As you might expect, the North Carolina-Indiana battle down in Chapel Hill has national title implications.
But Saturday afternoon’s game won’t involve the Dean and the General. And ESPN2 viewers won’t be hitting the “mute” button to silence Dick Vitale.
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The Tar Heels and Hoosiers represent all that’s big-time about college basketball, but Saturday they’ll tangle in a football game with significance on both sidelines. For IU, the game marks the debut of head coach Cam Cameron. For seventh-ranked Carolina, it could be the first step toward a national title–the ultimate goal in its drive to prove that football can thrive on a campus with a long history of hoop domination.
With few exceptions–Michigan being the prime example–it’s rare for Division I schools to excel at both men’s basketball and football for an extended period. On many campuses, the emphasis is plain. It used to be that way at Carolina, where the basketball team’s brilliant Dean Smith Center overshadowed picturesque but aging Kenan Stadium, home to Heels football since 1927.
“When we were losing and our facility in football wasn’t up to par, it really hurt us in recruiting,” coach Mack Brown said in a telephone interview from Chapel Hill. “Opposing coaches would say, `Walk in the Smith Center and walk in Kenan Stadium. One was built in the 1920s and one is the best facility in the nation. Son, go there and decide which sport matters at Carolina.’ “
But reality has caught up with that perception. So don’t tell Brown that his team is on the verge of joining the elite, like its basketball counterpart. After the gridiron Heels won 10 games and finished 10th in the final 1996 AP poll, he thinks it already has.
“We’ve had more wins in the last four years than Michigan or Notre Dame,” said Brown, 46, who’s in his 10th year at UNC. “Joe Fan wouldn’t realize that. That’s something we still fight, to get that respect nationally.”
Carolina might not earn respect outside the Southeast seaboard until it can knock off the lone national power in the Atlantic Coast Conference: Florida State, which visits Chapel Hill Nov. 8.
The Tar Heels haven’t beaten the Seminoles since they joined the ACC in 1992 and became the football measuring stick in a hoops-crazed conference.
“They have raised the bar in this league,” Brown said.
A few years ago, Brown may have wondered whether the Heels could reach that bar. Brown had feelers from LSU and Oklahoma–he had served as an assistant at both schools–when Carolina showed what he termed “commitment” to football.
When major-college football coaches say “commitment,” they mean a willingness to spend barrels of cash. North Carolina is undertaking a $40 million renovation of its football facilities, including a makeover of Kenan.
All of which has Cameron taking notes. A native of Chapel Hill who played football and basketball at IU, Cameron sees Carolina as a rare blueprint for high-level success at both sports.
“There’s no doubt that we want to try to accomplish exactly what Carolina has done, to put together a football program that can compete with anyone in the country,” Cameron said.
Carolina will stand or fall on defense. Nine players return on a unit that led the nation in 1996 in scoring defense (allowing 10 points a game), total defense and turnover margin. It has all-stars all over the field, from sophomore cornerback Dre’ Bly, an All-America with 11 interceptions last year, to linebacker Brian Simmons and defensive end Greg Ellis. Offensively, the Heels are led by all-ACC quarterback Chris Keldorf.
“Three-quarters of that defense is going to play (professionally),” Cameron said.
That’s another parallel to Dean Smith’s basketball dynasty.
Second guess central: For the second year in a row, a critical fumble by an inexperienced player has put a coach on the hot seat.
A year ago, Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez came in for criticism when freshman tailback Ron Dayne dropped a handoff without being hit, setting up a miraculous comeback victory by Northwestern. On Saturday, Syracuse redshirt freshman Dee Brown fumbled at the North Carolina State goal line in the final minute of regulation. The Wolfpack recovered and went on to score a 32-31 overtime upset over then-No. 13 Syracuse in the Carrier Dome.
Critics want to know why Syracuse coach Paul Pasqualoni didn’t kick a field goal, or give the ball to veteran fullback Rob Konrad.
“If I had it to do over again, I’d do it exactly the way we did it,” Pasqualoni said. “I thought it was as secure a play as we could run. We were going to let the clock run down to five seconds and then kick the field goal.”
SOS for UCLA: Washington State quarterback Ryan Leaf is no slouch, having fired 21 touchdown passes a year ago. But if Leaf threw for 381 yards in a 37-34 win over UCLA last weekend, what will third-ranked Tennessee’s Peyton Manning do to the Bruins Saturday in the Rose Bowl? Manning threw for 310 yards and five touchdowns in the Vols’ opener against Texas Tech–and he left in the third quarter.
“You’ve got to perform better, you’ve got to cover people better,” Bruins coach Bob Toledo said. “This isn’t the NFL. You don’t make trades or put guys on waivers. We’ve got to go with the guys that we’ve got.”
Aloha: Hawaii coach Fred vonAppen should have been riding high after leading the Rainbow Warriors to a 17-3 upset over Minnesota Saturday in Honolulu. But vonAppen was dogged by questions over his ongoing spat with Gov. Ben Cayetano. After raising $450,000 for the cash-strapped program, Cayetano last week blasted vonAppen, saying the coach had not acknowledged the effort and had fostered an inhospitable atmosphere toward donors.
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“He evidently had strong feelings,” vonAppen said. “I’m the CEO of football. He’s the CEO of the state. He’s got a lot more important things than to worry about me.”
4th and inches: Oklahoma will try to avoid its ninth straight home loss when it meets Syracuse in Norman Saturday. The Sooners lost a total of 10 home games in the 17-year Bud Wilkinson era and 10 in Barry Switzer’s 16-year reign.
Grad rate ratings: College presidents like to talk about the importance of graduation for student-athletes. But only 52 percent of the Division I-A football players who entered school in 1990 got their degrees, making it plain that goal isn’t close to being met.
What would this week’s AP Top 10 look like if the teams were shuffled to reflect graduation rates? Here’s a look based on the 1997 NCAA graduation-rate report of the percentage of freshmen entering in 1990-91 who received degrees:
1–Penn State and Florida State: 71 percent; 3–Nebraska: 63 percent; 4–Washington: 59 percent; 5–Florida and Colorado: 53 percent; 7–North Carolina: 48 percent; 8–Ohio State: 29 percent; 9–Tennessee: 25 percent; 10–LSU: 20 percent.