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Handing out the hardware
Posted: Tuesday November 23, 1999 07:18 PM
By Ted Miller, Seattle Post-Intelligencer We simply can't wait until the season is over to hand out Pac-10 awards. So what if there's a conference contest left (Arizona-Arizona State) and three other teams playing non-conference games? It's not like they care in Arizona, where a rivalry game still has 10,000 tickets remaining. The coach of the year award goes to Stanford's Tyrone Willingham, who transformed last year's 3-8 team -- which finish tied for eighth in the Pac-10 -- into this Y2K season's Rose Bowl representative. Even more important, witnesses say the dour Willingham smiled a few times this season, though this has not been verified. He gets the nod over Oregon State's Dennis Erickson and Washington's Rick Neuheisel. Erickson ended 28 years of losing in Corvallis, leading the Beavers to their first bowl (the Oahu) since 1965. In his first season, Neuheisel nearly took a team predicted in the preseason to finish sixth in the conference to the Rose Bowl. The conference's offensive player of the year is Stanford wide receiver Troy Walters, who nips his teammate, quarterback Todd Husak. Walters became the Pac-10's all-time leading receiver this season and leads the conference with 127.3 yards receiving per game and eight touchdowns. Arizona State linebacker Adam Archuleta scores an upset for defensive player of the year. Archuleta leads the conference with 10.4 tackles per game. In just nine games, he is second in tackles for a loss with 19 and adds five sacks for good measure. He slips California's defensive end Andre Carter, who has 10 sacks and 20 tackles for a loss but just 53 total tackles this season, and Cal defensive back Deltha O'Neal, who leads the conference with nine interceptions, four of which he returned for touchdowns. The freshman of the year is USC wide receiver Kareem Kelly, who lived up to his recruiting hype by leading the Trojans with 53 receptions for 895 yards and four touchdowns.
The disappointment bowlThe winner of the Arizona-Arizona State game at Sun Devil Stadium will play in the Aloha Bowl on Christmas Day. But a matchup that appeared scintillating during the preseason no longer produces much excitement. Arizona (6-5, 3-4) was ranked fourth and Arizona State (5-5, 4-3) 25th in the Associated Press's preseason poll. Neither team is sniffing the rankings this week. Both teams have suffered through scandals. Arizona's season started badly when a group of players were busted for taking money from a university employee who was trying to show them how to use an ATM machine. Two Wildcats were later charged with misdemeanor domestic violence. The Sun Devils captured embarrassing national headlines after running back J.R. Redmond's bizarre marriage and divorce. Arizona has had problems in its defensive backfield and has been flagged for a school-record 110 penalties for 885 yards. Arizona State hasn't found answers at wide receiver and couldn't seem to win without J.R. Redmond in the lineup. Arizona beat Arizona State 50-42 last season when the teams produced 1,169 yards of total offense. Sun Devils quarterback Ryan Kealy threw for 511 yards, while Wildcat running back Trung Canidate rushed for a school record 288 yards on just 18 carries. Arizona went on to beat Nebraska 23-20 in the Holiday Bowl to finish the year at 12-1. That momentum never carried over to this season. Arizona State, which finished a disappointing 5-6 after hearing its own national title buzz, was supposed to use the 1998 campaign as motivation this year. It didn't happen.
Erickson gets raiseDennis Erickson, whose name has been attached to the vacant head coaching position at LSU, has signed a new five-year contract with Oregon State that will pay him $500,000 a year. Erickson's first contract with OSU paid him $300,000 a season. The contract buyout is $250,000.
NFL-to-college turnaroundErickson has led the Beavers to their first winning season since 1971 and first bowl game since 1965, but his salvage job might be only the second best on hand in the Oahu Bowl on Christmas Day. OSU will take on Hawaii, which finished 0-12 last year. The Rainbow Warriors are currently 8-3 under first-year coach June Jones and will play Washington State on Saturday. Jones and Erickson are both refugees from sagging NFL teams. Jones left the San Diego Chargers to take over the floundering Hawaii program, while Erickson was dumped last January by the Seattle Seahawks.
Rose Bowl hintsStanford figures to be a substantial underdog when it takes on No. 4 Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1. But this week's showdown with Notre Dame could provide an interesting preview of whether the Cardinal can hang with the Badgers. Though Notre Dame is 5-6 and won't play in a bowl game, the Irish feature a ground-based attack like Wisconsin. The Irish played mostly competitive games against a rugged schedule laden with Big 10 powers like Michigan, Purdue and Michigan State, as well as Tennessee. In its one foray into the Pac-10, Notre Dame blitzed Arizona State 48-17. Stanford went 7-1 against Pac-10 foes but suffered a pair of embarrassing losses to non-conference opponents. The Cardinal opened its season with a 69-17 thumping at Texas and then lost to lightly-regarded San Jose State 44-39 on Oct. 2. If Stanford, which lost 35-17 last year to Notre Dame, can shake off the euphoria of capturing its first Rose Bowl invitation since 1972 and beat the Irish, its confidence should skyrocket.
Civil War explosionsA motorhome parked outside of Autzen Stadium exploded during the fourth quarter of the Civil War game between Oregon and Oregon State, sending flames and black smoke spiraling into the air. Oregon won in large part because the Beavers imploded inside the stadium with 146 yards in penalties.
Best team?Oregon might be headed to the lackluster Sun Bowl, but it also may be the best team in the Pac-10. For one, Oregon owns the conference's best overall record (8-3). Also, the Ducks own the conference's longest current winning streak in every measure: overall (five games), in the conference (five), at home (14) and on the road (two). Oregon lost to Washington without its top two running backs (Reuben Droughns and Herman Ho-Ching) and played a competitive game with Michigan State, which is currently ranked 11th, before bowing out 27-20. The Ducks didn't play conference champion Stanford.
Worth notingStanford's defense has improved. It has moved from last place (114th) in Division I-A to No. 110 ... Cal defensive back/return specialist Deltha O'Neal has broken Russell White's school record for all-purpose yards. O'Neal, who returned a punt and kickoff for touchdowns against Stanford, finished his career with 4,948 total yards ... Stanford redshirt freshman running back Casey Moore's 94-yard run for a touchdown against Cal was the second longest in school history. Bill Rogers went for a 96-yard score in 1952 against Oregon State ... Because its playing in Hawaii's home stadium in the Oahu Bowl, Oregon State will not be required to sell its allotment of 7,000 tickets ... In three seasons, Cal coach Tom Holmoe is 0-9 in games played after Nov. 1 ... For only the fourth time in conference history, four Pac-10 running backs -- Arizona's Trung Canidate, Oregon State's Ken Simonton, Oregon's Reuben Droughns and USC Chad Morton -- rushed for over 1,000 yards. Arizona State's J.R. Redmond only needs 27 yards this week against Arizona to join them. Ted Miller covers the Pac-10 for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Check back Dec. 22 for his latest CNN/SI Bowl Insider.
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