COLLEGE FOOTBALL: THE BOWL GAMES : Fiesta Quarterback Matchup Is a Close Call

Notre Dame Coach Lou Holtz says he has had only a few problems duplicating West Virginia’s high-scoring offense in practice this week as the top-ranked Irish prepare to meet the No. 3 Mountaineers in the Fiesta Bowl Monday.

The Mountaineers run the option, and so does Notre Dame. West Virginia’s passing game is based on play-action passes. Ditto for the Irish. And like West Virginia, Notre Dame has zone blocking on its offensive line.

But there is one Major difference.

“We can come close to assimilating Major Harris by using Tony Rice on the scout team because of their running ability,” said Holtz. “But we’ve had to use Peter Graham as Harris because he has a stronger arm than Rice.”

It’s been the biggest comparison of the week. Major Harris and Tony Rice. Tony Rice and Major Harris. Yes, Harris has a better arm. He must, because the Mountaineers have a more balanced offense.

That’s what scares Holtz.

“If we get into a high-scoring game or fall behind early, we probably won’t win,” said Holtz. “We don’t have the tools or big play people West Virginia does. We don’t have a Major Harris at quarterback.”

But the Irish do have Rice, a dartful runner with sprinter’s speed who is perfect for the Irish’s option-oriented attack.

“That’s what makes Tony Rice so dangerous,” West Virginia coach Don Nehlen said. “He gets to the perimeter quicker than Major, and once he does, be becomes an assignment player (one on one). And I don’t like those situations.”

But there are a lot of similarities. Both are underclassmen, Rice a junior and Harris a redshirt sophomore. Harris is 6 feet 1 inch, and so is Rice. Both are black and were quarterbacks in high school who were later recruited by college coaches as defensive backs.

Pressures? Neither became full-time starters until after taking a lot of criticism last season. And now both are starting for undefeated teams (11-0) in a major bowl game that will decided the national championship.

Said Harris, “One day I’m a kid in a ghetto from Pittsburgh. Now I’m in the Fiesta Bowl.”

“I don’t want to get caught up in this thing about two black quarterbacks,” Rice said. “But I like being compared to Major Harris simply as a quarterback. He was a Heisman candidate, so I must be doing something right. I’m just a cast player on a team that is only as good as its parts. But the Major is the show.”

Harris certainly has been the topic of conversation here because he leads the nation’s second-highest scoring offense. But he could be the mayor of Morgantown, W.Va., a quiet city of 40,000 surrounded by the Appalachian Mountains.

“Major is a very humble individual,” said Nehlen. “The other players love him because he gives everybody else all the credit but is first to take the blame when something goes wrong. And all of this fame that Major gets didn’t come overnight. He earned it.”

Harris is a product of what he calls a Pittsburgh ghetto. “It was like ‘Hill Street Blues,’ ” Harris said. “Glass on the streets, hookers and dope dealers on the corner. Fortunately, I had two brothers who gave me some direction.”

By the time he was a senior quarterback in high school, nearly every major university on the East Coach wanted Harris, but as a defensive back. Nehlen was the only coach who would give Harris a chance at quarterback.

So it was off to West Virginia.

“It was a little frustrating,” Harris said. “They never looked at any game film, just saw I had athletic ability and said I was a defensive back.”

But the frustration was just beginning. Harris redshirted as a freshman. In 1987, Nehlen started the season with Harris at quarterback, choosing him over two seniors.

Harris won his first game as a starter but lost the next three. Nehlen starting getting bags of mail from armchair coaches.

“Major and myself started taking a lot of heat,” Nehlen said. “He handled it better than me. But we were determined to sink or swim with Major. By the sixth game, though, everybody was loving Major.”

And now the Mountaineers are in the Fiesta Bowl. This season Harris rushed for 599 yards on 121 carries, including the famed 26-yard touchdown run against Penn State on a broken play where his teammates pulled left, Harris ran right and, without any blocking, eluded four tacklers for a touchdown.

That’s the kind of performance that is expected of Harris, either by running around or through tacklers. He has no fear. But his arm is just as strong as his legs. He passed for 1,749 yards and 13 touchdowns this season. He had five completions of more than 55 yards.

“He is just a complete player,” Notre Dame linebacker Ned Bolcar said. “He’s got a cannon and throws just as efficiently to his left as to his right on the move. We haven’t seen anyone like him this year.”

Rice is close, and his success has been just as great. Unlike Harris, Rice went to high school in a small town of 6,000 in Woodruff, S.C. He still has that laid back, country attitude, and after passing for 4,000 yards and leading the school to two state championships, many of the local fans thought Rice would enroll at Clemson.

Rice, however, ditched Clemson and Miami for Notre Dame, which strictly wanted him as a quarterback. But he became a Proposition 48 casualty in his freshman year, when he failed to meet that measure’s academic standards.

Rice had more troubles in his sophomore year. The Irish found out he was one dimensional -- good runner, not so good passer. He started six of the last seven games of the season after replacing injured quarterback Terry Andrysiak against Pittsburgh.

But after an 8-1 start, the Irish collapsed, losing to Penn State, Miami and finally, Texas A&M;, in the Cotton Bowl. Rice finished the year completing only 35 of 82 passes for 663 yards, and a lot of Irish followers were asking for a replacement.

Rice’s grades also started to fall, and this summer he had to enter summer school.

“At first I was really depressed about it,” Rice said. “People were saying Tony Rice can’t play, Tony Rice won’t study. After a while, I didn’t care what they said. I just turned it all into a positive. It motivated me.”

He made it, and so have the Irish.

Rice won’t throw spirals like former Irish quarterbacks Joe Montana or Joe Theismann, but he’s a winner. As a starter his record is 15-2.

He’s just as fast as Harris, but Rice is more straight ahead while Harris runs more laterally. This season, Rice became the first Notre Dame quarterback to lead the Irish in rushing since Heisman Trophy winner Paul Hornung in 1956. Rice has rushed for 700 yards on 121 carries. “There’s one thing about the guy. Every challenge he’s had, he’s met,” receiver’s coach Pete Cordelli said. “He’s the best competitor I’ve been around. He’s worked to get better because he enjoys competing.”

Even though he has silenced some of his critics, Rice doesn’t have an “I told you so” attitude.

“I know my name will never be mentioned with the Rocknes or Hornungs,” said Rice. “I probably won’t win a Heisman, and I don’t want to. I just want to be a winner, and I think I’m that.”