AZTEC NOTEBOOK / SCOTT MILLER : Holiday Still Studying Big Ten

After a week’s delay, Saturday brought more of the same for Holiday Bowl officials: The Big Ten situation is still murky, but the Holiday Bowl continues to lean toward that conference.

The Holiday Bowl executive board will meet today at noon and is obligated to deliver its decision to the Big Ten by 3 p.m. PST.

“Certainly, no clear-cut winner came out of (Saturday’s) games,” said Dick Howard, Holiday Bowl president. “At least a couple of teams could end up 6-5 and be eligible to play.

“I think we’re still looking but indications are we want to stay with the Big Ten if at all possible.”

Michigan State, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana and Wisconsin all have chances to finish with at least six victories. A likely scenario has the winner of Saturday’s Michigan State (5-5)-Illinois (5-4-1) game in the bowl.

Bowl representatives are leaning away from Iowa (5-6), which would be 5-3 in the conference with a victory over Minnesota Saturday.

“That’s probably true,” Howard said.

Iowa was in last year’s game and has been to the Holiday Bowl three times since 1987.

The Holiday Bowl had representatives Saturday at three Big Ten games (Michigan State-Purdue, Illinois-Michigan, Indiana-Ohio State) and at two Pac-10 games (Stanford-Washington State and Arizona-USC).

Howard confirmed that Oklahoma was in the Holiday Bowl picture until it tied Oklahoma State on Saturday.

While the Holiday Bowl must decide by today whether it will stay with the Big Ten, it does not have to choose which Big Ten team to invite until after the season. Also, if the Holiday Bowl informs the Big Ten today that it wants to explore other options, it can still come back and choose a Big Ten team later.

Unless some major occurs, it is highly probable that a Big Ten team will be in the Holiday Bowl.

“Our inclination has always been leaning toward the Big Ten,” Howard said.

The Heisman Trophy scoop:

Marshall Faulk carried 43 times for 300 yards Saturday, which seems to increase his standing in the Heisman race.

Georgia’s Garrison Hearst carried 31 times for 105 yards and one touchdown against Auburn and also had one reception, for a 64-yard touchdown.

Miami quarterback Gino Torretta completed 16 of 23 passes for 221 yards and two touchdowns in a 48-0 victory over Temple.

“I’m really not concerned about the Heisman race,” SDSU Coach Al Luginbill said. “I think Marshall Faulk will tell you the same thing. The only race I’m concerned with is the WAC championship. If we do that, Marshall is going to have a great shot at the individual award, which would be a team award.”

Faulk has 1,609 yards this season, a WAC single season record.

How fired up was Luginbill?

“I’ve said we haven’t played our best football and I still don’t think we have,” he said. “We had 10 penalties and two turnovers. Am I excited? You’re darn right I’m excited. We were down and people were kicking us, and now we get another chance.”

Apparently, reporters get an assist for this victory.

“What we need is for you guys to keep writing negative things about us,” Luginbill said. “We read that and make sure every one of our players knows about it.”

This Date in Football:

Nov. 14, 1992--Hawaii plays the biggest football game in school history as it attempts to win its first Western Athletic Conference championship with a victory over SDSU.

Nov. 14, 1989--Al Luginbill is named as Aztec football coach, replacing Denny Stolz.

Nov. 14, 1981--Hawaii plays what was its biggest game until Saturday, as the Rainbows host Brigham Young for the WAC championship. It is the first time a Rainbow home game is on national television. The Rainbows lost to BYU, 13-3.

It was Hawaii’s last regular-season road game, and nobody associated with the Rainbow football team will be complaining. By the time they get home, the Rainbows will have flown 31,600 miles--more than all but four NFL teams, including both exhibition and regular season games. The four NFL teams that have flown more miles than Hawaii--Houston, Miami, San Francisco and Denver--all played exhibition games in Europe or Japan.

Faulk’s four touchdowns gave him the SDSU career record.