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All for one No 'I' in team, but the best squads have a difference-makerPosted: Sunday November 24, 2002 8:30 PMUpdated: Monday November 25, 2002 10:39 PM
Football is a team sport, played by 11 on a side. But, my oh my, what a difference one can make. I saw it with my own two eyes Saturday in Columbus. From the press box, it was as if two different games were taking turns on the field below us: the one when Maurice Clarett was in the huddle and the one when he wasn’t. When Clarett lined up in the backfield, holes opened up that weren’t previously there, tackles that had been getting made before were no longer a given, and Ohio State’s offense was a model of efficiency. Against a Michigan defense that was among the best I’ve seen all season, Clarett totaled 154 yards on 22 carries/catches. Concern for his injury and the Wolverines’ ball-control offense likely were all that kept him from carrying 30 times, gaining 200 yards and making the final moments a little less dramatic. Is it any wonder why the Buckeyes’ offense looked so bad in previous weeks? Their freshman star -- whom many feel could become one of the sport’s all-time greats at his position -- is exactly the type of difference-maker that turns good teams great. Just look at their opponent, whose own tailback, Chris Perry, is good for grinding out three or four yards a carry but lacks the explosiveness to produce the big plays. Michigan outgained OSU, but the Buckeyes scored two touchdowns. The Wolverines couldn’t reach the end zone. Miami has its own one-man turning point in Willis McGahee. His run-into-your-own-man, turn-and-accelerate-on-a dime 69-yard touchdown in the other game I covered this weekend single-handedly rescued a lackluster 'Canes offense and helped them overcome a superior team effort by Pittsburgh. Speaking of one-man shows, there’s no better way to describe what Penn State’s Larry Johnson did over the last half of his senior season. Certainly his offensive line had a lot to do with his hitting every hole virtually untouched in a 19-carry, 279-yard day against Michigan State, but there’s no dismissing what happens when he turns on the jets. Where would the Nittany Lions be without Johnson as their centerpiece? Just see their previous two seasons. Finally, Washington State found out the hard way how much difference one man can make. The Cougars had the Apple Cup in hand, 20-10 with 4:41 left, but star QB Jason Gesser left with an ankle sprain. Granted, his Huskies counterpart, Cody Pickett, had a lot to with Washington's 29-26, three-overtime comeback victory, but he may never have gotten the chance if not for a horrid interception into coverage by Gesser’s replacement, Matt Kegel, in the final three minutes. WSU gained 335 yards on 57 plays prior to Gesser’s exit, but only 15 yards on 14 plays the rest of the way, with three false starts and two turnovers. In two weeks, votes are due for the most treasured award in sports, the Heisman Trophy. The original mandate by the Downtown Athletic Club was to honor “America’s most outstanding college football player,” and voters through the years have interpreted that to mean many different things. While it’s still to close to declare exactly who should win (my top three are McGahee, Carson Palmer and Johnson), one thing is certain: Voters would be foolish not to select the biggest difference-maker.
The Badgers gained bowl eligibility with a win over Minnesota thanks largely to their sophomore tailback’s 301 yards and five touchdowns on a whopping 45 carries. Davis, who led the Big Ten in rushing in 2001 and was drawing some Heisman talk coming into 2002, has been hampered by injuries and had been having a disappointing follow-up campaign. After closing the regular season with a bang, though, his 1,456 yards, 12 TDs and 5.3 yards per carry are nearly identical to last year’s 1,532, 11 and 5.3. He finishes as one of a staggering nine 1,000-yard rushers in the Big Ten.
This space is usually occupied by a team pulling off a crazy upset -- and there were more than a few candidates this week -- but c’mon, if a team doesn’t get recognized for reaching the national championship game, what’s the point?
This is what Rivalry Week is all about (except for after the game -- more on that later). The Huskies have had a disappointing season, would likely be going to the Seattle Bowl either way and had every reason to mail it in. But that’s not how it goes when you’re playing your arch rival. Pickett completed 35 of 57 passes for 368 yards, Reggie Williams caught 12 balls for 169, and John Anderson recovered from several early misses to nail the field goal that sent the game to overtime and one in each extra period for an emotional Apple Cup victory.
Well, guess what, America? The joke’s on us. College football is arguably the only sport in this country that draws anywhere near the level of passion as that other type of football on other continents, and now it’s creating the same problems. Imagine what those people thought Sunday morning when CNN beamed images of nine cars being set on fire at Ohio State and spectators being carried off the field on stretchers at Clemson and N.C. State, not to mention players from both Cincinnati and Washington being pelted with debris. Fans are always going to cause mischief. It’s a fact of life. The best possible remedy may be for everyone else to stop compounding it. Police need to be less militant than the ones I watched after Ohio State’s victory Saturday. What had been a mostly innocent on-field celebration quickly turned into an ugly “us vs. them” confrontation, with cops pepper-spraying fans, fans throwing sod at the cops and cops throwing fans to the ground. And game participants need to be more mature than the ones at Hawaii and Cincinnati, who broke into an all-out rumble immediately following the game, a gift-wrapped excuse for fans to get in on the action. But most of all, rioters, debris-throwers and all other aspiring misfits would be well served to have the chance to watch other people watching them. They probably feel pretty cool while doing it. If they only knew just how much of an embarrassment they really are. Stewart Mandel covers college football for CNNSI.com. Got a comment, question or scoop for Stewart? Click here. |
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