College Football / Randy Harvey : Negotiations on Bowl Games Nearly Completed

Only in the courtship between major bowls and college football teams do marriages occur before engagements are announced.

NCAA rules prohibit invitations from being extended until Nov. 23, but scouts from the major bowls haven’t been going to games for the last month just to watch. In fact, many of them leave by halftime. Their work is done the night before games in secret sessions with officials from the universities the bowl scouts are courting.

Most negotiations will be completed by the end of next weekend, after the games of Nov. 16, although official announcements won’t be forthcoming for another week.

So it’s not too early to speculate. If the bowl scouts and television networks could write the script, here’s an idea of which games we might see on Jan. 1:

ROSE BOWL--UCLA vs. Ohio State or Iowa.

ORANGE BOWL--Penn State vs. Nebraska-Oklahoma winner.

COTTON BOWL--Iowa, Ohio State or Auburn vs. Baylor or Arkansas.

SUGAR BOWL--Ohio State, Iowa, Michigan or Miami vs. Tennessee.

FIESTA BOWL--Air Force-BYU winner vs. Nebraska-Oklahoma loser.

As the nation’s highest-ranked team eligible for a bowl, No. 2 Penn State can have its choice. Most bowl scouts believe the Nittany Lions will choose the Orange Bowl because of Coach Joe Paterno’s policy of playing the best competition available. In this case, that would be No. 3 Nebraska or No. 7 Oklahoma. The Cornhuskers and Sooners will play Nov. 23 for the Big Eight championship.

There would be a complication if Notre Dame beat Penn State Nov. 16 in University Park, Pa. In that event, the Orange Bowl probably would prefer Air Force, providing the Falcons beat Army Saturday and BYU Nov. 16 to remain undefeated, hometown favorite Miami or one of the Big Ten runners-up.

A victory over Penn State might also earn a Fiesta Bowl bid for Notre Dame and save Coach Gerry Faust’s job.

If Iowa doesn’t go to the Rose Bowl, it probably will choose the Cotton Bowl. Coach Hayden Fry and the Cotton Bowl’s executive vice president, Jim Brock, have a close relationship dating to the days they worked together at SMU. If Iowa goes to the Rose Bowl, the Cotton Bowl’s next choice will be Auburn because it has Bo Jackson.

The best team that none of the major bowls want is Michigan. The Wolverines have a dominant defense but a predictable offense, which virtually guarantees a low-scoring, no-thrills game.

Auburn’s Jackson, the nation’s leading rusher, remains the favorite for the Heisman Trophy, but his support is eroding in, of all places, the South.

Some Southern voters reportedly believe Jackson is undependable in important games. They point to Auburn’s game against Tennessee earlier this season, when Jackson left in the third quarter with a bruised knee, and the game against Florida last Saturday, when he played only two downs in the second half because of a bruised thigh.

After that game, Florida linebacker Alonzo Johnson said: “We had a feeling he would pull himself out if he started getting hit. He did the same thing against Tennessee. That’s fine if he doesn’t want to jeopardize his pro career and not play for his team. Personally, I was disappointed he didn’t play in the second half.”

So was an unidentified Auburn assistant coach, who complained that Jackson didn’t want to return to the game after rushing once in the second half for no gain.

“I don’t think he would have taken himself out if he had run for 60 yards,” the coach said. “But when he got stuffed, he was ready to come back out.”

Auburn’s head coach, Pat Dye, came to the tailback’s defense.

“Our fans and some of the media expect Bo to perform miracles every week, like he has done on other occasions,” he said.

Iowa Coach Fry said this week that he almost took his team off the field because of the crowd noise at Ohio Stadium in the third quarter of the Hawkeyes’ 22-13 loss to Ohio State last Saturday.

“You don’t know how close I came,” he said. “We had a fourth and one, and our line is just sitting there and didn’t hear the snap call.”

Fry was referring to a crucial play late in the third quarter, when the Hawkeyes passed up a fourth-down field-goal attempt to try for a first down at the Ohio State 10 while trailing, 15-7. Tailback Ronnie Harmon was stopped for no gain.

