College Football : Pac-10 Race May Be Closer Than Expected

It’s too early to make any long-range assessment of the Pacific 10 Conference football race.

However, it could be a closer race than anticipated since USC, UCLA and Arizona, regarded as the conference’s best teams, have already been beaten.

USC and UCLA lost opening games to Illinois and Tennessee, respectively, while Arizona was upset last Saturday by Texas Tech after beating Stanford in its first game.

“It seems that more (Pac-10) teams are capable of beating each other than ever before,” Arizona Coach Dick Tomey said. “Somebody might win the championship with two conference losses.”

It has only happened twice in 30 years, Washington and UCLA each winning the Pac-10 championship with two losses in 1981 and 1985, respectively.

Tomey isn’t concerned, however, with the conference race for the moment. His teams plays Oklahoma on Saturday night in Tucson. The Sooners routed New Mexico State, 73-3, and Baylor, 33-7, in their first two games.

“They seem to be a team on a mission to prove that they don’t need a bowl game, or be on national television to play good football,” Tomey said, referring to the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. sanctions against Oklahoma. “They’re more committed to having an outstanding team and, so far, they’re incredible.”

Oklahoma, a traditional wishbone team, didn’t complete a pass in beating Baylor. The Sooners didn’t have to, gaining 338 yards on the ground.

“We’re going to have to try to make them throw to have any chance to win,” Tomey said.

As for his own team, he was disappointed with the way it played in losing to Texas Tech, 24-14, last Saturday in Lubbock, Tex.

“It wasn’t complicated,” Tomey said. “We just got whipped physically. We, as coaches, didn’t have the team ready to play. We weren’t that good on offense, but we were just terrible on defense.”

Tomey wouldn’t accept the excuse that Arizona was looking ahead to Oklahoma, saying: “We didn’t appreciate how well Texas Tech would play. We played real well defensively against Stanford. But Stanford has a young offensive line and didn’t challenge us. Texas Tech came right at us and we didn’t handle it.”

It doesn’t get any easier for Arizona after playing Oklahoma with consecutive games against Washington, Oregon, UCLA and Washington State.

Bo Schembechler has been down-playing the possibility of Michigan winning a national championship for months.

As his second-ranked Wolverines get ready to play top-ranked Notre Dame Saturday in Ann Arbor, Mich., Schembechler was still pursuing the same theme.

“We’d have to win all 12 games, beat Notre Dame at home, UCLA on the road, then win all our Big Ten games and then go to the Rose Bowl and win there,” he said. “That’s asking a lot and that would be nice, but I don’t know if it can be done.”

Schembechler hasn’t won a national championship in his previous 20 years at Michigan and has repeatedly said that winning the Big Ten championship is his top priority. If Michigan beats Notre Dame, he may privately readjust his goals.

In any event, it’s the earliest meeting between the nation’s top-ranked teams since the inception of the Associated Press poll in 1936.

The earliest previous matchup between the No. 1 and 2 teams occurred Sept. 26, 1981, when top ranked USC beat No. 2 Oklahoma, 28-24, at the Coliseum.

In previous No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchups, the top-ranked team has won 15 of 24 games with two ties.

Trivia: When was the last time USC and UCLA lost home-opening games in the same season? (Answer to follow.)

Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne is favorably comparing Utah quarterback Scott Mitchell to UCLA’s Troy Aikman and Miami’s Steve Walsh, who are now with the Dallas Cowboys.

The fourth-ranked Cornhuskers play Utah Saturday in Lincoln, Neb.

“I don’t think our fans will see a better quarterback of this variety, the throwing quarterback, in maybe several years,” Osborne said of Mitchell. “Aikman was here a couple of years ago. Of course at that time UCLA wasn’t real settled with him, but I don’t believe Aikman was anywhere near at that point where (Mitchell) is right now.”

UCLA lost to Nebraska, 42-33, in 1987 at Lincoln, and Aikman led the Bruins to a 41-28 victory over the Cornhuskers last year at the Rose Bowl.

You’ll be sorry Dept.: Florida Coach Galen Hall, commenting on the home crowd booing his team after a 24-19 loss to Mississippi:

“I think we’re going to have a team that, when it’s all over, people will be proud of. Maybe some of the people who booed us in the first game wouldn’t like it to be known that they booed in the first game.”

Trivia answer: USC lost to Oklahoma, 17-12, and UCLA was beaten by Pittsburgh, 20-0, in home-opening games in 1963.

Look out for the Cougars: Washington State has the longest current winning steak in the Pac-10, with seven victories dating to last season.

The last time the Cougars won seven in a row was in their Rose Bowl year of 1930. Washington State won all nine regular-season games in 1930 before losing to Alabama in the Rose Bowl.

Next-longest current winning steak among Pac-10 teams? Oregon State with two.

Ouch: Tennessee cornerback Preston Warren on his team’s 24-6 upset victory over UCLA:

“Personally, I think UCLA had a lot of Hollywood hype going into the game. I don’t know if they’re overrated, but a lot of people felt we were coming in for a tuneup for them.”

Quote of the week: Pacific Coach Walt Harris on his team’s 55-0 loss to Auburn: “We didn’t play like we’re capable of playing.”

Pacific hasn’t had a winning season since 1977.

College Football Notes

In the off-season, Arizona Coach Dick Tomey is a catcher, pitcher and infielder for the Tucson Parks Class-A baseball league champions. Tomey said he was once a minor league player in the Boston Red Sox organization. . . . In two of USC’s eight national championship seasons, 1931 and 1974, the Trojans lost opening games. In 1976, USC lost the opener to Missouri, but wound up No. 2 nationally. . . . Oklahoma quarterback Chris Melson, who has replaced injured Steve Collins, is a converted defensive back.