Oklahoma Is the Answer, but What Is the Question?

Oklahoma is ranked so high by so many people it hardly seems worth the wear and tear on that silly schooner to conduct a football season. Miami’s Vinny Testaverde is so beloved, the NFL draft might as well be held now. And now that Gerry Faust has found peace in Akron, well, why agonize along with Notre Dame each week? There’s just no more of that ghoulish fun to be had now that the Irish have hired a stand-up comic.

Compared to last year, in other words, college football seems very much in order. Where’s controversy, anticipation? You would think, in other words, that this season begins with fewer questions. Wrong.

1. Who will be the next Bo Jackson?

Almost certainly it will be Oregon’s Chris Miller, one of the Pac-10s top returning quarterbacks. Miller, who passed for 2,237 yards and 18 touchdowns last season, played shortstop in the Seattle Mariner organization this summer. He hit .101 at Salinas.

2. Put it this way, who will win the Heisman Trophy?

Well, not Miller. Probably Testaverde, the Miami Hurricane who threw for 3,238 yards and 21 touchdowns, although he did not play baseball. Testaverde finished fifth in the voting as a junior last season and fits into the classic Heisman profile--senior quarterback on a Top-10 team. Also, Miami has increased its media mailing list from 600 to 1,000.

Your other nominee is Lorenzo White, the Michigan State running back who rushed for 1,908 yards last season as a sophomore. He led the nation, averaging 173.5 per game, and finished fourth in the Heisman voting. Although White gains a lot of yards in a lot of games, he is at his best on television, where the voters (sportswriters) are more likely to see him. Last year he averaged 245 yards in four TV games. His PR push is a weekly update called “The White Paper.”

Longer shots are junior Thurman Thomas, who gained 1,553 yards at Oklahoma State last season, and Oklahoma’s Brian Bosworth, a junior linebacker. Neither is getting anything special in the way of a publicity push, but Bosworth, by virtue of a bad haircut, may be getting more exposure than all the athletes combined.

Longest shot: Fresno State quarterback Kevin Sweeney, expected to break the NCAA career passing record this season. Fresno State has just two TV games, both on ESPN. To overcome this killing lack of exposure, the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. financed a summer trip to New York so Sweeney could talk to reporters there. Could be this year’s Joe Dudek.

3. How long before we can decide on the national champion?

Is a week too long? Defending champion Oklahoma meets UCLA Saturday in Norman in one of the most critical games of the season. The Sooners, everybody’s preseason pick, return virtually everybody. All-American nose guard Tony Casillas is the only name you’ll miss from the country’s No. 1 defense. And 10 starters are back on offense, including wishbone quarterback Jamelle Holieway, the only such person to actually carry a purse. It’s probably pigskin, too.

UCLA will likely challenge the Sooners in the air. That’s where the Sooners always get challenged.

If the Bruins fail to unseat the Sooners, the season could still be decided within the month. Three weeks later Oklahoma goes to Miami, which is ranked in almost everybody’s top five. The Hurricanes, who blew a national title when Tennessee becalmed them in the Sugar Bowl, return another monster passing attack with Testaverde. And Oklahoma hates monster passing attacks. Last year Miami handed Oklahoma its only loss, when Testaverde threw for 270 yards.

Oklahoma practically gets a bye to the Orange Bowl if it wins those two games.

4. And if Oklahoma doesn’t?

Besides UCLA and Miami, which are on the Oklahoma schedule, who best to challenge the Sooners but Michigan, which went 10-1-1 last season and actually won a bowl game. Bo Schembechler, who leads active coaches with the most victories (196) in Division I-A football, has never won a national championship. But then, he waited a long time to win a bowl game, too.

Dark horses, please: Penn State, which lost the national championship to Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl last season. And Texas A&M; and Alabama, if Ray Perkins’ coaching closet still isn’t filled with ties.

5. Is this a down year for nicknames?

A little down, yes, although Florida quarterback Kerwin Bell, the Throwin’ Mayoan, is back. And so is Texas A&M;’s 335-pound guard, Marshall (All Over This) Land. Paul (Boo Boo) Palmer, so small that all his mother could think of was a character from the Yogi Bear cartoon series, carries the ball at Temple. Lorenzo White is calling the Michigan State offensive line the “White Nights.” Together they travel the “Great White Way.” Also, Kansas defensive backs, Tony and Derek Berry. They’re the Crunchberries, wouldn’t you know.

