COLLEGE FOOTBALL : Vermeil: Notre Dame Notwithstanding, USC Is No. 1

As UCLA’s football coach in the mid-1970s, Dick Vermeil recognized USC as his school’s traditional rival.

Now, Vermeil says USC is the best team in the country.

Wait a minute.

Notre Dame is unbeaten, the nation’s top-ranked team. The Irish beat USC last month, 28-24.

Vermeil, a college football television analyst for ABC, is still committed to USC.

“This USC team is spectacular,” he said. “In the two years that I’ve been doing college games, they’re the best team I’ve seen. What I appreciate as an ex-coach is how fundamentally sound they are.”

Vermeil worked USC’s games against Ohio State and Arizona. He has also seen the Trojans on tape, as he has Notre Dame.

Vermeil maintains that if USC and Notre Dame were in the same division, similar to a pro football alignment, that the teams would have split their two meetings this year.

“The team that goes to the Super Bowl every year in the NFL loses four or five games before it gets there,” Vermeil said. “But a college football team ends up not being the national champion because it loses one or two games (USC is 8-2).

“And the team that winds up national champion isn’t necessarily the best team at the end of the year. I just can’t believe there’s a better team than USC in the country.”

Vermeil bases his opinion on USC’s personnel and coaching.

He said USC linebacker Junior Seau is the Lawrence Taylor of college football, and he can’t recall ever seeing a better freshman quarterback than Todd Marinovich.

He also said that defensive linemen Tim Ryan and Dan Owens, guard Mark Tucker and safeties Mark Carrier and Cleveland Colter are NFL-type players.

As for Saturday’s USC-UCLA game, Vermeil said:

“If there is an air of emotion within USC’s commitment to the game, the other team’s emotion isn’t going to be big enough to overcome it.

“When emotion can overcome and help you win is when teams are pretty even, or one is just slightly less (skilled) than a great team. But when you’re not real close physically, it’s tough to win on emotion.

“UCLA is not close physically. There are only a few positions that they’re close.”

Vermeil on Marinovich: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a freshman that poised. He does so many little things. He looks defenders off, he goes from one side of a pattern clear across the field to the other side of the pattern and he directs traffic when he’s in a scramble situation.”

Michigan Coach Bo Schembechler became irritated at a press conference when it was suggested that he doesn’t promote his players for the Heisman Trophy.

Tom Harmon, in 1940, is Michigan’s only Heisman winner.

“You dummies are the ones who vote for the Heisman, not me,” Schembechler said. “How can you say nobody (from Michigan) will ever win the damn thing? You vote for it. I don’t have a vote.”

When asked if Michigan tailback Tony Boles should be considered for the Heisman, Schembechler said: “You’re damn right. He’s averaging 6.3 yards a carry. That’s not too shabby.”

But Indiana’s Anthony Thompson, who set an NCAA single-game record by gaining 377 yards last Saturday while carrying the ball 52 times and scoring four touchdowns, is getting more attention than any other Big Ten player.

“Don’t tell me about these backs who carry the ball 30 or 40 times and score five touchdowns a game,” Schembechler said. “I want 100 yards in playoff games. I want 100 yards when it counts.”

Question: What are the trophies that go to the winners of traditional rivalry games between California-Stanford, Washington-Washington State and Missouri-Kansas?

Answer below.

When Bill Curry was hired as Alabama’s coach in 1987, he wasn’t immediately accepted because he wasn’t an Alabama man in the mold of the legendary Bear Bryant.

Joab Thomas, the school president at the time, received death threats for choosing someone from outside the family. Curry had played and coached at Georgia Tech.

It was questioned whether Curry could carry on in the Bryant tradition. A brick was thrown through the window of his office after a loss to Mississippi last year.

His critics are quiet now. Alabama is unbeaten and ranked fourth nationally and earned at least a share of the Southeastern Conference title last Saturday night by beating Louisiana State.

Even Bryant didn’t accomplish what Curry has--an SEC title in his third season.

Vermeil, who preceded Terry Donahue as UCLA’s coach, resigned after a Rose Bowl victory over Ohio State in the 1975 season to coach the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Eagles were a beleaguered franchise then, but Vermeil had them in the Super Bowl against the Raiders by the 1980 season.

But two years later, Vermeil, stressed out emotionally, resigned.

Asked about a return to coaching, he said: “I don’t plan on it. People have offered me some opportunities, but I haven’t had the guts to take it. I enjoy what I’m doing and I like my life style.”

Reflecting on his years with the Eagles, he added: “I was way too emotional and too intense of a personality and I lacked stamina in those categories to keep on doing it for 20 more years.

“I’m refreshed now and I’m sure I could do it. But there’s no ego pushing me now to do it.”

Ah, just what we need, another bowl game.

Make room for the inaugural Copper Bowl game New Year’s Eve in Tucson.

Bids won’t be officially extended until Nov. 25, but it has been confirmed that Arizona, the home school, will play North Carolina State.

Arizona, with a 6-4 record, still has to play Arizona State a week from Saturday. North Carolina State, 7-3, ends its regular season against Virginia Tech Saturday.

Arizona was chosen primarily to ensure economic success. Only 13,000 seats have been sold for the game, to be played in the Wildcats’ 57,000-seat stadium.

Answer: Ax, Apple Cup and Indian War Drum.

If UCLA loses to USC Saturday, it will extend the school’s losing streak to six games, longest since the 1943 team lost seven in a row.

Washington State won six of its first seven games but has now lost three in a row. The defense has collapsed, allowing an average of 35 points and 505 total yards.

Pittsburgh has been routed by Notre Dame, 45-7, and Miami, 24-3, in its last two games. When reporters asked Pitt Coach Mike Gottfried to compare Notre Dame and Miami--they will meet Nov. 25--he said: “I won’t compare them. You guys know everything, you compare them.”