COLLEGE FOOTBALL ’87 : Pacific 10 Preview : ‘Best Football Conference in the Country’ Ready to Take a Bow

It was another boffo year for the Pacific 10, which in 1986 sent a conference-record six teams to bowl games, put four teams in the final top 20 polls, had more players drafted into the NFL than any other conference and, of course, won the Rose Bowl game--again.

When Arizona State beat Michigan, 22-15, on New Year’s Day, that made it six straight for the Pac-10 over the Big Ten and 12 wins in the last 13 seasons.

So now the Pac-10 is promoting itself as the best football conference in the country. Just four years ago, it was derided as the worst by Sports Illustrated, which at least had the foresight to predict that the hard times wouldn’t last.

They haven’t.

Last season, six teams spent time in the top 20--Arizona State, Arizona, Washington, USC, UCLA and Stanford. All six are expected to spend time there again this season.

Three Pac-10 players--quarterback Chris Chandler of Washington and running backs Gaston Green of UCLA and Brad Muster of Stanford--are being promoted as possible Heisman Trophy winners.

Stanford center Andy Sinclair has been tabbed as the leading candidate for the Outland Trophy by the Sporting News.

And linebackers Marcus Cotton of USC and Ken Norton of UCLA are being pushed for the Butkus and Lombardi awards.

In some ways, though, it will be a season of change.

Four teams have new coaches:

--Larry Smith moved from Arizona to USC to replace Ted Tollner, who became an assistant coach with the Buffalo Bills.

--Dick Tomey, a former UCLA assistant, replaced Smith at Arizona, moving over from Hawaii.

--Bruce Snyder, a former Ram assistant and former Utah State head coach, took over at Cal, replacing the deposed Joe Kapp.

--And Dennis Erickson left Wyoming after only one season to replace Jim Walden at Washington State. Walden went to Iowa State.

Five teams--Arizona State, Arizona, UCLA, USC and Washington--are considered legitimate contenders for the championship, with Stanford generally regarded as a dark horse.

Washington, Arizona State and UCLA are considered the favorites in most quarters, which apparently makes ASU Coach John Cooper uncomfortable.

“You’ve got to be the village idiot not to pick UCLA in this conference,” Cooper said.

That doesn’t say much for UCLA’s Terry Donahue, who said that Arizona State, which does not play USC or Stanford and plays the Bruins in Tempe, Ariz., “literally has one foot in the Rose Bowl.”

Arizona State and UCLA will play Oct. 31.

A look at the Pac-10 teams, excluding USC and UCLA:

ARIZONA 1986--9-3 overall, 5-3 Pac-10 (4th)

Transfer Bobby Watters, involved in a three-man battle for the quarterback job with sophomore Craig Bergman and freshman Ronald Veal, has shown signs of cracking.

Watters, who threw for 2,041 yards last season at SMU, is said to be running behind Bergman and late one night last week was taken to the hospital, complaining that he couldn’t get the contact lens out of his left eye.

Doctors discovered that he had two lenses in his right eye.

Coaches hate to see that kind of thing.

They also hate to see the kind of schedule Dick Tomey has inherited. Without several of their key big-play people from a year ago, including three-year starting quarterback Alfred Jenkins, the Wildcats will play 6 of 8 conference games on the road.

Center Joe Tofflemire is considered a possible All-American. So is Chuck Cecil, a walk-on in 1983, but an all-conference safety in 1986, when he had six interceptions, broke up a conference-high 19 passes and made 122 tackles.

ARIZONA STATE 1986--10-1-1 overall, 5-1-1 Pac-10 (1st)

Cooper admits that the Sun Devils have a favorable schedule but, in his third year at ASU, he also said: “We have a lot of holes to fill.”

Foremost among them is the one left by Jeff Van Raaphorst, a three-year starter at quarterback and Most Valuable Player of the Rose Bowl game. His likely replacement will be Daniel Ford, who saw only limited duty last season as Van Raaphorst’s backup.

The Sun Devils have some experience in the line, where All-American Randall McDaniel has started 28 straight games. Cooper calls McDaniel the fastest offensive lineman in college football. Also swift afoot are running back Darryl Harris, who ran for 1,042 yards last season, and Aaron Cox, who has caught 88 passes for 1,720 yards.

Cooper calls defensive tackle Shawn Patterson “probably the best player we’ve got,” but ASU lost some key players from a unit that led the Pac-10 in scoring defense last season.

Two days ago, the Sun Devils lost another when sophomore nose guard Richard Davis, a transfer from Oklahoma, broke his left elbow in practice. He’ll be out for at least six weeks.

Still, they figure to be strong defensively. Linebackers Greg Clark and Stacy Harvey, their two top tackles, are back, as are three starting defensive backs--Eric Allen, Anthony Parker and Jeff Joseph.

CALIFORNIA 1986--2-9 overall, 2-7 Pac-10 (9th)

With talented tailback Marc Hicks having transferred to Ohio State, Coach Bruce Snyder has installed a pass-oriented offense.