6. What record will be broken?

Fresno State’s Sweeney has passed for 8,260 yards, 2,320 shy of Doug Flutie’s career passing record. Sweeney has averaged 2,753 for three years so if he can just keep passing, he should make it. Just kidding. Kevin’s dad, Coach Jim, calls the plays.

7. What is going to be the offense of the ‘80s?

The offense of the ‘70s, of course, ‘cause the ‘bone is back. After the wishbone reached its peak of popularity in 1976 and the novelty was exhausted, coaches began to return to the more normal offensive configuration, where fumbles didn’t rule the day.

But the success of those who stuck with the triple-option attack, and not just at Oklahoma, has apparently impressed some coaches. In 1984 only seven teams ran the wishbone, but five of them went to bowl games. Last season, 11 ran the ‘bone, and six played in bowl games.

Best example of the ‘bone’s quick fix effect is Colorado, which went from 105th (of 105 teams) in rushing to ninth in the nation last season.

8. Is this the year of the quarterback?

Of course it is. Every year is the year of the quarterback. They get the attention, votes and all the girls. All the time.

But, in addition, this is the year of the linebacker. Oklahoma’s Bosworth, who was called the best of the lot as a sophomore last season when he was given the Butkus Award, is back, so loquacious by now that he could become the Mouth that Bored if he keeps it up. He’s hardly alone, though. LSU’s Michael Brooks, Alabama’s Cornelius Bennett, who once clothes-lined the college president, and Ohio State’s Chris Spielman, who was on a Wheaties box before he was ever a Buckeye, make this position the focus of NFL scouts everywhere.

9. What coach is most likely to ask his team to ‘win one for the zipper?’

Faust, who finally gave up the ghost at Notre Dame, will be shaking down the thunder at Akron, home of the Zips. This is not considered a must-win year for Faust, who had weathered five such seasons at Notre Dame. On the other hand, his predecessor went 8-3, with no particular spiritual guidance. Faust opens with Salem but from there, his schedule is all over the map. He has Eastern Michigan, Middle Tennessee and Central Florida.

10. Why is Lou Holtz good, and Larry Brown bad?

We don’t know. Maybe he’s funnier than the peripatetic basketball coach, but Holtz certainly doesn’t stay in one place longer. Holtz, the new Notre Dame coach, had stayed at Minnesota for just two seasons before making his inevitable pilgrimage to South Bend. He said his lifetime contract with the Gophers had a Notre Dame clause. Maybe it all works out. They say Faust, contractually, could only leave the Irish if Akron came calling.

11. Who’s on the hot seat this year?

Fred Akers, who has been 81-25-2 at Texas, again. After consecutive four-loss seasons, including losses in two bowl games and consecutive losses to Texas A&M;, Akers is getting a lot of heat, and not just for the losses but for his conservative style of play. In the Bluebonnet Bowl last season, trailing Air Force, a lineman joked in the huddle, “We’ve got eight minutes to go and we’ve got to have two field goals. I think we can do it.”

Last season, after the Wronghorns lost in routs to both SMU and Texas A&M;, a booster organized a fund-raising drive to buy out the remaining six years of Akers’ contract at $91,600. If Akers, who has been consistently out-recruited in his own state in recent years by Texas A&M; and even Oklahoma State, fails to reach the Cotton Bowl this year, that figure could look bargain basement to some boosters.

12. Who’s BYU’s inevitable passing sensation this year?

It will probably be Steve Lindsley, who has thrown three passes in his collegiate life, or about one a year while watching folks such as Marc Wilson, Jim McMahon, Steve Young and Robbie Bosco graduate before him. Waiting in the wings is Mike Young, Steve’s brother.

13. Does it seem like there are more bowl games than ever?

Yes, because there are. The Hall of Fame Bowl at Tampa resumes play this year, bringing the number of postseason bowl games to 19. Look for this number to decline in subsequent seasons, though, because television is suddenly crying poor. ABC’s Dennis Swanson says, “We will lose $3 million televising the Sugar Bowl this year. I promise, that will not happen again.”

