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 Inside College Football
Posted: Tuesday September 28, 1999 05:09 PM East Carolina Is 4-0 | Southern Miss's Road Wars Texas A&M Kicker | Michigan Stuffs Wisconsin Extra Points | Fast Forward Spotlight: Tyrone Carter Even after a big win, up-and-down Alabama was awash in controversy By Ivan Maisel
One of the toughest weeks of Alabama coach Mike DuBose's professional life ended the way the previous one had, with the Crimson Tide nursing a lead and its opponent throwing a desperate last-second pass into the end zone. This time -- unlike on Sept. 18, when Louisiana Tech connected on a 28-yard throw with two seconds left for a shocking 29-28 upset -- Alabama survived. Free safety Tony Dixon knocked down Arkansas quarterback Clint Stoerner's 31-yard heave as time expired, and the Tide beat the SEC West rival Hogs 35-28. "You play as one, with a singleness of purpose, one common heartbeat, one common goal," DuBose said after the game, referring to how the team stuck together through a tumultuous week.
At DuBose's press conference on the morning of Monday, Sept. 20, the second question to him was, Would he consider resigning immediately if he knew he wouldn't be retained at the end of the season? "If I were 100 percent convinced that it was the best thing for this university, sure I'd consider it," DuBose replied, "but I haven't considered it." On Tuesday, Alabama athletic director Bob Bockrath resigned under pressure. Since Bear Bryant's death in 1983, 'Bama has had seven athletic directors. Bockrath, a bureaucrat with ties to Arizona, Cal and Texas Tech, had few people skills and fit in at Alabama like a jar of mayo in a barbecue joint. He lost the support of the university's board of trustees when he didn't fire DuBose in August, after DuBose admitted that he had lied last spring when he said he hadn't had an affair with his former secretary. On Wednesday, according to a source close to him, DuBose said, "If we don't win the game [against Arkansas], I may not have a job next week." On Thursday morning assistant coach Ronnie Cottrell received a call from a friend. According to Cottrell, the caller said, "I don't even know how to tell you this, but they've already contacted Butch Davis at Miami. He accepted, and all of y'all are gone." As Cottrell mulled that over, he heard from another friend, who also told him a deal was done. "I know," Cottrell said, "and the new coach is -- " "Frank Beamer," the friend said, naming the Virginia Tech coach. Within the hour, a third friend called to tell Cottrell the deal was done, and the new coach would be Mississippi State's Jackie Sherrill. On Friday morning another Alabama coach saw a fortune-telling 8 ball in the sports information office, picked it up and asked, "Is Mike still going to be head coach?" The 8 ball read, "Without a doubt." Saturday's game was a microcosm of DuBose's three seasons at Alabama. He has raised the level of talent on the Crimson Tide almost to where it was under coach Gene Stallings before the NCAA imposed scholarship restrictions in 1996. But 'Bama is young -- nine starters are in their first or second years -- and mistake-prone. Against the Razorbacks the Tide committed six turnovers, which Arkansas converted into 25 points. In other words, the Alabama defense limited Arkansas to a field goal, the Tide offense racked up five touchdowns, and the game still came down to the last play. "I played real poorly," says Alabama quarterback Andrew Zow, who threw for 225 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions. "If I play a little better, if [tailback] Shaun [Alexander] plays a little better [165 yards, one touchdown and two fumbles, one returned by Arkansas for a touchdown], we open it up." Patience is needed but is nonexistent at Alabama, which has won seven national championships since 1936. The Crimson Tide -- talent, inexperience and all -- is 3-1 as it prepares for Florida. The defeat of Arkansas has put Alabama in position to win the SEC West. If the Tide does it, DuBose might even remain employed.
Florida State's Big Foot: As North Carolina coach Carl Torbush prepared his Tar Heels to face No. 1 Florida State last week, he noted that Seminoles junior Sebastian Janikowski had kicked off 26 times in three games this season and that 20 of the kicks had resulted in touchbacks. "Everybody will think this is funny," Torbush said, "but there's not a whole lot of use in working on kickoff returns this week, unless another storm is coming in." Sure enough, Janikowski kicked off seven times in Florida State's 42-10 victory. North Carolina didn't return one kick.
East Carolina Is 4-0: At the Tar River Estates apartment complex near the East Carolina campus in Greenville, N.C., floodwaters wrought by Hurricane Floyd rose waist-deep on the morning of Sept. 17. Eighteen Pirates, including starting quarterback David Garrard and starting split end Arnie Powell, were driven from their apartments in the complex. Roads were flooded, the campus shut down, and the team, which had traveled to Columbia, S.C., for what it thought would be a one-day trip, was forced to stay put for six more. Amid that turmoil, coach Steve Logan tried to prepare East Carolina last week to play No. 9 Miami. What would have been a home game for the Pirates was moved to Carter-Finley Stadium at North Carolina State, some 85 miles away in Raleigh. Because none of the Pirates' coaches or players had packed for more than an overnight trip before going to Columbia, Logan jocularly advised his players last week, "Real men don't wear underwear." Somewhere among practices at someone else's indoor facility in jerseys donated by the Carolina Panthers, workouts at the Gold's Gym in Columbia and nightly excursions to the movies, the mall or the bowling lanes, Logan told the Pirates, "As of right now, we have the possibility of going 3-8. Or we have the possibility of going 11-0. You can give up and give in to the emotional situation. We've got to be focused week to week." East Carolina spotted the Hurricanes a 23-3 lead and roared back behind the passing of Garrard and the running of Jamie Wilson to win 27-23. Pirates fans tore down the goalposts, yet another unplanned expense for East Carolina. The week in Columbia, where the Pirates stayed in a Ramada Plaza hotel, ate up a healthy chunk of the $250,000 check East Carolina received for playing there.
