COLLEGE FOOTBALL / GENE WOJCIECHOWSKI : Inmates Are Trying to Take Over the Asylums

College football, the bizarre 1990s way:

--Frustrated by an 0-3 start and the heavy-handed methods of Coach Chuck Stobart, a disciple of Bo Schembechler, 80 Memphis State players boycotted a practice earlier this season. A semi-apologetic Stobart said he would re-examine his methods. That done, the Tigers have won three in a row.

--Worried that the football program--and their scholarships with it--would be eliminated, Cal State Fullerton players forced the cancellation of one recent practice and considered a boycott of last Saturday’s game against Southwestern Louisiana. School officials talked them out of it and the Titans defeated the Ragin’ Cajuns, 14-10.

--Told that his players voted for his immediate removal, South Carolina Coach Sparky Woods said he wasn’t going anywhere, except back to practice. His disgruntled players returned and, after a series of meetings this week, upset Mississippi State for the Gamecocks’ first victory of the season.

So democracy works, right? A team of the players, by the players and for the players shall never perish . . . or something like that.

Well, not exactly.

“Strange happenings,” said Tennessee’s Johnny Majors, 1990 president of the American Football Coaches Assn. “That’s a heck of a way going about it. I wouldn’t advocate it. I would say most coaches wouldn’t like it to happen that way.”

Stobart, Woods and Fullerton’s Gene Murphy didn’t have much choice. One day the team was theirs; the next they were faced with player insurrections.

“Obviously it was a situation where we started talking about we, us and our, instead of me and I,” said Woods, the most recent victim of the mini-revolts. “I listened to them and they listened to our staff. I think I was definitely a better coach because I listened to them and they were a better team because they listened to us.”

Maybe so, but the recent uprisings have made coaches nervous, angry and a bit paranoid. Can you blame them?

“We’re moving in a direction--and how do you say this?--where it’s almost like the player is invincible,” Iowa State Coach Jim Walden said. “Young players only think of themselves, don’t kid yourself. Less than 10% of them have any appreciation or know what you’re letting them do. They think they’re doing you a favor.”

Walden, a head coach for the last 15 years, wasn’t through. Other selected bon mots:

--”I think we better be careful, from the top down, to let the players know who’s running the zoo. We’ve gotten to the point that if players don’t like the drill you’re doing, they think they can just walk off the field.”

--”The football player is the single most spoiled athlete in the world.”

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Hot plate on the blink? Then use the forehead of West Virginia Coach Don Nehlen, who remains toasty hot after last Saturday’s 20-17 loss to Syracuse.

Days after a fourth-quarter mini-brawl cost his team three players and, as it turned out, the game and a national ranking, Nehlen is still fuming.

“It’s just a daggone shame you have two teams playing their hearts out and the officials determine the outcome in the last two minutes,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense to me.”

Few of the officials’ actions in those final minutes make any sense, especially when Syracuse quarterback Marvin Graves wasn’t ejected for setting up and throwing a perfect strike at the back of Mountaineer defensive back Tommy Orr’s neck. Orr tackled Graves near the sideline--inbounds, officials ruled--and the Orangeman quarterback was none too pleased about it.

The incident, which came with about 3:39 remaining and West Virginia clinging to a 17-14 lead, sparked a nasty brawl and the ejection of Mountaineer defensive backs Mike Collins, Leroy Axem and lineman Tom Briggs, all of whom accounted for a combined 18 tackles that day.

Syracuse had to do without freshman offensive lineman Kenny Warren, whose only contribution this year has been drinking Gatorade on the sidelines. He still hasn’t played all season. At least now he can say he actually hit someone.

Graves stayed in the game. In fact, it was his 17-yard touchdown pass to Chris Gedney with 51 seconds left that gave Syracuse, now ranked No. 12, the victory.

By the way, Gedney slipped past Collins’ replacement, John Harper, for the score.

The Big East Conference supervisor of officials is scheduled to review videotape of the incident, but it won’t matter. The score won’t change, nor will Nehlen’s anger or Syracuse Coach Paul Pasqualoni’s opinion of the controversial call.

“Marvin did not start the free-for-all,” he said. “Marvin was hit obviously late out of bounds.”

Pasqualoni said Graves was “dead wrong” to throw the ball at Orr, but added that “nowhere in the rule book (does) it say throwing the ball at another player . . . he’s ejected from the game.”

Memo to Big East: Change the rule book immediately. And while you’re at, change those officials.

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Florida State is 6-1, has clinched a tie for the Atlantic Coast Conference title, is probably bound for a New Year’s Day bowl and will probably find itself ranked in the top five by regular season’s end.

So why is Seminole Coach Bobby Bowden setting a record for most worry lines in one season?

That’s easy: quarterback Charlie Ward.

Ward, in his first year as a starter, has guided Florida State to some incredible finishes--most notably, last-minute victories against Clemson and Georgia Tech--and some incredible missed opportunities. In seven games, Ward has thrown 15 interceptions. Nine more interceptions (he averages one interception every 15th pass attempt) and he will break the school record set by Gary Huff in 1972.

But Bowden, who has benched Ward on occasion, is quick to temper any criticism of his young quarterback.

