WFC Football Preview : Coaches Reluctant to Designate a Favorite

There are times when prying straight talk from Robin Williams is less difficult than doing the same from a college football coach.

When it comes to performing the ol’ soft shoe, coaches can be as adept as Fred Astaire in waltzing around a direct question.

For instance:

Coach, which of the six teams in the Western Football Conference should be favored to win the championship?

And a one, and a two, and a . . .

“Any one of us could win it,” said Lyle Setencich, coach of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. “It will probably come down to whoever gets the most breaks.”

Said Cal State Northridge’s Bob Burt: “It’s going to be very competitive. I don’t know if anyone can make it through undefeated.”

And so it goes in the WFC, where coaches abide by the credo, “Thou shall not be quoted saying anything that might end up on thy opponent’s bulletin board.”

The way the coaches tell it, all WFC teams were created equal. Therefore, all should be considered title contenders.

Cal State Sacramento and Santa Clara each emerged from their nonconference schedules with 3-1 records, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo went 2-1, Cal State Northridge and Portland State each split four games and Southern Utah State went 1-2.

Could it be that the coaches are actually being truthful?

Portland, two-time defending WFC champion, carried the favorite’s role at the start of the season--largely because people believed that 5-foot-5 tailback Curtis Delgardo was good enough to carry the Vikings and their defensive deficiencies.

All that changed, however, when Delgardo, the conference’s top offensive player in 1988, suffered a broken ankle in a game at Montana two weeks ago. He is out for the season.

Portland had won its first two games--including an impressive 29-20 decision over Idaho--and was leading Montana when Delgardo left the game. The Vikings lost that game, 30-21, and were routed, 31-12, by Texas A&I; last week.

“I’ll bet people were really quakin’ in their boots after that Idaho game,” Portland Coach Pokey Allen said. “Well, I’ll bet they’re not quakin’ anymore. We’re just not very good right now. We move the ball, but then we make big mistakes that keep us from scoring.”

With Delgardo out, Portland has turned to a passing game. Darren Del’Andrae, a former Calabasas High standout, leads WFC quarterbacks in passing yardage with 990 yards. He suffered through his worst game of the season last week, completing 14 of 36 passes for 163 yards with four interceptions.

Can Portland rebound without Delgardo?

“I hope so,” Allen said, “because he’s not going to resurrect. People say he’s the reason we’ve lost two straight, but he never did play defense. That’s where we’re getting beat.”

Portland opponents are averaging 422.8 yards a game and 5.8 yards a play.

Santa Clara, which will play host to Portland today, has the conference’s No. 1 defense, allowing an average of 272.3 yards a game.

Sacramento, which advanced to the semifinal round of the Division II playoffs last season, has the WFC’s most balanced and explosive offense. With Drew Wyant, a three-year starter, calling signals, the Hornets average 249 yards passing and 173.8 rushing a game.

Southern Utah State, which opens at Sacramento, has the conference’s top ground attack. The Thunderbirds, who run the option, have gained an average of 248.7 rushing yards a game.

Northridge and San Luis Obispo both have designs on the top perch, making their game tonight a key one. CSUN’s offense is built around tailback Albert Fann, who has accounted for 813 yards in four games. SLO counters with a defense that makes the school’s call letters a misnomer. The Mustangs had the Division II’s toughest defense against the run last season.

“I think it’s very important for any one of us to get off on a good start,” Setencich said. “We should all be competitive. At this point I don’t think you can say anyone is better than anyone else.”

Had Delgardo not gone down, perhaps all the talk of parity might have been spared. Allen, who is in his fourth season as Portland’s coach, was ready to shoulder the favorite’s role early in the season.

But now, even he is hedging on picking a winner.

“I’ll be totally honest,” he said. “I have absolutely no idea who’s going to win it.”

If, indeed, anyone does, they’re not saying.