INSIDE COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Timberrrrrrr!
Emotion-charged foes felled Florida State, Michigan and Notre
Dame
by Ivan Maisel
Posted: Wed September 16, 1998
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Safety Jason Poles helped take the air out of Drew
Henson and the Wolverines.
(Damian Strohmeyer)
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John Cooper is a skittish sort anyway. Cooper, the coach of No. 1
Ohio State, complained last week that his Buckeyes had no
business playing Toledo, an in-state opponent that would get more
revved up to face Ohio State than would the Utahs, who were also
out there dying for a paycheck. The Buckeyes struggled past the
Rockets 49-0, but don't think Cooper is sleeping any better this
week knowing that Ohio State won while several other powerhouses
didn't. The day after Florida State suffered just its second ACC
loss in seven seasons, a 24-7 whipping by North Carolina State,
Seminoles coach Bobby Bowden said, "It was a hungry team playing
a prosperous team."
College football is a dynastic sport, and in sizing up the
dynasties, fans and pundits often succumb to circular logic: This
is mighty Florida State, therefore whomever Bowden chooses as the
starting quarterback will lead the Seminoles to victory because
this is mighty Florida State. Then sophomore Chris Weinke goes to
North Carolina State and is intercepted six times, and the
Seminoles lose 24-7. In making his first start before a hostile
crowd, Weinke fared miserably, which is normal for a first-year
starter but not one from Florida State, possessor of 11
consecutive Top 10 finishes.
With its two straight losses Michigan has settled the argument
over who should have been last season's Heisman Trophy winner.
Wolverines cornerback Charles Woodson, not Tennessee quarterback
Peyton Manning, really was the most outstanding player and
deserved the Heisman, which, of course, he won. Without
Woodson—one of only two starters who didn't return to the
Michigan defense—the Wolverines reverted to the form they showed
before 1997, when they lost four games a year for four straight
years. If you offered the Wolverines the guarantee of an 8-4
season right now, they would snatch it in a heartbeat. Two weeks
ago, Michigan and Arizona State, which lost 26-6 to BYU last
Saturday and fell to 0-2, were candidates to play in the Fiesta
Bowl (No. 1 versus No. 2 nationally). Now they're hoping for the
Sun (Pac-10's No. 3 versus Big Ten's No. 5).
The upsets of Michigan, Florida State and Notre Dame—a 45-23
loser to Michigan State on Saturday—each could be blamed to some
extent on an inexperienced quarterback. What those losses also
speak to, however, is the power of emotion in college football.
Ask Iowa State about the importance of emotion. Archrival Iowa
played last Saturday merely to win the intrastate matchup for the
16th consecutive season. The Cyclones played to save coach Dan
McCarney's job. They won 27-9. Michigan State, which had
sleepwalked to two embarrassing losses, played for senior
cornerback Amp Campbell, who narrowly escaped paralysis after
breaking two vertebrae in his neck while trying to make a tackle
during a 48-14 loss at Oregon on Sept. 5. He underwent surgery in
Eugene that night to fuse the vertebrae, and doctors believe he
may be able to play football again. Standing in the Spartans'
locker room before Saturday's game, he wanted to address his
teammates but broke down crying. They wept with him. Michigan
State then stormed to a 42-3 halftime lead.
Emotion makes college football interesting, even when the same
teams win year after year. Imagine how much fun it's going to be
this year on when some of them don't win. "We underestimated
North Carolina State," Bowden said on Sunday, "and so did y'all."
Issue date: September 21, 1998
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