Making it work may be tricky. The offensive line is suspect and James Devers, who had 40 receptions last year, is out for the season after tearing ligaments in his left knee last week. Vince Delgado, expected to start on the other side, is also out with a knee injury.

The quarterback is sophomore Troy Taylor, who completed 19 of 27 passes for 239 yards against USC last season before his jaw was broken. He completed 57.5% of his passes last season for 891 yards, but for only 1 touchdown. Another quarterback, Brian Bedford, has been moved to slotback.

The leader of the defense is Majett Whiteside, who wasn’t to blame when Cal gave up 385 yards a game last year. The 6-2, 260-pound nose guard is a two-time all-conference selection.

OREGON 1986--5-6 overall, 3-5 Pac-10 (7th)

With Bill Musgrave, a redshirt freshman quarterback, operating behind an inexperienced offensive line--only 3 of the top 10 linemen on the depth chart played last season--these guys may be sitting Ducks.

Their first seven games are against teams that went to bowl games after last season.

Another redshirt freshman, Tony Hargain, who is a reserve guard on the basketball team, will start at flanker.

In his 10th season in Eugene, Coach Rich Brooks has scrapped his old 4-3 defense for a 3-4, hoping to take advantage of the Ducks’ quickness and make them more aggressive. Nose tackle Rollin Putzier is a two-year starter. Another two-year starter, strong safety Anthony Newman, leads a secondary bolstered by the addition of Ron Gould, a transfer from Wichita State.

OREGON STATE 1986--3-8 overall, 1-6 Pac-10 (10th)

Erik Wilhelm passed for 2,871 yards last season, but only 8 touchdowns. Such is life with the Beavers, who led the Pac-10 in passing, averaging 286 yards a game, but were last in scoring and rushing. They haven’t won more than three games in any season since 1971.

The running game doesn’t figure to get any better with the loss of fullback Pat Chaffey, who broke his left leg last week in a scrimmage. The passing game should be even better, though, with the addition of tight end Phil Ross, who caught 29 passes in 1985 but missed last season with a broken toe.

Center Dave Orndorff is the best player in an offensive line that lacks depth.

Teddy Johnson, whose nine interceptions last season ranked second in the nation, will be joined in the secondary by Lavance Northington, a preseason All-American last year who missed the season with a knee injury.

STANFORD 1986--8-4 overall, 5-3 Pac-10 (4th)

Muster, of course, is the key here, so the Cardinal obviously was concerned when the senior fullback was hobbled for the first two weeks of practice with a sprained right ankle. The Pac-10 offensive player of the year, who participated in contact drills this week, ran for 1,053 yards last season and caught 61 passes.

Muster was eligible for the NFL draft, but chose to stay behind. Other offensive standouts returning are wide receiver Jeff James, who had 52 receptions last season, and Sinclair, a two-year starter.

Junior Greg Ennis, taking over for four-year starter John Paye at quarterback, will be starting for only the second time Saturday when the Cardinal plays Washington in Seattle.

Four players from the group that ranked second in the conference in scoring defense were on NFL rosters this week, but some key players return, including two-year starters Kurt Colehower at outside linebacker and Brad Humphreys at strong safety.

WASHINGTON 1986--8-3-1 overall, 5-2-1 Pac-10 (2nd)

While leading the Huskies to 10 straight winning seasons and eight straight bowl appearances, Coach Don James has sent four quarterbacks to the NFL--Warren Moon, Tom Flick, Steve Pelluer and Hugh Millen.

None of them, James said, were as good as Chandler, who passed last season for 1,994 yards and a school-record 20 touchdowns, and led an offense that scored 33.8 points a game, also a school record.

Also returning is all-purpose back Vince Weathersby, a two-year starter who last year ran for 880 yards and caught 26 passes. All-conference guard Mike Zandofsky anchors a massive offensive line that averages 281 pounds.

Gone from the team that ranked seventh in the nation in total defense is All-American tackle Reggie Rogers, but 300-pound sophomore Dennis Brown is said to be a capable replacement. Returning linebackers David Rill, Bo Yates and Tom Erlandson combined last season for 329 tackles. James was concerned about his kicking game with the graduation of record-setting Jeff Jaeger, but transfer Randy Brownlee from SMU has eased his mind.

WASHINGTON STATE 1986--3-7-1 overall, 2-6-1 Pac-10 (8th)

Erickson has junked the veer offense for a ball-control passing game, so a veteran group of offensive linemen, including standout guard Mike Utley, 6-7 and 302, has some adjustments to make.

Timm Rosenbach, an All-American javelin thrower in high school, takes over at quarterback. He’ll have only two experienced receivers--Tim Stallworth, a cousin of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ John Stallworth, and Victor Wood.

Fullback Richard Calvin has some experience--he started at times in 1983 and ‘84--but sat out the last two years because of academic problems.

Brian Ford, who led the Cougars in tackles the last two seasons as the middle linebacker, has been moved to the outside this season.