The Sugar Bowl will remain, once terms are renegotiated, but others might not be so fortunate. With rights fees being drastically reduced, it could develop that some bowls will not be able to make the NCAA-mandated payment of $500,000 apiece to competing teams without outside sponsorship.

“We don’t need more games, we need less games,” said Swanson. “The ratings are a half what they used to be.” Nevertheless, there will be six New Year’s day games this season.

14. Are there any changes in college football rules for 1986?

The only one you’ll notice is the rule moving the spot for kickoffs from the 40 to the 35-yard line. That was done in the belief that more kickoff returns will mean more excitement.

15. Who is this year’s best team that won’t be on television?”

As last year, it will be Florida, which would have won the SEC the last two seasons with 9-1 records except for a series of NCAA sanctions resulting from recruiting violations. However, Florida comes off probation at the end of the regular season and will be eligible for both the league title and a bowl berth. Some sanctions when you think about it: the SEC recently voted to give Florida $650,000, half the money the Gators claim they lost by being kept out of the conference’s television and bowl revenue sharing programs.

Florida has certainly survived the NCAA sanctions, which include limitations on recruiting, better than SMU, which is in the middle of a three-year probation. SMU dropped to 6-5 last year, its worst season since 1979, and will likely drop further as the scholarship limitations continue to hit home.

Beginning a modest one-year stretch is the curiously named Texas Christian, which got nabbed for five years worth of violations, including charges that the program provided players with prostitutes. The Horned Frogs, and now you know why they’re called that, can not play in a postseason football game this season. But that may be academic as the team that failed to win a conference game is back in its dreadful entirety.

16. But what about payoffs at Penn State?

Coach Joe Paterno put up $150,000 to help build the university library’s collection and to provide scholarships for minority students. Here’s a guy who ought to be under investigation, at least by his fellow coaches.

17. Who has the toughest schedule?

And you wonder why Faust left Notre Dame. The Irish, who are not in this year’s top 20, nevertheless play four top 20 teams--Michigan, Penn State, Alabama and LSU. Only pushovers are Navy and Purdue. Last year, too, Notre Dame played the nation’s toughest schedule, its opponents winning 70% of their games.

Oklahoma, while it plays all the weaker members of the Big Eight, does open with UCLA and Miami.

Miami, on the other hand, rates a much weaker schedule. Except for Florida, Florida State and the Sooners, the Hurricanes have a pushover schedule--at home with Texas Tech, Northern Illinois, Tulsa and East Carolina.

18. Who had the best recruiting season?

According to Max Emfinger of the National High Football Recruiting Service, Michigan had the best, followed by UCLA, Iowa, USC and Ohio State.

19. What happened to Big Ten parity?

It went the way of all those fancy-dan passers, such as Chuck Long of Iowa, Jim Everett of Purdue, Steve Bradley of Indiana. Normalcy has returned, meaning balanced offenses. Meaning, in short, three yards and a cloud of dust and Michigan-Ohio State, once more. Woody Hayes is smiling somewhere.

Ironically, traditionally grind-it-out Ohio State and Michigan are the only teams in the Big Ten retaining anything of passing potency. Michigan has the NCAA’s most efficient passer in Jim Harbaugh and Ohio State has the conference’s best pure passer in Jim Karsatos. So maybe Woody isn’t smiling, after all.

But one thing for sure, the Rose Bowl team will come from the Ohio State-Michigan game. Big Two, little eight. Yeah, he’s smiling.

20. Why doesn’t it matter?

The Big Ten will once more lead the nation in college football attendance, just as it has every year since figures were kept. Last season it reached 4 million, selling 94% of its stadiums’ capacity. Twenty games have already been announced as sellouts, four at Michigan, five at Ohio State.

