2B
Wednesday, October 12, 1994
SUNFLOWER
OUTDOOR &
Bike SHOP
804 Mass 843-5000
Red Lyon Tavern 944 Mass. 832-8228
"NO COUPON SPECIALS" EVERYDAY
Legal Services for Students
STUDENT
THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
SENATE
148 Burge • 864-5665
SPORTS UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
fifi's 9251OWA
841-7226
Lunch & Dinner
Great Food
CARRY-OUT
1-PIZZA
1-TOPPING
1-COKE
PRIMETIME PART "10"
3-PIZZAS 10-PIZZAS
1-TOPPING 1-TOPPING
4-COKES
TWO-FERS
2-PIZZAS
2-TOPPINGS
2-COKES
$9.00
$3.50
$11.50 $30.00
DELIVERY HOURS
Sun-Thurs
Fri-Sat
11am-2am
11am-3am
Use your Kansas Card and get one pizza with one topping for
$2.60 each + tax.
1601 W 23rd Southern Hills Center • Lawrence
DINE-IN AVAILABLE • WE ACCEPT CHECKS
LOUISE'S DOWNTOWN BAR
1909 MASSACHUSETTS ST.
WEDNESDAYS 50 DOMESTIC
1.50 DOMESTIC THURSDAYS
FRIDAYS 1.50 LONGNECK PABST BLUE RIBBON
1.50 LONGNECK PABST BLUE RIBBON SATURDAYS
SUNDAYS 2.00 PREMIUM COCKTAILS
LSAT
GMAT
MCAT
GRE
Are you prepared? We are.
The Answer To Standardized Tests Call today, classes are forming now. (800)865-7737
Review is not affiliated with Princeton University or the Educational Testing Service.
Tide is drowning in the rankings
The Associated Press
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — It has the reputation. It has the record.
What the Alabama Crimson Tide doesn't have is much respect in the rankings.
With a 6-0 record, the six-time national champions would figure to be right in the thick of the race for a seventh. Instead, Alabama finds itself behind a roadblock at No. 10 — trailing three teams that already have lost.
"I heard something about us winning ugly," defensive tackle Shannon Brown said Monday. "I don't understand that term. What's the name of the game anyway? Winning and losing. All the stats in the world don't mean a thing. The bottom of the line is whether you win or lose."
OK, that's a point well taken. On the other hand, it's hard to find fault with poll voters who have been unwilling to overlook Alabama's opponents.
In five victories over Division I-A teams (the season opener was a 42-13 rout of I-AA Tennessee-Chattanooga), Alabama has won by an average margin of just seven points.
And those teams aren't exactly the Fearsome Fivesome.
"We have yet to have a good 60 minutes of football," said Willem Gaston, safety. "Until we do that, we're never going to move up in the polls."
Vanderbilt, Arkansas, Tulane, Georgia and Southern Mississippi boast a cumulative record of 11-17.
Coach Gene Stallings insisted there's no sense of urgency on the team, no need to start worrying about the rankings — even though Alabama was ranked fourth at this point in 1992, when the Tide went on to capture its most recent national championship.
"I'm not concerned about that. I guess I should be." Stallings said. "I just trying to win the game. We haven't been very impressive in some of our wins. That's probably the reason we're where we are (in the poll)."
Back-up quarterback Brian Burgdorf, who could see playing time this week against Tennessee with starter Jay Barker nursing a sore right shoulder, can't help but take a glance at the rankings.
"Sure, we look at the polls," he said.
"We want to win the national championship, and that's how you win it. We want to win our games here at the end
of the season so we can be in position to win it."
That's what happened two years ago, when the Tide steadily moved up and found itself ranked No. 2 at the end of the regular season. Alabama then beat Florida in the Southeastern Conference title game and top-ranked Miami in the Orange Bowl to win it all.
"I think the polls are a bunch of ... hogwash," said Brown, searching for a printable word. "If we go out and win every week, that will take care of itself and we'll be where we want to be."
Not at this rate Alabama was 12th in The Associated Press preseason poll and jumped to 11th without playing a game. Now, after six victories, the Tide has moved up only one more spot.
Alabama, ranked sixth in the coaches' poll, is No. 8 in the bowl coalition rankings, just behind Miami.
If the Hurricanes won the remainder of their games, it's conceivable they could play Big 8 winner Nebraska or Colorado in the Orange Bowl for a possible national championship. In addition to Tennessee this week, Alabama has a couple of prime late-
season opportunities to impress the pollers. No. 6 Auburn visits Birmingham on Nov. 19, and the Tide is on track to meet No. 1 Florida for the third straight year in the SEC title game in Atlanta.
None of that will matter if the Tide doesn't turn.
"We keep hanging on, hanging on... that's the way it's been all season long," Brown said. "We can't keep doing that, especially against Tennessee this week. If we do, they'll embarrass us, embarrass us real bad."
Barker returned to practice Monday despite his sore shoulder, but his status for the Tennessee game is still in doubt.
An MRI showed no major damage, and Barker said the injury felt better Monday than it did the day before.
It appears Barker will at least get some playing time, based on his recovery so far from the severe bruise he received on his throwing shoulder against Southern Mississippi.
After he was injured early in the third quarter Saturday, the Tide managed only two more first downs the rest of the game with Burgdorf running the show.