COLLEGE FOOTBALL / GENE WOJCIECHOWSKI : Like Economy, Bowl Standard Takes Dive

So many bowls, so few great teams.

Consider:

--Not one undefeated and untied team will play in a bowl this season.

--Only Brigham Young, among the bowl candidates, can win 11 regular-season games.

--Only seven others have a legitimate chance at 10 victories, and one of those teams, Notre Dame, has to play Tennessee, Penn State and USC. Colorado can win 10, but it will have played 12 games and also benefited from the infamous fifth-down victory over Missouri.

--Only eight are likely to win nine games, and that might be a generous estimate.

--Only seven will probably manage eight victories and only seven are likely to win seven games.

--If projections hold true, nine other bowl candidates will have only six victories.

There are 19 bowls and, at the moment, about 40 teams available to fill those 38 openings. Invitations are supposed to be presented on Nov. 24, but nobody has ever accused bowl officials of paying attention to their calendars.

Presenting our best guesses . . .

The Big Five:

--Orange Bowl. Colorado vs. Notre Dame or Miami, but the Hurricanes will be invited only if Notre Dame loses to Tennessee Saturday.

--Sugar Bowl. Southeastern Conference champion (probably Tennessee) vs. Michigan, Notre Dame or Miami.

--Cotton Bowl. Southwest Conference champion (probably Texas, since undefeated and untied Houston is ineligible) vs. Miami, Notre Dame or Michigan.

--Fiesta Bowl. Virginia vs. Penn State.

--Rose Bowl. Washington vs. Big Ten champion (probably Iowa).

The Medium Six: Citrus--Georgia Tech vs. Nebraska; Gator--Auburn vs. Ohio State; Holiday--Western Athletic Conference champion (probably Brigham Young) vs. Texas A&M; Hall of Fame--Clemson vs. Illinois; Liberty--Army vs. Minnesota or Indiana; Blockbuster--Florida State vs. Ohio State or Louisville.

The Rest: Copper--Wyoming vs. California; John Hancock--Michigan State vs. USC; Freedom--Colorado State vs. Oregon; Peach--North Carolina State or Mississippi vs. Indiana or Minnesota; All-American--Louisville vs. Alabama; Aloha--Syracuse vs. Arizona; California--San Jose State or Fresno State vs. Central Michigan; Independence--Baylor vs. LSU or Southern Mississippi.

Teams on the bubble: Texas Christian and North Carolina.

As usual, Notre Dame is the center of attention. A victory over Tennessee will allow the Irish to delay a commitment and help the Sugar Bowl’s chances of landing Notre Dame. An Auburn or Mississippi vs. Notre Dame game remains a possibility.

If Houston finishes the season undefeated and untied, Cougar fans are calling for Associated Press voters to crown the team as national champion. Four questions:

--Does a team on NCAA probation deserve to be eligible for a national title?

--Should a team be voted No. 1 without playing a bowl game?

--Should a team whose schedule includes Eastern Washington, Nevada Las Vegas, Southern Methodist, Rice, Texas Tech, Arizona State, Arkansas--who have a combined record of 21-40 and only one of these seven, Eastern Washington (5-4), has a winning record--be seriously considered as national championship material?

--Would the best team in the country allow Texas Christian’s second-string quarterback to throw for an NCAA-record 690 yards against it?

Answer: A No. 1 vote for Houston, undefeated and untied or not, is a vote wasted.

One more Houston item: We don’t have a Heisman Trophy ballot, but if we did, we wouldn’t penalize Houston quarterback David Klingler for directing a run-and-shoot offense that produces outrageous point and yardage totals.

To do so would be the same as penalizing quarterback Ty Detmer for BYU’s intricate passing attack, or Darian Hagan and Eric Bieniemy for Colorado’s option offense, or Raghib Ismail for Notre Dame’s plan to get him the ball--by pass, handoff or special teams--at least 20 times a game. Offensive systems and philosophies are nice, but without the right players, they flop.

