FIVE THINGS TO LOOK FOR

1. Bob Davie’s final game? Yep, this could be it. Notre Dame plays at Purdue on Saturday, a make-up for the game originally scheduled Sept. 15. When former Notre Dame star George Gipp was on his deathbed, he reportedly told his coach, Knute Rockne, “I’ve got to go, Rock. It’s all right. I’m not afraid.” Davie, however, isn’t going to surrender his job as easily. Last week’s loss to Stanford dropped Davie’s five-year record to 34-25, only marginally better than the five-year totals posted by Gerry Faust (30-26-1), generally considered the biggest flop in the history of Irish whistle blowers. Asked this week if he would consider resigning, Davie said, “Never,” meaning his fate is in the hands of Athletic Director Kevin White.

2. A Bay Area school meets its nemesis. Seinfield had “Newman!” and Stanford has San Jose State, a neighborhood nuisance if ever there was one. Let’s consider the schools. San Jose State is 3-8 and a financial mess, perhaps on the brink of dropping football. Stanford is 8-2, No. 10 in the BCS and the nation’s model athletic program yet.... San Jose State has beaten Stanford the last three years and is looking to make it four in a row when they play again Saturday at Spartan Stadium.

This is one of many games moved to Dec. 1 after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. It will be the first time the schools have played in December, and maybe that’s no bargain for Stanford because the Spartans are 11-4 in regular-season games played in December.

3. Last week for Heisman watching. Ballots are due in New York’s Downtown Athletic Club next week, and the burning question entering the weekend action is whether Florida Coach Steve Spurrier will cast his vote for his quarterback, Rex Grossman. By default, the sophomore Grossman has inched to the top of the Heisman leader board, but his harshest critic has been Spurrier. As a former Heisman Trophy winner, Spurrier gets an annual vote and, when push comes to shove, we’re pretty sure he’ll pull the lever for Grossman.

4. Army-Navy. The schools have two victories between them, yet Saturday’s 102nd meeting of the military academies in Philadelphia takes on new meaning, in light of world events. The game will never be what it once was, even in wartime. In 1944, near the end of World War II, No. 1 Army defeated No. 2 Navy, 23-7, to clinch the national championship. Army was led by its dynamite combination of Glenn “Mr. Outside” Davis and Doc “Mr. Inside” Blanchard.

This year’s game features Rick Lantz, Navy’s “Mr. Interim Coach,” yet emotions, patriotism and flag-waving are going to be at peak levels.

5. Another intercollegiate cautionary tale. Finalists for the 2001 Doak Walker Award, given annually to the nation’s top running back, were announced this week: Bruce Perry of Maryland, Luke Staley of Brigham Young and Travis Stephens of Tennessee. Conspicuously missing were the nation’s top two backs, DeShaun Foster of UCLA and William Green of Boston College, both of whom fell out of favor because of off-field incidents. The Doak Walker folks make clear in their press release that winning awards isn’t just about running ability when it said of its finalists, “They have represented their universities, their communities and NCAA college football with a full measure of honor, respectability and integrity.”