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ROSE BOWL : James Prefers to See Huskies as Underdogs

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MCCLATCHY NEWS SERVICE

Point spreads aside, favorites generally win bowl games.

Except in the Rose Bowl, which makes Washington Coach Don James especially uneasy about his team being favored by nine points Tuesday when they face the Big Ten champion Iowa Hawkeyes.

Six of the past seven Rose Bowl winners entered the game as underdogs, and James would just as soon see his Huskies entering the game that way. He won’t. In fact, the Huskies are the biggest Rose Bowl favorites in 13 years.

“We’ve always felt good about being underdogs in a bowl game,” James said, remembering that his team was a 10-point underdog when it knocked off Michigan in the 1978 Rose Bowl. “It helps.”

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It helps to remind the players daily that they are being overlooked, underrated and generally spat upon by the sporting public. Of course, what the oddsmakers say really doesn’t mean anything, but coaches will take advantage of every conceivable angle in psychologically preparing their teams.

Iowa Coach Hayden Fry, not surprisingly, is doing just that. He talks about the Huskies’ speed, size and general ability, and casually comments that Washington should be favored.

“Our guys will show up and do the best they can,” he says, adding that he has trouble watching the Huskies on film without getting a sick feeling in his stomach.

What makes the Rose Bowl different is that it is the only bowl that pits the champions of two major conferences. Each team has played several big games, and won enough of them to win the title.

In almost every case, the underdog has been a team that clinched the league championship by beating its toughest competition, but has fallen in the rankings--and in the eyes of the oddsmakers--by stumbling against an overmatched opponent.

Iowa fits that mold perfectly, having beaten No. 12 Michigan, No. 16 Illinois and No. 22 Michigan State, all on the road. They finished the season, and fell from No. 13 in the rankings, by losing to unranked Minnesota after clinching the Rose Bowl.

In 11 previous bowl games under James, the Huskies have been underdogs seven times, and they have won four of those games--including the 27-20 decision over fourth-ranked Michigan in the 1978 Rose Bowl.

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What is interesting, however, and what James (8-3 in bowls) doesn’t dwell upon, is that as good as the Huskies have been as underdogs, they have been even better as favorites.

As favorites, they’re 4-0, beating Maryland in the 1981 Aloha Bowl (21-20), Oklahoma in the 1984 Orange Bowl (28-17), Tulane in the 1987 Independence Bowl (24-12), and Florida in the 1989 Freedom Bowl (34-7).

What these figures suggest is that the Huskies are very tough as favorites in bowl games . . . but that favorites don’t usually win the Rose Bowl.

If there is a moral, it is that the game is terrific for fans, but gamblers should just say no.

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