We also wouldn’t dismiss Klingler as a leading candidate simply because former Cougar Andre Ware won the Heisman last year. One doesn’t average more than four touchdown passes and 443 yards a game, as Klingler has this season, by accident.

And for those critics who say the run-and-shoot is designed for short gains, think again. Of Klingler’s seven touchdown pass plays last week against TCU, six of them traveled 35 yards or more--36, 42, 46, 59, 80 and 88.

Klingler should consider himself lucky. Heisman candidate Shawn Moore, Virginia’s multitalented quarterback, was scheduled to appear on NBC’s “Today Show” last Monday. But after the Cavaliers were upset by Georgia Tech, the network called Sunday and canceled the request. Never mind that Moore accounted for four Virginia touchdowns in the loss. Instead, Ismail and Klingler were interviewed. All in all, a classless move by NBC to omit Moore.

Nothing against the Virginia sports information department, but it pushed the wrong Moore for the Heisman. Herman, not Shawn, is the best Cavalier player and, according to Georgia Tech Coach Bobby Ross, the best wide receiver in the country. He caught nine passes for 234 yards and one touchdown Saturday. Moore has at least one touchdown reception in his last 10 games and 15 of his last 16.

And for what it’s worth, Kentucky Coach Bill Curry, whose son plays for Virginia, said that Cavalier Coach George Welsh had no choice but to kick a tying field goal against Georgia Tech with 2:34 remaining. The alternative: a fourth-and-goal situation at the Yellow Jacket six-yard line.

“I would have done the same thing,” said Curry, who attended the game. Of course, Georgia Tech got the ball back, drove down the field and kicked a game-winning field goal. As for Curry, he couldn’t have been too upset. After all, he’s a Georgia Tech graduate and a former Georgia Tech head coach.

How tough was it to get a ticket to last Saturday’s game at Charlottesville, Va.? Well, as part of Virginia’s annual basketball scrimmage, musician Bruce Hornsby and actor Woody Harrelson of “Cheers” fame agreed to serve as honorary coaches. Hornsby, who received no cash appearance fee, later said that one of the reasons he accepted the coaching invitation was the promise of a Virginia-Georgia Tech football ticket. He got one. . . . Alabama isn’t going to win the SEC, but it might win six games, which is an accomplishment considering that the Crimson Tide lost their first three this season. The Tide hasn’t allowed a touchdown in 12 quarters. . . . Louisville is ranked in the AP poll for the first time in 18 years.

After 21 years as a college coach, Notre Dame’s Lou Holtz will take his No. 1-ranked team to Knoxville, Tenn., and 91,110-seat Neyland Stadium for the first time Saturday. Already, Holtz has called several colleagues, including former Alabama coach Ray Perkins, and asked how to deal with the deafening crowd noise.

“I figure I’ll call until I find someone who has something nice to say about it,” Holtz said. “Everybody says don’t go unless you absolutely have to.”

Holtz already has instructed team managers to play the song, “Rocky Top,” a Tennessee band favorite, during each of the Notre Dame practices this week. For two hours, the song is played again and again. Notre Dame players leave the workouts humming the tune. “I went to sleep last night and I could hear it,” cornerback Todd Lyght said.

Said Holtz of Notre Dame’s No. 1 ranking: “I have never worried about No. 1. We have a chance to be No. 1. But there are 10-15 teams who have a better chance to be No. 1.”

Grace Tower is the tallest dormitory on the campus at South Bend, Ind. Whenever the Irish are first in the polls, a No. 1 sign is placed atop the building. Holtz suggested that the person in charge of hanging the sign might want to keep his tools handy.

“That guy’s upset,” Holtz said. “He knows he might have to go up there in bad weather and take it down.”

Our top 10: (1) Notre Dame, (2) Colorado, (3) Washington, (4) Houston, (5) BYU, (6) Miami, (7) Iowa, (8) Tennessee, (9) Texas, (10) Georgia Tech.

Our waiting list: Florida, Nebraska, Mississippi, Florida State and Virginia.