COMMENTARY : Freedom’s Not Just Another Bowl for Potential

Freedom Bowl VI already has announced its intentions--if Indiana (V-V) beats Purdue (II-VIII) on Saturday, it will be Indiana vs. Washington on Dec. XXX--and Cal State Fullerton is handling the news reasonably well.

Anthony Thompson plays running back for Indiana. Among other things, Thompson broke the NCAA single-game rushing record by running for 377 yards against Wisconsin--precisely one week after Fullerton’s Mike Pringle tied the record with 357 yards against New Mexico State.

That was cold, but bringing Thompson to Anaheim for his postseason moment of glory, where he can flaunt his stuff just a few off-ramps south of Titan Tech, is an out-and-out chill-out.

Don’t blame the Freedom Bowl, says Tom Starr, the game’s executive director. All too well, we remember what happened the last time Fullerton did.

In 1984, Starr picked Iowa and Texas as the contestants for Freedom I, thereby snubbing an undefeated Titan team, and Starr spent the next week screening phone calls and packages.

Freedom Bowl Or Bust took on a twisted connotation as Starr had to plead for an end to the bomb threats from Fullerton boosters and a restoration of sanity.

From such ugly beginnings, the Freedom Bowl has grown and developed, gained corporate sponsorship and a network television contract, and now sits on the brink of the previously unthinkable.

The Heisman could be coming to Anaheim.

Thompson, the nation’s leader in rushing (170 yards a game) and scoring (154 points), is presently among the top three in most unofficial Heisman Trophy polls.

Starr, of course, can tell you which polls Thompson is leading.

“He’s ahead in the Gannett (News Service) national poll, which consists of 17% of the Heisman voters,” Starr says, throwing out the first pitch.

“A guy from the South Bend paper called me the other day and said they took a poll of their readers. Anthony Thompson was leading there, too--and that’s in the home of Notre Dame, Tony Rice country.”

In what’s said to be a wide-open Heisman field, Rice and Houston’s Andre Ware are said to be Thompson’s primary competition.

For this reason, Starr set his sights on Indiana, a .500 team that will probably finish fifth in the Big Ten and, along with Pac-10 also-ran Washington, give this Freedom Bowl the distinct look of a second-rate Rose Bowl.

“In my 10 years in the bowl business, I’ve never seen so much parity, aside from the teams headed for the New Year’s Day bowls,” Starr says. “So we said, ‘Heck, let’s get a star performer out here, a guy the fans want to come out and see.’ ”

Now, the Freedom Bowl has to wait and see.

Indiana already has been extended a verbal invitation, but no team with a losing record can accept a postseason bowl bid. A loss to ninth-place Purdue, however unlikely, would leave the Hoosiers 5-6 and the Freedom Bowl in a bind.

Right?

Starr, who has never seen a half-empty glass of water in his life, just keeps smiling and informs you of his contingency plan.

“Right now, our backup team is Florida,” Starr says. “And that means Emmitt Smith. So either way, we’re going to get one of the two consensus All-American running backs.”

Yeah, but Heisman has that certain ring to it. Let Freedom ring, Starr says.

“This area is very much star-oriented,” he notes. “All you have to do is look at Wally Joyner, Bo Jackson, Jim Everett. People here want to see the star performer.

“And with Anthony Thompson, the fans will be coming out and seeing history. He’s the all-time leading scorer in college football. Any time he scores a touchdown, he’ll be doing something O.J. Simpson or Eric Dickerson or Red Grange never did.”

Usually, the Freedom Bowl gets it the other way around. Usually, it gets the understudies, the futures, the teams on the verge.

For many, the road to collegiate stardom first leads through Anaheim.

Iowa’s Chuck Long threw six touchdown passes in Freedom Bowl I. The next year, he placed a close second to Bo Jackson in the Heisman Trophy balloting.

Washington’s Chris Chandler was an obscure sophomore quarterback when he played in Freedom Bowl II. He won the MVP award in that game, went on to set many school passing records and became the Indianapolis Colts’ starting quarterback as a rookie.

BYU’s Ty Detmer also won a Freedom Bowl MVP trophy in last year’s game against Colorado. Now he leads the nation in passing.

And then there’s Colorado, the ultimate case study. Losers in Freedom V, the Buffaloes are now undefeated and rated second in both wire-service polls, headed for a national championship showdown with Notre Dame.

For half a decade, the Freedom Bowl has been a warmup act disguised as a football game.

But now, at age VI, the Preview Bowl is poised to become a prime-time bowl. All it needs is a Purdue loss this weekend and a heavy Hoosier turnout on Heisman day.

“We’re going to the Purdue game,” Starr says. “Wild horses couldn’t keep us away.

“Of course,” he adds, laughing in the face of the worst-case scenario, “if Purdue’s leading late, we might have to sneak out the press box elevator.”