“This kid has something different,” he said. “This kid wins.”

Against Georgia Tech, Ward threw two fourth-quarter touchdown passes, including one with 1:48 remaining, to lead the Seminoles to a 29-24 victory.

“His greatest asset has been the two-minute offense,” Bowden said. “The last eight minutes of (the Georgia Tech) game, he was in the two-minute offense. I’m already getting letters about it: ‘Why don’t you start the game doing (the two-minute offense)?’ Well, he’d be dead in a quarter.”

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No. 9 Colorado might not be the prettiest undefeated team in the country, but say this for the Buffaloes--they are Miami-like in their ability to win close games, especially those in the Big Eight Conference.

Colorado ran its league streak to 22-0-2 when it tied Oklahoma, 24-24, last Saturday. The Buffaloes managed the tie despite five interceptions and two fumbles by freshman quarterback Koy Detmer and the loss of kicker Pat Blottiaux, who was replaced by punter and kickoff specialist Mitch Berger.

It was Berger’s last-second 53-yard field goal, his first on the Division I-A level, that tied the game. Earlier in the second half, Berger shanked a 39-yarder and blamed the miss on a lack of nervousness. So when it came down to that final kick, Berger purposely looked at the Oklahoma bench.

“For that second kick, I tried to get myself nervous,” he told reporters.

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Such is Colorado’s good fortune these days. During the streak, the Buffaloes are 6-0-2 in games decided by seven points or less.

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The boffo reviews for Alabama (7-0) continue to pour in.

From Tennessee’s Majors: “I think this is one of the finest defenses I’ve seen in college football. Their defense gives them a chance to play with anybody in the country.”

From South Carolina’s Woods: “By the looks of their football team, even though they have strong opponents ahead of them, I think they have an opportunity to win every game.”

Notice how Alabama’s offense isn’t mentioned? That’s because the Crimson Tide attack, or lack thereof, could jeopardize hopes of an undefeated season. For instance, Alabama gained 355 total yards against Tennessee, but 301 of it was on the ground.

A somewhat nervous Coach Gene Stallings said he wants Alabama to average 175-200 yards passing per game. At the moment, the Crimson Tide is at 146.7 yards per game.

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Majors was full of opinions Wednesday.

--Asked to compare former Georgia running back Herschel Walker, the 1982 Heisman Trophy winner, with this year’s Bulldog Heisman candidate, running back Garrison Hearst, Majors said: “I never thought Herschel was a great running back compared to (Tony) Dorsett and Gale Sayers. He was a fine football player, no doubt about it, and deserving of everything he got.”

Compared to Hearst, Majors said Walker’s skills weren’t as complete.

--And asked to comment on the actions and criticisms of angry Tennessee fans, who have seen the Volunteers (5-2) lose to Arkansas and Alabama in successive weeks, Majors apologized for nothing. While leaving the field after last Saturday’s loss to the Crimson Tide, the seventh consecutive loss to Alabama, a Volunteer “fan” threw a cup of ice at the Tennessee coach.

“Nothing surprises me,” Majors said. “It doesn’t take much guts or ingenuity to throw a cup of ice or write something on a sign. People feed on negativism in athletics. You can’t always satisfy the legions of the miserable or the insatiable appetites of the typical front-running fans.”

Saying there has been an erosion of manners and etiquette, Majors even managed to find a silver lining in the recent negativism.

“They still buy tickets and fill up our stadium, pay a lot of bills that we have to pay,” he said.

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Two quick Florida State items: 1) Bowden thinks Ward is the cat’s meow, but he also knows why the Seminoles are 6-1. “Our defense is really the reason we’re winning,” he said. (Without our defense) we’d have quite a few losses right now.”

2) Florida State has clinched a tie in the ACC, but Bowden doesn’t need no stinkin’ tie. “I won’t quit sucking my thumb until we win the conference,” he said. . . . Maybe Penn State, which has lost two games in a row, belongs in the Blockbuster Bowl, after all. . . . Things must be bad at Florida, where the Gators (3-2) face Louisville (3-4) this week. To hear Florida Coach Steve Spurrier talk, Louisville could be undefeated and in the hunt for a national championship.

“It’s going to be a very tough game for us,” he said. So desperate is Spurrier for ways to motivate his team, he recently brought in Schembechler and Dick Vitale (football credentials unknown) to address the Gators. . . . Kansas Coach Glen Mason is still tap-dancing on clouds after his team’s 50-47 victory against Iowa State last Saturday. “It’s the darndest thing I’ve ever seen,” said Mason, whose team trailed, 47-21. “Tell the Republicans they’re not out of it yet. If we can come back in that game, they can come back from whatever deficit they’ve got.” Paid for by the Committee to Reelect.

Top 10

As selected by staff writer Gene Wojciechowski

No. Team Record 1. Miami 6-0 2. Washington 6-0 3. Michigan 5-0-1 4. Alabama 7-0 5. Texas A&M; 6-0 6. Florida State 6-1 7. Colorado 5-0-1 8. Georgia 6-1 9. Nebraska 4-1 10. Boston College 5-0-1

Waiting list: Notre Dame (4-1-1), Syracuse (5-1), Washington State (6- 0), Penn State (5-2), Stanford (5-2).