Add Washington Coach Jim Lambright to the growing list of UCLA admirers.
After the seventh-ranked Bruins clocked the No. 17 Huskies 52-28 last weekend, Lambright said, “They’re as good as any football team we’ve faced this season, including Nebraska.”
With quarterback Cade McNown, the leading passer in the nation, and tailback Skip Hicks, the nation’s No. 1 scorer, the stats say the high-scoring Bruins ought to beat crosstown rival USC this weekend.
The calendar says something else.
In the last three years ending in 7, the Trojans have wrecked the Bruins’ Rose Bowl hopes.
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In 1967, Trojan horse O.J. Simpson went 64 yards for a fourth-quarter touchdown. In 1977, Frank Jordan kicked a field goal with two seconds left. And in 1987, Erik Affholter caught the winning touchdown pass midway through the fourth quarter–or at least that’s what the refs said. Bruin fans maintain Affholter never controlled the ball.
All that bad fortune is probably just a coincidence. But UCLA still might want to be careful around black cats this week.
Besides, UCLA needs more than luck to make its first Rose Bowl appearance since 1993. The Bruins will try to beat USC while keeping one eye peeled for the Washington-Washington State score from Seattle.
The Bruins eliminated the Huskies from the Rose Bowl race a week ago. But now they need them to dump Washington State to clear a path for the Bruins to play the postseason on their home turf in Pasadena. The Cougars draw the Rose Bowl in a tie with UCLA because they edged the Bruins to open the season.
The 6-4 Trojans aren’t as formidable as they’ve been in the glory days, but they have plenty to play for Saturday. If they win, they’re likely headed for the Aloha Bowl, a nice consolation prize for a team that lost three of its first five games.
“We’re the underdog,” said coach John Robinson, who is 0-4 against the Bruins in his second tour at Troy. “They are obviously a very hot and a very talented team. There’s just no question that they are one of the best teams in America right now, so we’ve got our hands full. Year in and year out, this is one of the most exciting games in America.”
Case in point: last year’s game in Pasadena, in which the Bruins scored 17 points in the final 6:12 of regulation to tie the game. UCLA won 48-41 in two overtimes.
If Robinson can spring the upset this year, he might save his job for another year. But many in the Los Angeles media are calling for him to step down before he’s pushed.
Dial 1-800-IN-A-RUT: Division I-A football prospects might want to call Rutgers Coach Terry Shea. The Scarlet Knights have 25 scholarships to offer and offer plenty of opportunities after this 0-11 season.
“I can envision us bringing in 7 or 8 junior college players along with 17 high school players,” said Shea, who said he is also pursuing four linemen from the now-defunct Boston University team. Because BU dropped football, ex-Terriers are exempt from NCAA rules requiring transfers to sit out a season.
Pick up, please: Kansas State Coach Bill Snyder has begun lobbying for a bowl alliance bid for the Wildcats, who will finish the regular season 10-1 if they can stay awake long enough to defeat Iowa State this weekend.
Snyder may have heard reports that the Fiesta Bowl was considering offering twice-beaten Arizona State an at-large slot. The Sun Devils figure to be a big draw on their home field.
“We probably are capable of putting as many or more new people into the economy than any other program with a similar record,” Snyder said. “I think that will be a factor in making that choice.”
At least K-State is assured of going to a bowl. For the second time in its two-year existence, the Big 12 looks as if it will not be able to produce enough bowl-eligible teams to fill its six postseason spots.
The problem appears to be that the Big 12 has too many poor football teams. Snyder said he thinks the problem is the Big 12’s eight-game conference schedule, which allows teams only three non-conference games.
“That cuts into your numbers,” Snyder said.
This year, it cut into K-State’s chance to schedule a fourth opponent from the Mid-American Conference.
Fourth and inches: A year ago, four-inch headlines in Tallahassee newspapers screamed “WAR!” on the morning top-ranked Florida met No. 2 Florida State. This year, the headlines might say “BORE!” unless the Gators can find a way to move the ball on the stingy Seminole defense, which allows 40.8 rushing yards per game. . . .
The question isn’t whether Ron Dickerson should have stepped down at Temple after compiling an 8-47 record at the Philadelphia school. The question is whether the Owls can find anyone willing to replace such a class act in such a seemingly hopeless job. . . . Also on the coaching front: Doug Williams has interviewed to be Eddie Robinson’s replacement at Grambling. Williams, a Grambling alumnus, is head coach at Morehouse College in Atlanta. . . . Notre Dame received two points in this week’s USA Today/ESPN coaches poll. The Irish were 12th in the preseason coaches vote but hadn’t showed up on anyone’s ballot in two months. No word on whether the Irish appeared on Joe Paterno’s ballot. . . .
Texas running back Ricky “Little Earl” Williams leads the nation with 171 yards a game. That’s 22 yards more than Earl Campbell averaged in 1977, when he won the Heisman Trophy. Williams isn’t going to put another Heisman in the trophy case in Austin, but he deserves a trip to New York City to see someone else win the award. Williams hasn’t announced whether he’s going to forego his senior year and turn pro. “It’s going to be really tough” to decide, said Williams, who has said he’d be reluctant to come back if the school fires John Mackovic. . . .
Former Northwestern placekicker Sam Valenzisi is a native Buckeye from Westlake, Ohio, but he’ll root for Michigan this weekend in Ann Arbor. He’s going to the big game as a guest of former Michigan flanker John Kolesar, a childhood friend. Valenzisi is working for a Loop brokerage but hasn’t given up hopes of landing a job in pro football. . . .
Pitt’s last-minute 32-27 loss to Syracuse was the latest heartbreaker in head coach Walt Harris’ rookie season. The 4-5 Panthers, who close with Virginia Tech and West Virginia, also lost to Boston College by a point and to Temple by five. “This is about to kill me,” quarterback Pete Gonzalez said.
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