College Football : Switzer and Osborne: Worlds Apart

Barry Switzer and Tom Osborne may coach the top two football teams this year, but beyond that they have little in common. Dr. Tom is wrapped a little tight, while Barry gives new meaning to the word casual .

Anybody remember the 1984 Sugar Bowl, when a former player came out in the news and took some shots at the Nebraska program? Dr. Tom went out and took a polygraph test, right there in New Orleans, and distributed the results to the nation’s press. The nation’s press rolled its collective eyes.

Meanwhile, Switzer gives the impression that he’s running Oklahoma from a chaise longue. At the 1986 Orange Bowl, a reporter was surprised to find an assistant conducting one of the practices. Astounded, he asked an Oklahoma spokesman about it. The team practices without Switzer? “Uh, it’s been known to happen,” the spokesman said, shrugging.

That said, how do you think the coaches handled their teams a week ago, before an open Saturday?

The top-ranked Sooners, who have sometimes been observed signing autographs during practices, disbanded after four days of workouts. Quarterback Jamelle Holieway was located here in Los Angeles, as a matter of fact. Who knows what Switzer did.

“I enjoyed having the weekend off,” he said.

Osborne’s second-ranked Huskers practiced every day and had a hard scrimmage last Friday. In addition, they had to run sprints in an indoor facility.

Of course, to be fair, the teams were getting ready for different kinds of opponents. Oklahoma “travels” to Tulsa for today’s game, while the Huskers play a nationally televised game at Arizona State, which figures to be their toughest until Nov. 21, when they play Oklahoma.

Say it ain’t so, Joe: Penn State Coach Joe Paterno once advised John Greene that if starting at tailback was all that important to him, he should transfer. Greene hung in there, though, and gained 124 yards in his first start at fullback last Saturday against Cincinnati.

What price victory: Florida freshman Emmitt Smith turned some heads, among them his teammates’, when he rushed for a school-record 224 yards against Alabama.

The spectacular performance so impressed two other backs that they immediately marched in to talk with Coach Galen Hall about their own playing time. Sophomore Octavius Gould, who led the team in rushing last season with 562 yards--or not much more than twice what Smith gained in the Florida victory--even hinted that he might leave the team.

“I think Octavius’ pride was hurt more than anything,” running back coach Larry Kirksey said. “He’ll get through it.”

Tail wags dog, cont.: TV continues to set the agenda in college football. Today, there will be two afternoon games at schools that traditionally, and reasonably, play their games at night.

At the behest of CBS, Louisiana State will entertain Ohio State in the afternoon, a time of day in Baton Rouge when the humidity can best be handled with spoons. Same afternoon, Arizona State plays host to Nebraska. There is good reason Arizona State plays at night. Folks, it’s a desert out there in Tempe. Sand and everything. It’s not exactly winter yet, either. But ABC . . . Well, this is old news.

But worse news may be coming. The National Football League strike could create something of a problem for Sunday programming. You think CBS was excited when Dan Rather left them six minutes of dead air? Wait till you see what the networks do without all those NFL hours .

There’s just so much celebrity huntin’ and fishin’ you can present. Say, that reminds us, what’s Miami or Clemson doing Sunday?

Georgia Coach Vince Dooley says he had been contacted about moving his games to Sunday during the last NFL strike and anticipates the same questions again. Dooley, to his credit, gave a resounding no.

However, in the tradition of doing whatever TV wants, so long as the money is right (what other tradition does that remind you of?), Colorado Coach Bill McCartney said he’d be glad to move his games to Sunday. “We could use the exposure and the money,” he said. “It would be a great way to gain significant revenue.”

This, of course, is what college football is all about--exposure and significant revenue. But after a year of headlines during which the game seemed all too professional, the last thing college football needs is to be confused even further with the NFL.

Must be some other Notre Dame: Coach Lou Holtz, on the campaign to make flanker Tim Brown a Heisman Trophy winner: “We don’t hype anybody. We don’t put out brochures.”

This, of course, is from the school that convinced Joe Theismann to change the pronunciation of his name to rhyme with . . . well, not trophy.

Brown, who returned two kickoffs for touchdowns last year, returned two punts for scores in last Saturday’s 31-8 victory over Michigan State. Getting to be brochure time, Lou.

There’s no football like Kansas football. Actually, Kansas football is almost exactly like no football.

Kansas State is 0-2, after a nice trimming from Army, and Kansas is likewise 0-2, although the Jayhawks broke a string of 14 scoreless quarters in their most recent humiliation. Alone in holding steady in the state is Wichita State, which dropped the sport because it was too costly.

Actually, that seems to be the way to go. The Denver Post discovered that the College Football Power Index has Wichita State rated 100th after one week of play, two spots above the Wildcats.

Things can turn, though. Look at the state of Oregon, not state-of-the-art in football in recent years. This season, both Oregon and Oregon State have recorded upsets, Oregon over Colorado, Oregon State over San Jose State.

And the example of Missouri might provide hope. Two more victories and Missouri, now 2-0, will match the win total of Woody Widenhofer’s last two seasons there. Of course, there’s still Columbia, 32 straight losses and counting.