COLLEGE FOOTBALL : Weekend Results Upsetting for Three Major Bowl Games

By GENE WOJCIECHOWSKI

Oct. 17, 1991 12 AM PT

Their self-imposed gentlemen’s agreement fulfilled, bowl representatives returned to assorted press boxes and locker rooms last Saturday, schmoozing and slapping backs as if they had never been gone.

The mood was less festive at, say, the Cotton Bowl offices in Dallas, where news of Baylor’s loss to Rice-- Rice? --was greeted with mournful pauses. The Bears, undefeated and ranked No. 8 at the time, were the Cotton’s meal ticket to a possible national championship game. Now . . . poof. That’s because the Southwest Conference, which sends its champion to Dallas each New Year’s Day, no longer has an unbeaten team. And that means No. 1-ranked Florida State, should it remain atop the polls, would be less inclined to play in the Cotton Bowl.

“Ain’t no way FSU is going to play in this football game,” said Jim Brock, Cotton Bowl executive director.

The same is probably true in Miami, where the good folks on the Orange Bowl selection committee watched glumly as then-unbeaten Oklahoma was upset by Texas. For the Orange to have a shot at a national title game, it probably needed the Big Eight Conference champion, which receives an automatic bid, to finish 11-0. Forget it. Every team in the league has at least one loss.

And imagine how gloomy the people at the Sugar Bowl were when Florida beat Tennessee, thus depriving that Jan. 1 game of an unbeaten Southeastern Conference champion and with it--at least for now--a national championship scenario involving Florida State.

Instead, the early bowl victors appear to be the Citrus Bowl, which automatically invites the Atlantic Coast Conference winner; the Fiesta Bowl, which has no conference tie-ins; and the Rose Bowl, whose officials are salivating at the thought of unbeaten Washington vs. once-beaten Michigan.

If the season ended today, the Citrus would get undefeated North Carolina State and, depending on the payoff, Florida State. Money is an issue because the Seminoles, if they remain No. 1, could reap at least $1 million or so more if they accepted a bid to the Orange, Sugar or Cotton.

“Obviously,” said Chuck Rohe, executive director of the Citrus, “it would depend on how much Florida State would want to sacrifice.”

The Citrus’ payout last season was $1.35 million a team, compared to $2.1 million a team paid by the Orange, $1.77 million by the Sugar and $1.5 million by the Cotton. Rohe said he expects a similar or slightly higher figure this season, but added that a national championship game would mean “having to find another million or million and a half more.”

One possibility is that ABC, which televises the game, might chip in more cash. A clause exists in the Citrus contract that allows for an increase in the rights fee if the game so warrants. Another possibility is money from a title sponsor.

The Fiesta, which paid $1.2 million a team last season, is staring at a possible matchup of Notre Dame vs. the Florida State-Miami winner. The Hurricanes travel to Tallahassee, Fla., on Nov. 16, the day before official bids--there’s a joke--can be extended by the bowl representatives.

As usual, all this speculation comes with appropriate warnings:

--Florida State not only has to beat Miami to remain undefeated, but it also has to defeat Florida at Gainesville on Nov. 30.

--North Carolina State must play Clemson in Death Valley on Oct. 26, which is no easy victory.

--Don’t dismiss undefeated and No. 2-ranked Miami, which has beaten Florida State five of the last six times, including two of the last three times in Tallahassee. Except for Florida State, the Hurricanes’ remaining schedule is a breeze--Cal State Long Beach, Arizona, West Virginia, Boston College and San Diego State.

Most of all, listen to the warnings of Brock, who has been in the bowl business long enough to know that much can still happen.

“It’s too damn early to start this,” he said of the prospective matchups. “The last time I checked, they’re going to play a few more games.”

Add bowl winners: It isn’t official, but it appears that the Citrus Bowl and the Holiday Bowl are close to signing an agreement with the Big Ten that would send the conference runner-up to Orlando, Fla., and the No. 3 conference team to San Diego.

“We’re having very, very serious discussions on that line,” said Bob Moore, president of the Citrus Bowl.

Moore, who will attend Saturday’s Illinois-Iowa game, said a contract could be signed within a week but wouldn’t go into effect until next season. That makes sense, because the Citrus is in the final year of its agreement with the ACC.

What doesn’t make sense is why the Big Ten, which probably could make more money by sending its No. 2 team elsewhere, would agree to such a deal. One theory is that ABC is pressuring the conference to sign with the Citrus, thus giving the network an attractive lead-in game to the Rose Bowl telecast.

As for the Holiday, the would-be agreement is welcome news. If signed, it would give the game the prestige of a Big Ten tie-in, to say nothing of geographical balance and a valued Midwest television market.

Miami’s Carlos Huerta, who had converted an NCAA-record 157 consecutive extra points before his streak was broken recently, knows exactly why kickers are struggling this season. To prove it, Huerta, a finance major, grabbed a calculator and began doing some number-crunching.

“There’s a 20.71% decrease in the width between goal posts,” he said. “That’s a lot.”

Concerned with the growing importance of the field goal, NCAA rulesmakers narrowed the distance between the uprights from 23 feet 4 inches to the NFL-like 18-6 this season.

