Take These Coaches--Please; Sanders Real Holiday Attraction

Oklahoma State football coach Pat Jones and Wyoming Coach Paul Roach were in San Diego Thursday to begin hyping the Holiday Bowl. And all they talked about, it seemed, was Barry Sanders.

If you wanted a lot of surprises--or a lot of humor--this was not the press conference to attend.

When the Cowboys (the Western Athletic Conference champions) meet the Cowboys (the best Big Eight team this side of Oklahoma and Nebraska) Dec. 30 at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, Sanders and his Heisman Trophy are going to be the showcase attraction.

And because neither Jones nor Roach is Lou Holtz when it comes to one-liners, why try to steal the show? Sanders will arrive with the rest of the Oklahoma State team next Friday.

Then, maybe, the real fun will begin.

But for now, the best of Pat and Paul:

Told that he could expect better weather conditions for the game than Thursday’s wind and rain, Jones said: “Hey, this is good weather.”

Ha, ha.

On how much he has had to do with the success of former OSU standouts such as Charger defensive end Leslie O’Neal and Buffalo tailback Thurman Thomas, plus Sanders, Jones replied: “When Leslie was here, I was very involved with the defensive ends. Once he left, I turned my attention to my tailbacks.”

Ho, ho.

Roach, the second-oldest Division I-A football coach in the country (only Penn State’s Joe Paterno is older), closed out his opening speech to the media: “ . . . and I am 61 years old, and my players call me Gramps. But not to my face.”

Chuckle.

And so it went.

But back to Sanders, a junior who broke or equaled 24 National Collegiate Athletic Assn. records this season, including most yards rushing (2,628) and most touchdowns (39).

How?

For openers, there’s Oklahoma State’s offensive line, which consists of four fifth-year seniors who have started for 3 years each and a center who has been a starter for the past 2 years.

“They’ve done a tremendous job,” Jones said.

But mostly, there’s a strong, darting runner who came out of nowhere to put numbers on the board the likes of which have never been seen.

“It is pretty amazing when you look back on it,” Jones said. “When we sat down to decide who we were going to put on the cover of our media guide, Barry Sanders’ name didn’t even come up. You have to remember, he wasn’t even thought of as a returning starter. Last year, we had Thurman Thomas at tailback, and he was an All-American.

“After thinking for a while longer about the cover, we decided we didn’t want to leave anybody off, so we didn’t put any of our players on it. We ended up putting me on there with a bunch of trophies.”

Jones laughed.

Wonder who and what trophy will go on the cover next season?

“That’s the great thing about Barry Sanders winning the Heisman,” Roach said when he stepped to the microphone. “Nobody really knew exactly who he was when the season began. He won it solely based on his talent rather that on a popularity contest. That’s quite an achievement.”

Another achievement, Roach admitted, would be for his team to be able to slow Sanders.

“Nebraska and Oklahoma couldn’t slow him, so it will be tough for us,” Roach said. “If we can hold him down at all, we’ve got a great chance to win.”

Then again, if Oklahoma State had to try and stop Sanders, who knows what would happen?

“Our defense did give us all some cause for concern this season,” Jones said.

That might be putting it mildly. Oklahoma State won games by scores of 45-27, 49-28, 56-35 and 45-42, and lost by scores of 31-28 (to Oklahoma) and 63-42 (to Nebraska).

“It would silly to think we’re going to go out and completely shut somebody down,” Jones admitted. “But I do think there’s going to be some big defensive plays.”

The question is whether they will be made before the offensive players have crossed the goal line.

“Everything really does point in the direction of a high-scoring game,” Roach said. “If you start looking at it, that’s what will probably happen.

“But if that happens, that’s great. We all know the Holiday Bowl game always seems to come down to the final 2 minutes anyway.”

Quipped Jones: “Hey, are you trying to give me a headache already?”

And so the Jones and Roach show continued.