with games against Louisville and Cincinnati, it is a possibility, look for the 6-foot-5, 230-pound Couch, everyone's high school player of the year with career totals of 12,104 yards and 133 TD passes, to get his shot.
Q. What did the CFA do, any way?
A: The College Football Association, a consortium of 67 Division I schools is in its
Division I-A schools, is in its 20th and final season. At its peak, the CFA was a powerful influence on the legislative and financial fronts. But once it became clear that the CFA could no longer deliver big TV bucks, there was no need to keep it going.
The big football schools organized it in 1977 after twice failing to gain more power by restructuring the NCAA. Even though the Big Ten and Pac-10 were convinced by the NCAA not to join, the CFA still managed to force the NCAA to give up its football TV rights to its members.
The CFA took over and a negotiated a five-year, $175 million deal with CBS from 1986-90. The next contract, with ABC and ESPN, doubled. But Notre Dame defected and signed its own deal with NBC. In 1994, the SEC signed its own deal with CBS, and CFA began crumbling.
: How about conference changes?
A : The Southwest and Big Eight conferences are gone, replaced by the Big 12 and
Repaired by the Big 12 and an expanded Western Athletic Conference. The Big 12 includes the Big Eight teams plus Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Baylor from the SWC.
Rice, SMU and TCU move to the new 16-team WAC, while Houston joined Conference USA. The WAC also added Tulsa, an independent, and UNLV and San Jose State from the Big West.
The Big West dwindles to six teams — Nevada, Idaho, Utah State, New Mexico State, Boise State and North Texas.
Conference USA consists of Louisville, Cincinnati, Southern Mississippi, Memphis, Houston and Tulane.
The Big Sky gains Sacramento State and Northridge State from the American West Conference and also adds Division II Portland State. The losses are Boise State and Idaho.
: What happened in July with the bowl alliance?
A: Nothing that will affect this season or next. This season, the Sugar Bowl gets the top
In July, ABC announced a deal that created a "super alliance" by adding the Pac-10, Big Ten and Rose Bowl to the group. The new alliance begins in the 1998 season.
the Sugar Bowl matchup in the bowl alliance. Since the Big Ten and Pac-10 are not part of the alliance until the 1998 season, the Sugar is hoping Nos. 1 and 2 come from the ACC, Big East, Big 12, SEC and Notre Dame. That takes in 42 of 109 I-A teams
: What's the bowl lineup look like?
A : Most of the games — at large bids remain for the Haka and Independence bowls — are set:
Las Vegas — MAC 1 vs. Big West
Aloha — Pac-10 4 vs. Big 12 6.
Haka — Pac-10 3 vs. At-large.
Cotton — Big 12 2 vs. Pac-10 2.
WAC1
- Copper — WAC 2 vs. Big 12 5.
- Carquest — Big East 3 vs. ACC 4.
- Liberty — Conference USA 1 vs. BN East 4.
Placer
Alamo — Big Ten 4 vs. Big 124.
Holiday — WAC 1-Pac-10 2 vs.
Big 123.
Peach -- ACC 3 vs. SEC 4.
- Independence — SEC 5 vs. At large.
Orange — Alliance 4 vs. Alliance 6
Sun — Pac-10 5 vs. Big Ten 5.
Siu — Sec-3.
Fiesta — Alliance 3 vs. Alliance
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Gator — ACC 2 vs. Big East 2.
Outback — SEC 3 vs. Big Ten 3.
Rose — Pac-10 1 vs. Big Ten 1.
Sugar — Alliance 1 vs. Alliance
: Why play the Kickoff Classic?
A: At first glance the reason is money. The minimum payout per team is $675,000. And this year's game between Penn State and Southern California at 77,716-seat Giants Stadium is a sell-out. It could even be a Rose Bowl preview.
But what about the future? With the new bowl alliance in place in 1998, and conferences adding title games after the season, why would any team risk an extra game at the start? One loss, even in the first game, could be the difference between playing for the national title and $6 million or ending up in the Gator Bowl for a whole lot less.
How big is the Big 12?
seven teams finished in the Top 25 last season, and six are in the pre-season poll.
: Here are some lofty numbers:
Only 13 times in bowl history have teams scored more than 50 points. Four were recorded by Big 12 teams last year: Nebraska scored 62, Texas Tech 55, Kansas State 54 and Kansas 51.
Last season, Iowa State's Troy
Bush only.
Barry Sanders of Okla-
the fifth player in NCAA history to rush for more than 2,000 yards. Three others are Big 12 members: Barry Sanders of Ol
homa State, Mike Rozier of Nebraska and Rashaan Salaamof Colorado).
Big 12 teams were 49-10 against nonconference foes a year ago, and 6-1 in bowl games.
Nebraska's Tom Osborne and
TAA&M A&A's R. Scoc. Loci are 1-2 in
winning percentage among coaches
with five or more years at a I-A
School. Osborne is at .827 231-47-3)
and Scocum at .812 65-15-2).
: Who are the top defensive players?
A : Defensive ends Jared Tomich Nebraska), Brandon Mitchell Texas A&M) and Cornell Brown Virginia Tech), linebackers Pat Fitzgerald Northwestern), Terrell Farley Nebraska) and Jarrett Irons Michigan State) and DBs Chris Cantey Kansas State), Shawn Springs Ohio State) and Kevin Jackson Alabama).
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