1985 NCAA STATISTICAL LEADERS

RUSHING

Player (School) 1985 Car Yds Avg TD Yds Class PG Lorenzo White (Michigan St.) So. 386 1908 4.9 17 173.5 Paul Palmer (Temple) Jr. 279 1516 5.4 9 168.4 Bo Jackson (Auburn) Sr. 278 1786 6.4 17 162.4 Thurman Thomas (Oklahoma St.) So. 302 1553 5.1 15 141.2 George Swarn (Miami, Ohio) Jr. 309 1511 4.9 12 137.4 Barry Word (Virginia) Sr. 207 1224 5.9 6 122.4 Napoleon McCallum (Navy) Sr. 287 1327 4.6 14 120.6 Reggie Dupard (SMU) Sr. 235 1278 5.4 14 116.2 Doug DuBose (Nebraska) Jr. 203 1161 5.7 8 116.1 Steve Bartalo (Colorado St.) Jr. 338 1368 4.0 12 114.0

PASSING

Player (School) 1985 Cmp Att Pct. Int. Yds TD Class Jim Harbaugh (Michigan) Jr. 139 212 .656 6 1913 18 Kerwin Bell (Florida) So. 180 288 .625 8 2687 21 Chuck Long (Iowa) Sr. 231 351 .658 15 2978 26 Jim Karsatos (Ohio St.) Jr. 158 254 .622 8 2115 19 Mike Shula (Alabama) Jr. 138 229 .603 8 2009 16 Vinny Testaverde (Miami, Fla.) Jr. 216 352 .614 15 3238 21 Robbie Bosco (BYU) Sr. 338 511 .662 24 4273 30 Kevin Sweeney (Fresno St.) Jr. 177 295 .600 7 2604 14

Player (School) Rating Jim Harbaugh (Michigan) 163.7 Kerwin Bell (Florida) 159.4 Chuck Long (Iowa) 153.0 Jim Karsatos (Ohio St.) 150.5 Mike Shula (Alabama) 150.0 Vinny Testaverde (Miami, Fla.) 149.8 Robbie Bosco (BYU) 146.4 Kevin Sweeney (Fresno St.) 145.1

RECEIVING

Player (School) 1985 Rec Yds Avg TD Rec Class PG Rodney Carter (Purdue) Sr. 98 1099 11.2 4 8.9 Brad Muster (Stanford) So. 78 654 8.4 4 8.7 David Williams (Illinois) Sr. 85 1047 12.3 8 7.7 Webster Slaughter (San Diego St.) Sr. 82 1071 13.1 10 6.8 Marc Zeno (Tulane) So. 73 1137 15.6 3 6.6 Reggie Bynum (Oregon St.) Sr. 61 703 11.5 7 6.1 Loren Richey (Utah) Jr. 73 971 13.3 7 6.1 Richard Estell (Kansas) Sr. 70 1109 15.8 4 5.8

TOTAL OFFENSE

Player (School) 1985 Total Yds Yds Yds TDR Class Plays Run Pass Total Jim Everett (Purdue) Sr. 518 -64 3651 3589 24 Robbie Bosco (BYU) Sr. 578 -132 4273 4141 32 Doug Gaynor (CS Long Beach) Sr. 589 -96 3563 3467 25 Vinny Testaverde (Miami, Fla.) Jr. 420 -158 3238 3080 25

Player (School) Yds PG Jim Everett (Purdue) 326.3 Robbie Bosco (BYU) 318.5 Doug Gaynor (CS Long Beach) 288.9 Vinny Testaverde (Miami, Fla.) 280.0

ALL-PURPOSE

Player (School) 1985 Yds Yds Yds Yds Yds Yds Class Run Rec PR KOR Total PG Napoleon McCallum (Navy) Sr. 1327 358 157 458 2330 211.8 Paul Palmer (Temple) Jr. 1516 131 0 96 1743 193.7 George Swarn (Miami, Ohio) Jr. 1511 424 0 17 1952 177.5 Lorenzo White (Michigan St.) So. 1908 28 0 0 1936 176.0

PUNT RETURNS

Player (School) 1985 No. Yds TD Avg Class Erroll Tucker (Utah) Sr. 16 389 2 24.3 Kevin Martin (Boston College) Jr. 30 509 1 17.0 Scott Schwedes (Syracuse) Jr. 24 384 2 16.0 Stephen Baker (Fresno St.) Jr. 17 243 1 14.3

KICKOFF RETURNS

Player (School) 1985 No. Yds TD Avg Class Erroll Tucker (Utah) Sr. 24 698 2 29.1 Ernest Givens (Louisville) Sr. 29 801 2 27.7 Curtis Duncan (Northwestern) Jr. 11 299 0 27.2 Reggie McKinney (E. Carolina) Fr. 13 332 0 25.5