This past weekend alone, Texas beat Oklahoma in part because of three missed field goal attempts by the Sooners; Rice upset Baylor when the Bears missed three second-half field goal tries; Syracuse’s John Biskup, the most accurate kicker in the school’s history, missed two fourth-quarter tries, resulting in a loss to East Carolina, and Clemson’s Nelson Welch made only two of five as the Tigers tied Virginia. Huerta missed an extra point. Dan Mowrey of Florida State missed two extra points against Virginia Tech, which brought his total of misses to eight.

According to the NCAA, the field goal success rate is down--59.9% in 1991 compared to 65.1% at this time last season. The most noticeable decrease is in the 30- to 39-yard distance, where kickers made 71.4% of those attempts at this point in 1990, compared to 59.0% this year. Also, conversions are off, too--from 95.9% in 1990 to 91.5% in ’91.

Huerta said he recently asked Miami Dolphin kicker Pete Stoyanovich which was tougher: kicking in the pros or kicking in college? Stoyanovich said it was harder in college, mostly because of the wide hashmarks and now the smaller kicking target.

“To me, it’s a challenge now,” Huerta said.

To others, such as Mowrey, it’s a nightmare.

It is one of the great stories of the season.

Saddam Hussein Jr. and Bruno Schwarzkopf, nephew of Desert Storm commander Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, are on the same Princeton freshman football team. Teammates, no less. Next season, with a starting position open, Hussein Jr. and Schwarzkopf will be battling for the No. 1 spot on the depth chart. Can you believe it?

Actually, no.

Somehow--and Princeton sports information director Mark Panus isn’t sure how--this tall tale has been making the national rounds. Angry Princeton alumni and fans have called his office and angrily denounced the supposed appearance of Hussein Jr. on the Ivy League team.

“Someone from Arkansas called, and they sounded like they were ready to lynch us,” Panus said.

More great mysteries of the 1991 season:

(1) When will the SEC announce that Texas A&M; and possibly Houston, both members of the SWC, are interested in joining the conference?

(2) Why can’t the Big Ten, if it’s truly interested in winning a national championship and a Rose Bowl, temporarily admit Florida State? That way, if the Seminoles and Washington finish the season undefeated, we would get No. 1 vs. No. 2 on New Year’s Day.

(3) Will Michigan State ever win another game?

(4) Is Cal for real?

(5) Who is more entertaining: Florida State cornerback Terrell Buckley or Miami wide receiver Lamar Thomas?

It is question No. 5 that captures our attention for the moment. About a week ago, after Thomas noticed that Buckley had complimented him in a Sports Illustrated story, Thomas called the Florida State star to thank him for the kind words. A friendship was born, which is interesting, because Buckley and Thomas give two of the liveliest and animated postgame interviews in the college game. You also wonder if either one of them could stay quiet long enough to let the other talk.

Buckley, you know about. Brash, brazen and talented, he is a baby version of former Seminole cornerback Deion Sanders.

The equally boisterous Thomas, who beat Buckley for a touchdown last season, is one of three terrific Miami receivers this season. A sampling:

--Thomas on Clarence Thomas and the celebrated hearings: “Who’s Clarence Thomas? Nah, I know. Our show was a little better. And I think I got a prettier face than him.”

--Thomas on his conversation with Penn State Coach Joe Paterno after the Hurricanes beat the Nittany Lions, 26-20, last Saturday: “I went up to him and said, ‘Hey, Coach, I loved playing against your team.’ He said, ‘You guys are great. Good luck the rest of the season.’ I said, ‘It means a lot coming from you. I wanted to shake your hand, sir.’ See, he’s a coaching legend. I can tell my kids, ‘I got to shake Joe Paterno’s hand.’ I mean, I respect them . . . even though they lost.”

Counting the 13 major conferences and the 17 major independents, no team has scored fewer points than the Michigan State offense (48). . . . Saturday’s Arkansas-Texas game marks the end of that longtime rivalry. Arkansas joins the SEC football rotation next season. Traditional rivalries are dropping like flies these days. Penn State vs. Pittsburgh, which has survived for almost 100 years, ceases to exist after next season’s game. The Auburn vs. Tennessee matchup won’t be seen until 1998, thanks to the SEC’s decision to go to divisional play. Also included on the list of dearly departed rivalries is Miami vs. Notre Dame, Penn State vs. Syracuse and Florida vs. Miami. . . . Talk all you want about the Oklahoma resurgence, but Sooner Coach Gary Gibbs is 0-3 against Texas. And against conference rival Colorado, Gibbs is 0-2. . . . Not much going on in the SEC these days. At Tennessee, Athletic Director Doug Dickey said a former Volunteer assistant coach, Jack Sells, may have sent Florida coaches information regarding the Tennessee offense. The Gators beat Tennessee last Saturday. At Auburn, former player Eric Ramsey said he plans to release secretly recorded tapes of Tiger coaches and alumni violating NCAA rules.

The Top 10

As selected by Times staff writer Gene Wojciechowski.

No. Team Record 1 Florida State 6-0 2 Washington 5-0 3 Miami 5-0 4 Michigan 4-1 5 Notre Dame 5-1 6 Florida 5-1 7 North Carolina State 5-0 8 Penn State 5-2 9 California 5-0 10 Tennessee 4-1

Waiting list: Illinois (4-1), Nebraska (4-1), Baylor (5-1), Colorado (3-2), East Carolina (5-1).