Freedom Bowl : Colorado, BYU to Put Best Feet Forward

To the north is the Rose Bowl and Rodney Peete. To the south, the Holiday Bowl and Barry Sanders. And to the east, the Fiesta Bowl and a national championship showdown.

Stuck in the middle, in the land of Angels and Rams and a college football tradition that dates all the way back to 1984, is the Freedom Bowl, which will kick off for the fifth time tonight at 5 at Anaheim Stadium.

And what does the Freedom Bowl have to offer, besides easy access to three major freeways?

Well, punters.

Colorado can run the football and Brigham Young knows how to throw it, but these teams do nothing better with the football than when they have to give it up on fourth down. Colorado has Keith English (the National Collegiate Athletic Assn.’s leading punter with a 45.0 average), BYU has Pat Thompson (runner-up at 44.8) and the Freedom Bowl, at last, has a matchup between Nos. 1 and 2.

Actually, the punters are quite pumped up about tonight’s boot-off. As Thompson notes, it isn’t often when hang times and coffin corners are the featured items in a nationally televised (Mizlou Sports Network) bowl game.

“I think it’s going to be great,” Thompson enthuses. “Usually, it’s quarterbacks or running backs in the limelight. Instead, we’ve got kickers. No. 1 and No. 2. It’ll be interesting to see how we do.”

English nods in agreement.

“I don’t think anybody knows Pat Thompson’s stats better than me,” he said. “I live with my brother and he gets all the newspapers. Every week, I’d check the rankings, look at the AP printouts, see how Pat was doing. Then, I’d bring out the calculator and figure out our net averages.”

Whoever said kickers aren’t intense?

Eric Bieniemy, Colorado’s All-Big Eight tailback, listens to such talk and can’t suppress a smile.

“The thing about it is,” Bieniemy said, “there may only be three or four punts all game.”

Good point, that. So what’s a Freedom Bowl crowd to do while waiting for fourth down?

Bieniemy might be a good place to start. As a 5-foot 6-inch, 190-pound pinball who rolls over linebackers, he can be quite a sight. Bieniemy, a sophomore from La Puente’s Bishop Amat High, rushed for 1,243 yards in 1988, the third-highest total in Colorado football history. And he did it, mostly, by running inside.

To spring Bieniemy on his mad scrambles, Colorado Coach Bill McCartney has devised on offense best described as a hybrid between the wishbone and an I-formation. Calling it his “I-bone,” McCartney aligns a fullback and tailback directly behind the quarterback--and then places a blocking back either to the right or left of the tailback.

“It’s one of the more innovative offenses I’ve seen,” BYU Coach LaVell Edwards said. “They run the option and have all the benefits of the wishbone--and, they can still take advantage of the tailback (position). It’s a great scheme.”

Colorado (8-3) used it to finish third in the Big Eight behind Nebraska and Oklahoma.

BYU (8-4) proceeded through its season like a point guard dribbling downcourt. Up and down. The Cougars lost their opener to Wyoming, then won their next 7 games, then lost 3 of their last 4, including routs of 57-28 by Utah and 41-17 by Miami.

Part of BYU’s problem has been at the school’s legendary quarterback position.

Junior Sean Covey started 11 of BYU’s 12 games and wound up passing for 2,607 yards and 13 touchdowns. Not bad, but not up to the Cougars’ traditional standards.

More than that, Covey let BYU down in the November stretch. He couldn’t produce a victory against hapless San Diego State, had 3 interceptions against Utah and passed for only 59 yards against Miami. In both the Utah and Miami games, he was replaced by a freshman, Ty Detmer.

Detmer started the New Mexico game in late October--Covey had a knee injury--and engineered a 65-0 victory, completing 24 of 35 passes for 333 yards and 5 touchdowns. As a reliever in BYU’s last 2 games, he threw for 238 yards and 2 touchdowns against Utah and 212 yards and 2 touchdowns against Miami.

Detmer is regarded as the quarterback of the future at BYU.

But will he be the quarterback for tonight?

Edwards isn’t saying--”I want to keep everybody interested,” he jibes--but is leaning toward Covey as his starter, because of his advantage in experience. “It probably doesn’t matter too much,” Edwards adds, “because both of them will probably play.”