Collegiate Title Picture Still Hazy
For most college football teams, the season passed the midpoint over the weekend, leaving the following questions yet to be answered:
Will Ohio State and Southern Cal continue undefeated into the Rose Bowl and force their respective conferences, the Big Ten and the Pac-10, to pressure the most traditional of all bowl games to get involved in the alliance when the winner finishes behind the Fiesta Bowl winner in the polls?
With their big win at Wisconsin Saturday, the fourth-ranked Buckeyes have survived the most difficult stretch of their schedule, defeating Notre Dame, Penn State and the Badgers on consecutive weekends. Four of their last six games are at home, but there’s that Nov. 25 trip to Michigan. Fifth-ranked Southern Cal has road games at Notre Dame and Washington the next two weeks.
Can Northwestern, the most heartwarming story in the nation so far this season along with Grambling coach Eddie Robinson, continue its remarkable run for the roses?
If the Wildcats and Ohio State finish tied for first in the Big Ten, Northwestern will go to the Rose Bowl because the Buckeyes have been there more recently. Northwestern and Ohio State don’t play each other this year.
Can you imagine a 12-0 Ohio State team not going to the Rose Bowl? In such a scenario, the Buckeyes could conceivably play in the Fiesta Bowl if they finish with a higher ranking than one of the alliance teams, i.e., Florida State, Nebraska or Florida. Think of it, the Buckeyes might have a better chance of finishing No. 1 if they and Northwestern win out and the Wildcats go to the Rose Bowl.
Are any of the three most suspect undefeated teams in the country for real?
The answer is forthcoming. Seventh-ranked Kansas will play Oklahoma in Norman on Saturday and play at Kansas State in two weeks. Eighth-ranked Kansas State will go against No. 2 Nebraska this week in Lincoln. No. 18 Iowa, which has won seven in a row over two years, has No. 19 Penn State in Iowa City this week.
Oh well
All anyone has to do is glance at the Penn State sideline to wonder why the Nittany Lions have played some erratic defense this season.
Standing there during home games are three players who would significantly improve the defense if they were healthy. Two are freshmen - Floyd Wedderburn and Brandon Short - and the other is strong safety Jason Collins, who was having an outstanding season before suffering a fractured left leg early in the game against Rutgers three weeks ago.
Wedderburn is a 6-foot-8, 320-pound defensive lineman, a remarkable athlete who sat out last season because he didn’t meet the academic guidelines for eligibility. The Penn State coaches thought he’d be a dominating force by now, but he blew out a knee in a non-contact drill during the preseason.
The 6-3, 235-pound Short, a true freshman from McKeesport, Pa., who was the centerpiece of State’s last recruiting class, is expected to be the school’s next great linebacker. He is recovering from a knee injury and will soon be available, but he’ll be redshirted so he doesn’t waste a year of eligibility playing only a fraction of the season.
Heartbreaker
“I pictured this a thousand times the last two weeks,” Army quarterback Ronnie McAda said. “Us getting the ball with three minutes to go and driving down for the winning score. It was like I was living my dream.”
Unfortunately for McAda, reality didn’t have the same ending as his dream.
In the most dramatic finish to any game over the weekend, Army’s twopoint conversion attempt with 39 seconds remaining was stopped inches short of the goal line, and Notre Dame escaped with a 28-27 win at Giants Stadium.
Tight end Ron Leshinski, who weighs 240 pounds, took McAda’s pass but was kept from getting into the end zone on a great tackle by 161-pound Irish cornerback Ivory Covington.
Incidentally, Covington was in the game only because starting cornerback Allen Rossum had been injured moments earlier.
“I should have gotten in,” Leshinski said. Army, a 23-point underdog, had fought back from a 28-7 deficit.
Unbeaten, untested
His Florida State Seminoles are 6-0, ranked No.1, and averaging 58.5 points and 630.3 yards a game, yet coach Bobby Bowden knows his team’s true worth won’t be known until the Nov. 25 game against No. 3 Florida.
In fact, Bowden is already looking ahead to the Gators. “I think we’ve got a great plot working. If we can get to the end, the test is there,” he said.
It’s become clear once again this season the rest of the Atlantic Coast Conference is no match for the Seminoles, who are averaging an amazing 66 points a game against their ACC brethren after their 72-13 rout of Wake Forest. By the way, the Demon Deacons are coached by Jim Caldwell, a former Penn State assistant.