Southern Miss's Road Wars: The most significant thing about Southern Mississippi's grueling back-to-back road games against then No. 4 Nebraska on Sept. 18 and No. 5 Texas A&M last Saturday isn't that the Golden Eagles played the games, or even that they played the first one close. Rather, it's that they don't plan to do anything similar anytime soon. The Southern Mississippi program survived for years, as did those of most independent teams, by playing anywhere for a check. Unlike most independents, however, the Golden Eagles usually acquitted themselves well against bigger schools and occasionally won. When Brett Favre quarterbacked them in 1989 and '90, they beat Florida State, Alabama and Auburn. Now that the four-year-old Conference USA is growing stronger, founding member Southern Mississippi will cut back on playing Football for Dollars. "It's not as important as it used to be," says athletic director Richard Giannini, whose school received $500,000 from Nebraska and $200,000 from Texas A&M for this season's games. Conference USA has tie-ins with the Liberty, Humanitarian and Mobile, Alabama, bowls. More important to Southern Miss's bottom line, the conference schedule guarantees the Golden Eagles four home games each season. (They play five at home this year, a number they reached only once before between 1988 and '98.) While Giannini will continue to schedule two-for-ones (two road games if the bigger school comes once to Hattiesburg), he's proud of the home-and-home deal the Golden Eagles set up with Illinois for 1997 and 2002. "It used to be we didn't get anybody to come in and play us," says Southern Miss coach Jeff Bower. "We're getting more exposure. Now it's O.K. to go down to Hattiesburg."
Texas A&M Kicker: Terence Kitchens, a junior walk-on at Texas A&M who had nailed all five of his field goal attempts in the Aggies' two season-opening victories, was summoned to coach R.C. Slocum's office last Thursday and awarded a scholarship. "Now don't go in the tank on me," Slocum told Kitchens, who had won the kicker's job in the spring after last season's starter, Russell Brynam, failed a random drug test and was ruled ineligible. Kitchens apparently didn't find the heat in Slocum's kitchen too hot. He kicked three field goals in a 23-6 victory over Southern Mississippi, including a 62-yarder that tied the second longest in a college game since the NCAA outlawed the tee in 1989. —B.J. Schecter
Michigan Stuffs Wisconsin: If Wisconsin tailback Ron Dayne feels inclined to E-mail Purdue quarterback Drew Brees this week, he could summarize the Michigan defense in a single sentence: It's 1997 all over again. The fourth-ranked Wolverines (4-0), who play Brees and the unbeaten Boilermakers on Saturday in Ann Arbor, beat Wisconsin 21-16 last weekend and put a big hurt on Dayne's Heisman Trophy campaign with a swarming defense that recalled the '97 unit that carried Michigan to a 12-0 record and a share of the national title. Two years ago the Wolverines, led by Heisman-winning cornerback Charles Woodson, stuffed the run with eight defenders in the box and attacked the pass with complex zone blitzes in front of aggressive man-to-man coverage. Michigan held opponents to 9.5 points and 222.8 yards per game. Last year, despite having lost only two starters (Woodson and defensive end Glen Steele) from 1997, the Wolverines' defense was mediocre, giving up almost twice as many points and 80 more yards per game than the season before. The difference between the 1997 and '98 units was partly physical: Woodson was one of the best college corners ever, and Steele was a relentless lineman. It was also partly emotional. "Those guys were leaders, and we didn't adjust to losing them," said senior linebacker Ian Gold. On Saturday the Wolverines held Dayne to 88 yards on 22 carries, including zero yards in the second half. Michigan had four sacks and knocked out Wisconsin's starting quarterback, Scott Kavanaugh, in the third quarter. Purdue will be a different test. The Boilermakers feature a one-back, four-wideout attack. Brees threw for 405 yards against Northwestern, including a 99-yard touchdown pass to Vinny Sutherland to seal the win. "It's tough to make the adjustment from Wisconsin's offense to Purdue's," says Michigan coach Lloyd Carr. "We don't often see people who play the way Purdue does." The last such opponent was Washington State in the 1998 Rose Bowl. Ryan Leaf threw for 331 yards in that game, but Michigan held the Cougars to 16 points. Brees is every bit as dangerous as Leaf was and every bit the Heisman candidate that Dayne was entering last Saturday's game. Whether the Wolverines drop eight defenders into coverage (not likely) or blitz the quarterback mercilessly (bet on it), this will be the biggest test of Brees's career and of the Boilermakers' newfound success. —Tim Layden
Extra Points: Here's why Penn State is 5-0 and ranked second. Last season the Nittany Lions threw four passes of 47 yards or more. This season, thanks to the emergence of senior wideout Chafie Fields as a deep threat, Penn State already has seven passing plays of at least 47 yards, five for touchdowns. ... After Syracuse quarterback Troy Nunes got slammed to the turf by West Virginia tackle Greg Robinette during the Orangemen's 30-7 win last Saturday, Nunes rose and jawed at the 6'2", 285-pound Robinette, who outweighs him by 122 pounds. Asked later what he had said, Nunes replied, "I was asking him if he knew who won the Ryder Cup matches."
Virginia (3-1) at Virginia Tech (3-0)
Texas A&M (3-0) at Texas Tech (1-2)
Marshall (4-0) at Miami of Ohio (3-1)
Issue date: October 4, 1999
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