The Iowa coach said officials should penalize the home team when crowd noise prevents an offense from running its plays. A Big Ten rule allows for a penalty under those circumstances, but officials invoke it only as a last option.

“Chuck Long got to the top of the lists of quarterbacks because of his ability to call audibles,” Fry said of Iowa’s quarterback. “That was taken away from us (at Ohio Stadium). It’s like a surgeon. Can he operate if he can’t communicate with his assistants?”

Ohio State Coach Earle Bruce said, “I think Fry is overreacting because he lost.”

Now that the controversy over whether Faust should remain as Notre Dame’s coach has been at least temporarily quieted, the Irish have a quarterback controversy.

In the 41-17 victory over Navy last Saturday, sophomore Terry Andrysiak replaced junior Steve Beuerlein in the second quarter and led the Irish to touchdowns on their next three possessions and five touchdowns in eight possessions. When Beuerlein returned in the fourth quarter, many fans in South Bend booed.

Nevertheless, Faust said Beuerlein, still playing at less than capacity because of a shoulder injury, will start Saturday against Mississippi.

Andrysiak said after Saturday’s victory that he thought he had won the starting job and admitted to a “little disappointment” when Faust announced otherwise.

Three weeks ago, in interviews with the Cincinnati Enquirer, several players said they preferred Andrysiak to Beuerlein.

“It hurt to read it, but I’ve totally disregarded it now,” said Beuerlein, a three-year starter from Anaheim.

College Notes One person who wasn’t upset that Iowa lost to Ohio State was ABC’s Beano Cook. He had complained a week earlier that the Hawkeyes ran up the score in a 49-10 victory over Northwestern. “To pick on Northwestern is like dropping 50 nuclear bombs on Cleveland,” Cook said. Iowa Coach Hayden Fry responded by calling Cook “some clown.” After Iowa’s loss, Cook said: “College football is one place where God makes sure justice is served. Everything that goes around comes around.” . . . During Pittsburgh’s 12-0 loss to Syracuse last Saturday, Pitt fans chanted: “Fire Foge! Fire Foge!” They were referring to Coach Foge Fazio, whose vote of confidence from Athletic Director Ed Bozik has been withdrawn. . . . The 28-27 victory over Iowa State last Saturday broke Missouri Coach Woody Widenhofer’s 17-game losing streak, 10 with the Oklahoma Outlaws and 7 with Missouri.

Ohio State Coach Earle Bruce said running back Keith Byars is questionable for Saturday’s game against Northwestern. . . . Penn State is No. 1 in the UPI poll, but the Nittany Lions say they aren’t excited about it. “Coach (Joe) Paterno has always said that publicity and rankings are like poison,” quarterback John Shaffer said. “They can only hurt you if you swallow them.” . . . One person who thinks Miami’s new quarterback, Vinny Testaverde, is better than the old one, Bernie Kosar, is Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden. After Testaverde had passed for 399 yards and four touchdowns in the Hurricanes’ 35-27 victory last Saturday over the Seminoles, Bowden said: “Kosar never hurt us like this guy.’

Of his quarterback, Fresno State Coach Jim Sweeney said: “Our quarterback is as good as any quarterback in the country. This kid can throw the ball deep and can throw moving in and out of the pocket. He has velocity on the ball and has developed a touch on the short passing game.” This quarterback is his son, Kevin Sweeney. “That’s not fatherly love talking,” Coach Sweeney said. . . . Northern Illinois is dropping out of the Mid-American Conference in an effort to improve the university’s image. Robert J. Brigham, NIU men’s athletic director called the MAC conservative and unimaginative. The school is attempting to schedule Miami of Florida for a game next season at Chicago’s Soldier Field. . . . Oklahoma Coach Barry Switzer is extremely pleased with the play of his two freshman quarterbacks, Jamelle Holieway of Banning High School, and Eric Mitchel. Holieway was the Big Eight’s offensive player of the week last week. “I’ve always wanted a Joe Washington at quarterback and Billy Sims, and I think I’ve got them both,” Switzer said.