The polls
While Florida State retained its big lead over No. 2 Nebraska in the Associated Press media poll, the Seminoles lost two first-place votes. One went to No. 3 Florida, which outscored Auburn, 49-38, and the other went to No. 4 Ohio State.
Northwestern climbed from No. 14 to No. 11, and just think where the Wildcats would be if they hadn’t lost to Miami (Ohio) on a last-minute field goal. The 5-1 ‘Cats haven’t won seven games in a season since 1971.
xxxx COLLEGE FOOTBALL TOP 25 POLLS
Associated Press poll The Top Twenty Five teams in The Associated Press college football poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Oct. 7, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote, and previous ranking: Recrd Pts Pv 1. Florida St. (38) 6-0-0 1,520 1 2. Nebraska (16) 6-0-0 1,487 2 3. Florida (3) 6-0-0 1,421 3 4. Ohio St. (5) 6-0-0 1,388 4 5. Southern Cal 6-0-0 1,310 5 6. Tennessee 6-1-0 1,234 6 7. Kansas 6-0-0 1,087 10 8. Kansas St. 6-0-0 1,086 8 9. Colorado 5-1-0 1,085 9 10. Michigan 5-1-0 930 11 11. Northwestern 5-1-0 917 14 12. Oregon 5-1-0 841 15 13. Auburn 4-2-0 828 7 14. Virginia 6-2-0 621 19 15. Oklahoma 4-1-1 611 13 16. Texas 4-1-1 527 18 17. Notre Dame 5-2-0 465 17 18. Iowa 5-0-0 454 23 19. Penn St. 4-2-0 448 20 20. Washington 4-2-0 384 24 21. Alabama 4-2-0 328 12 22. Texas A&M 3-2-0 217 22 23. Stanford 4-1-1 205 16 24. Wisconsin 2-2-1 156 21 25. Texas Tech 3-2-0 144 25 Others receiving votes: Baylor 143, Arkansas 110, Syracuse 100, UCLA 43, Maryland 25, Georgia Tech 10, San Diego St. 10, Virginia Tech 8, Washington St. 5, Colorado St. 1, Toledo 1. Bergum’s picks Spokesman-Review staff writer Steve Bergum’s picks for the AP poll: 1. Nebraska, 2. Florida State, 3. Southern California, 4. Florida, 5. Ohio State, 6. Tennessee, 7. Kansas, 8. Auburn, 9. Colorado, 10. Kansas State, 11. Northwestern, 12. Oklahoma, 13. Virginia, 14. Notre Dame, 15. Oregon, 16. Penn State, 17. Texas, 18. Michigan, 19. Iowa, 20. Texas A&M, 21. Washington State, 22. Washington, 23. Alabama, 24. Syracuse, 25. Stanford.
USA-CNN poll The USA TODAY-CNN football coaches’ poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Oct. 8, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote, and previous ranking: Recrd Pts Pv 1. Florida St (34) 6-0-0 1,512 1 2. Nebraska (22) 6-0-0 1,496 2 3. Florida (1) 6-0-0 1,416 3 4. Ohio State (4) 6-0-0 1,378 4 5. Southern Cal (1) 6-0-0 1,326 5 6. Tennessee 6-1-0 1,204 7 7. Kansas 6-0-0 1,114 9 8. Kansas State 6-0-0 1,097 8 9. Colorado 5-1-0 1,026 10 10. Michigan 5-1-0 915 11 11. Northwestern 5-1-0 804 17 12. Oregon 5-1-0 793 15 13. Auburn 4-2-0 772 6 14. Oklahoma 4-1-1 668 12 15. Virginia 6-2-0 655 16 16. Texas 4-1-1 616 13 17. Iowa 5-0-0 581 22 18. Penn State 4-2-0 415 20 19. Texas A&M 3-2-0 346 18 20. Syracuse 5-1-0 326 24 21. Baylor 4-1-0 294 23 22. Notre Dame 5-2-0 276 21 23. Washington 4-2-0 261 24. Alabama 4-2-0 259 14 25. Stanford 4-1-1 140 19 Others receiving votes: UCLA 102, Texas Tech 96, Arkansas 82, Maryland 51, Wisconsin 48, Georgia Tech 23, Virginia Tech 23, Georgia 8, Texas Christian 6, Arizona 5, Miami, Florida, 5, Brigham Young 4, Fresno State 3, Colorado State 2, Nevada 1, Toledo 1.
The following fields overflowed: SUPCAT = COLUMN - College football notebook