SCORING

Player (School) 1985 TD XPs FG Pts Pts Class Total PG Bernard White (Bowling Green) Sr. 19 0 0 114 10.4 Bo Jackson (Auburn) Sr. 17 0 0 102 9.3 Carlos Reveiz (Tennessee) Jr. 0 30 24 102 9.3 Lorenzo White (Michigan St.) So. 17 0 0 102 9.3 Steve Gage (Tulsa) Jr. 17 0 0 102 9.3 Barry Bell (Fresno St.) So. 0 46 18 100 9.1 Derek Schmidt (Florida St.) So. 0 44 18 98 8.9 Rob Houghlin (Iowa) So. 0 46 17 97 8.8

FIELD GOALS

Player (School) 1985 FGM FGA Pct FG Class PG John Diettrich (Ball St.) Sr. 25 29 .862 2.27 Carlos Reveiz (Tennessee) Jr. 24 28 .857 2.18 Max Zendejas (Arizona) Sr. 22 29 .759 2.00 John Lee (UCLA) Sr. 21 24 .875 1.91

PRE-SEASON WIRE SERVICE POLLS

ASSOCIATED PRESS

No Team (1st Votes) Pts 1 Oklahoma (44) 1,171 2 Michigan (6) 1,016 3 Miami, Fla. (1) 978 4 UCLA (3) 972 5 Alabama 911 6 Penn State (3) 892 7 Texas A&M; (2) 871 8 Nebraska (1) 826 9 Ohio State 673 10 Tennessee 578 11 Florida State 422 12 Baylor 404 13 Florida 396 14 Auburn 269 15 LSU 229 16t Georgia 220 16t Washington 220 18 BYU 210 19 Arkansas 188 20 Michigan State 182

Pittsburgh received one first-place vote. UPI

No Team (1st Votes) Pts 1 Oklahoma (36) 731 2 Michigan (1) 605 3 Texas A&M; (5) 538 4 UCLA (2) 532 5 Penn State (2) 499 6 Alabama (1) 497 7 Miami, Fla. (3) 474 8 Nebraska 405 9 Ohio State 343 10 Tennessee 283 11 Florida State 189 12 Baylor 141 13 Auburn 82 14 Arkansas 75 15 Georgia Tech 73 16t BYU 67 16t Washington 67 18 Iowa 56 19 LSU 54 20 Maryland 49

Florida, SMU, TCU ineligible.

FINAL WIRE SERVICE POLLS FOR 1985

ASSOCIATED PRESS

No Team (1st) Rec. Pts 1 Oklahoma (55) 11-1-0 1138 2 Michigan (1) 10-1-1 1032 3 Penn State 11-1-0 990 4 Tennessee (1) 9-1-2 957 5 Florida 9-1-1 929 6 Texas A&M; 10-2-0 792 7 UCLA 9-2-1 767 8 Air Force 12-1-0 755 9 Miami, Fla. 10-2-0 699 10 Iowa 10-2-0 621 11 Nebraska 9-3-0 500 12 Arkansas 10-2-0 495 13 Alabama 9-2-1 484 14 Ohio State 9-3-0 409 15 Florida State 9-3-0 359 16 BYU 11-3-0 288 17 Baylor 9-3-0 184 18 Maryland 9-3-0 158 19 Georgia Tech 9-2-1 128 20 LSU 9-2-1 126

UPI

No Team (1st) Rec Pts 1 Oklahoma (40) 11-1-0 614 2 Michigan 10-1-1 559 3 Penn State 11-1-0 517 4 Tennessee 9-1-2 454 5 Air Force 12-1-0 397 6 UCLA 9-2-1 392 7 Texas A&M; 10-2-0 336 8 Miami, Fla. 10-2-0 291 9 Iowa 10-2-0 259 10 Nebraska 9-3-0 217 11 Ohio State 9-3-0 166 12 Arkansas 10-2-0 163 13 Florida St. 9-3-0 138 14 Alabama 9-2-1 106 15 Baylor 9-3-0 77 16 Fresno St. (1) 11-0-1 47 17 BYU 11-3-0 44 18 Georgia Tech 9-2-1 35 19 Maryland 9-3-0 33 20 LSU 9-2-1 17

SMU, Florida ineligible for consideration.