COLLEGE FOOTBALL SPOTLIGHT

MAYBE SWITZER SHOULD TRY IT AGAIN

Remember the wishbone?

Oklahoma, Billy Sims, Jamelle Holieway, the rage of the ‘70s and ‘80s. Well the offense is about as forgotten as Pat Benatar, but a few teams still use it.

Rice and Air Force are two, and they squared off in Colorado Springs on Saturday. It marked the return to the academy of Rice Coach Ken Hatfield, who took over at Air Force in 1979 and revived a struggling program by installing the wishbone.

“[Air Force Coach] Fisher [DeBerry] and I have kind of been the last ones who have been holding on for a long time,” Hatfield said.

Well, it would probably take the whole turkey to turn things around at Rice, and that showed as Air Force won, 45-17.

In fact, it has been a good season for the wishbone for the three service academies. Air Force, Army and Navy, all using some form of the offense, are a combined 8-2 this season, better than the trio of Notre Dame, Nebraska and Tennessee.

MORE ‘BONE, THIS ONE BORN IN TEXAS

Army quarterback Ronnie McAda made his 22nd consecutive start, the most for an Army quarterback in 12 years, as the Cadets (3-0) defeated North Texas, 27-10, to remain unbeaten. A run-and-shoot quarterback as a senior at Mesquite (Tex.) High, McAda has become such a prolific runner that he has has been nominated as a candidate for the Doak Walker Award, honoring the nation’s top running back.

McAda has been the starter since his sophomore season, and had perhaps his best performance last week against Duke when he rushed for 88 yards and threw for 225. He had only 39 yards passing Saturday because he had to leave the game with an ankle injury.

McAda has come a long way from his freshman year, when hazing from upperclassman almost drove him from school. Acts like having to memorize the front page and front sports page of the New York Times every day tend to wear on you.

“I was ready to transfer to like Texas A&M;, and just go to school,” McAda said.

BLAME IT ON THE RAIN

Prairie View, perhaps you have heard of it, lost its 62nd consecutive game Saturday to Grambling, 54-12. Instead of harping on the negatives of another down day for the Panthers, we want to drift back to the time of their last victory, a 21-12 victory over Mississippi Valley State (No, Jerry Rice was not there) on Oct. 28, 1989.

It was forgiving fall day, high of 81 degrees, low of 59, a light breeze. A new group, Milli Vanilli sounded just as good live as on tape. Michael Keaton was Batman. The Cosby Show was hitting its stride. It was an innocent time. They were young. They were winners.

ROCKETING FROM THE NO. 1 PICTURE

Notre Dame fans may be singing a familiar song after Autry Denson’s 90-yard punt return touchdown was called back because of a clip call in a loss to Ohio State.

The play was similar to a call in the 1991 Orange Bowl when Notre Dame lost to Colorado--and possibly a national championship--when Rocket Ismail’s 91-yard punt return for a touchdown was called back in the waning seconds of the game.

“I didn’t think I did, but the ref did,” said Ty Goode, who was flagged on a block of Buckeye Antoine Winfield. “I was just trying to get in front of him.”

Replays showed, however, that Goode had a handful of Winfield’s jersey. In 1991, Greg Davis’ block was questionable because although it came from the side, Davis’ head was in front of the defender.

The plays were quite different, but had this same result:

“The national championship is over,” Ron Powlus said.

GAITERS IN MIAMI, LOVE LEADING LAS VEGAS

Saturday was a particularly strong day for the odd-named.

Tony Gaiter, who should have gone to Florida but instead is at Miami, made his first career start and caught three touchdown passes--including an 85-yard score--as Miami pounded Pittsburgh. Gaiter, who had 135 yards on four catches, replaced another all-namer, Magic Benton, in the starting lineup.

Omar Love, a UNLV running back, caught three touchdown passes but got his heart broken by Wyoming, 33-21. Eion Hu, only one short of a vowel sweep, scored two rushing touchdowns as Harvard routed Bucknell, 30-7. Lastly, Ibn Green score Louisville’s lone touchdown in a 24-7 loss to Southern Mississippi.

YOU SAID IT

Nebraska Coach Tom Osbourne looking back on last week’s loss to Arizona State: “Maybe that needed to happen.”

CAN THEY FIND A HELMET BIG ENOUGH?

Ronney Jenkins, formerly of Hueneme High, who set a national high school rushing record last season with 619 yards and seven touchdowns in a victory over Rio Mesa, is off to a good start at Brigham Young.

The problem: He knows it.

His first collegiate touchdown provided the winning margin in a 17-14 victory over New Mexico last week, and he scored twice and gained 74 yards against SMU on Saturday, including a 21-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, as the Cougars won, 31-3.

Jenkins’ assessment: “When the coaches put me in, it’s either first down or touchdown.”

HOW ABOUT THIS LINEUP?

The title of Hooligan U. now seems to belong to Clemson.

There have been nine Clemson player arrests this year, as well as the in-season permanent dismissals of top receiver Antwuan Wyatt and running back Anthony Downs and two-game suspension of wide receiver Tony Horne.

And, the school announced before Saturday’s 21-10 victory over Wake Forest that it has frozen the salary of Coach Tommy West after he delayed information about defensive end Trevor Pryce’s unauthorized use of a university long-distance calling code.

Said West about the past few days: “I didn’t sleep very well.”

HIGHS AND LOWS

First San Jose State safety Ashanti Hayes had to watch his team get routed by Washington State, 52-16, Saturday at Pullman, Wash., then he had to shell out $1,050 to stay at out of jail.

Hayes, a former Cougar player who left Washington State after in 1994, was arrested in the San Jose locker room after the game for failure to appear in court on a charge of possession of marijuana while he was a student in Pullman.

TRY SOME GEL, OR A LITTLE MOUSSE

California quarterback Pat Barnes had a terrible game in the Bears’ 48-42 overtime victory over Oregon State. He fumbled twice, had four interceptions, and had this to say:

“I had some good plays and bad plays and sometimes you’ve just got to roll with the punches,” said Barnes, who still managed to score the game winner. “It’s like Coach [Steve] Mariucci said, I had a bad hair day.”

NOTEWORTHY

Iowa State’s Troy Davis ran for 378 yards--the third highest total in major college history--in a 45-31 victory over Missouri. A look at the top single-game rushing performances:

396--Tony Sands (Kansas) vs. Missouri, Nov. 23, 1991.

386--Marshall Faulk (San Diego St.) vs. Pacific, Sept. 14, 1991.

378--Davis (Iowa State) vs. Missouri, Sept. 28, 1996.

377--Anthony Thompson (Indiana) vs. Wisconsin, Nov. 11, 1989.

357--Mike Pringle (CS Fullerton) vs. New Mexico St., Nov. 4, 1989.

357--Rueben Mayes (Washington St.) vs. Oregon, Oct. 27, 1984.

Nebraska and Penn State joined elite company by winning their 700th game. Only Michigan (758), Notre Dame (740), Texas (707) and Alabama (706) have reached that milestone.

Kentucky has not scored a touchdown since the third quarter of its season-opening loss to Louisville. The Wildcats have scored only 20 points in going 0-4 this season and were shutout Saturday (65-0 by Florida) for the first time since the 1994 season finale against Tennessee.

--Compiled by GEORGE DOHRMANN