COLLEGE FOOTBALL NOTES : NCAA May Give Florida the Death Penalty

Tulane ... Southern Methodist ... is Florida next?

That is the question being asked from Gainesville, Fla., to the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s headquarters outside Kansas City, Mo.

Florida, ranked 25th, may be given the NCAA’s death penalty -- a two-year suspension of the football program -- and seems likely to be hit at least with some tough sanctions.

The resignation of Coach Galen Hall on Sunday because of one admitted violation (supplementing the income of two assistant coaches) and one alleged violation (paying child support for a player) leaves the NCAA with little choice.

Though Hall’s transgressions seem to be coming from the bottom of his heart, if not his pocket, the possibility that anyone in the Florida program would break NCAA rules seems mind-boggling.

Remember, Hall was brought in five years ago under a similar black cloud left by Charley Pell. In that case, Pell resigned and the Gators got off with two years’ probation and a reduction from 95 to 75 scholarships.

Robert Bryan, interim university president, probably didn’t help his school’s cause by saying, “With the NCAA, you never know if it’s murder or a speeding ticket,” or by saying, “We’re not a rogue university.”

And Pell, now in private business in Birmingham, Ala., surfaced long enough to look a little silly himself. “It’s a surprise that they didn’t have an absolute rule -- just don’t do it. It’s very simple,” he told The Birmingham News.

Pell never seemed to be bothered much by the rules either. And, apparently, neither was Florida. Maybe Gators fans can spend their autumns driving over to Tallahassee. Or worse, Miami.

The rivalry between Syracuse and Penn State does not have the same kind of lore as Notre Dame vs. Southern California, but it is steeped in a tradition that dates to the mid-1930s.

Now, it’s about to end.

The schools, which played Saturday at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y., recently announced that their series would not be renewed after the game next year in State College, Pa.

The reason? A combination of the economic realities of running a Division I-A athletic program and the fragile egos of the head coaches, Dick MacPherson of Syracuse and Joe Paterno of No. 23 Penn State.

“I’m probably as nostalgic about this ending as they are,” Paterno said this week. “Especially when I think about all the fun we’ve had up there, all the great games. To have it end on a sour note is not to my liking. It’s too bad.”

The current series has run with only one interruption, in 1943 due to World War II. Penn State’s dance card is filled until 2000. Next year, for instance, the Nittany Lions will open the season and an eight-game series against USC.

The bickering between the schools has gone on for a while. When it was time to renew the contract, Penn State wanted six of the next 10 games at home. According to Paterno, the Nittany Lions need seven home games a season to help support the school’s 27 non-revenue sports.

But Syracuse, which in recent years has regained equal footing to Penn State in the East, said it would sign a new contract only if the games were split evenly.

“They’re making a mistake,” MacPherson said.

Syracuse shouldn’t get sympathy. A ticket Saturday will cost $24 -- $9 more than for any other home Orangemen game. The price increase is expected to bring in $450,000 from the expected sellout.

The first four games this season have turned Houston quarterback Andre Ware into a Heisman Trophy contender.

Ware, a junior, has thrown for 1,820 yards and 20 touchdowns. He is on a schedule to break Jim McMahon’s NCAA single-season records of 47 touchdown passes and 4,751 yards, set at Brigham Young in 1980.

In a 66-10 romp over Baylor last week, Ware was 32 of 53 for 514 yards and seven touchdowns against what previously had been the nation’s top pass defense. And Ware came out with four minutes left in the third quarter.

“We shut up a lot of critics,” said Ware. “People had said we weren’t playing anybody. But Baylor is a good team.”

“It makes me sick to think about the game,” said Baylor Coach Grant Teaff, whose team fell from first to 30th in pass defense after facing Ware. “It was an agonizing game.”

Could Ware be the Barry Sanders of 1989?

Considering that the Cougars are 4-0 and ranked in the top 10 (No. 8) for the first time in a decade, Ware certainly will get some recognition. But because Houston is on probation for violations committed under former Coach Bill Yeoman, Ware will get little, if any, exposure.

“It’s a shame, but that’s what we’re faced with,” Houston Coach Jack Pardee said. “Andre is a great player, and people somehow find out about great players.”

In this case, he means Heisman voters and pro scouts. A few more seven-touchdown games, and preseason favorites such as Tony Rice and Major Harris had better be-Ware.

New Mexico’s rushing attack is so horrendous that defensive end Monte Cuba wants to become the Lobos’ answer to William “Refrigerator” Perry.

“As far as I’m concerned, I was made to be a running back and got too oversized,” said Cuba, 6-foot-2, 280 pounds.

The Lobos are last in the Western Athletic Conference and are 98th among the 106 Division I-A teams with 400 yards in six games.

“I started out as a fullback in high school. I weighed 263, and they called me ‘The Cube-Ball,’ ” said Cuba. “I could drag three people with me. In junior college, I teamed with a 6-5, 250-pound tight end in the backfield. They called it ‘The Big Nasty.’ ”

New Mexico could use even a little nasty in its offense.

Or maybe the Lobos could use BYU fullback Fred Whittingham. The week before the Cougars defeated Wyoming, 36-20 Saturday, Whittingham was in bed with a 104-degree fever.

When he got out of bed Monday, he suffered an injured Achilles’ tendon and didn’t practice all week. Then he had his “best game ever -- by far,” according to BYU Coach LaVell Edwards -- rushing for 65 yards on 11 carries and catching six passes for 127 yards.

Guess that goes against the old coaching adage that you play as you practiced.

Of the 11 unbeaten teams remaining in the country, only two won’t face another team on the list this season. No. 13 North Carolina State (6-0) and Fresno State (5-0) are the two.

Top-ranked Notre Dame (5-0) and No. 17 Air Force (6-0) met Saturday in Colorado Springs, Colo. The last time two or more teams finished the year undefeated was 1973, when the Fighting Irish were joined by Penn State and Miami, Ohio.

Other possible matchups of current unbeatens later this year are No. 6 Tennessee (5-0) vs. No. 11 Alabama (4-0) on Oct. 21, No. 7 Arkansas (4-0) vs. Houston on Oct. 28, No. 4 Nebraska (5-0) vs. No. 3 Colorado (5-0) on Nov. 4 and -- drum roll please -- Notre Dame vs. No. 2 Miami (5-0) on Nov. 25 at the Orange Bowl.

After his No. 5 Wolverines beat Wisconsin, 24-0, Saturday, Michigan Coach Bo Schembechler closed the locker-room door to the press. “The players have nothing to say,” he said.

Apparently, Schembechler did, both to his players and to the media. He called the victory over the Badgers “the worst 24-point victory we’ve ever had.”

Conversely, it was perhaps Wisconsin’s best 24-point defeat in a long time.

Quote of the week: “Thump, thump, thump. Hear that sound? That’s thumping. That’s Godzilla I coming, and followed closely by II and III.” Iowa State Coach Jim Walden on the idea of facing No. 3 Colorado, No. 15 Oklahoma and No. 4 Nebraska in the next three weeks.