COLLEGE FOOTBALL : BYU Meets Kansas in Aloha Bowl

It’s unusual for a team not playing in its home area to have a home-field advantage against another visiting team.

That will be the case today when No. 23-ranked Brigham Young faces Kansas in the Aloha Bowl at Honolulu. The only question is, which team will have the edge?

Some say BYU (8-4), since it makes regular visits there to play Western Athletic Conference rival Hawaii. Others say that’s the reason Kansas (7-4) gets the edge, since Hawaii fans view the Cougars as their chief rival and never could bring themselves to root for them.

“I’m not really sure, but riding in that parade the other day, we found some Jayhawk supporters,” Kansas Coach Glen Mason said.

BYU Coach LaVell Edwards said: “I don’t think the advantage of us being here before would mean that much once the game started. They have a talented offense led by Chip Hilleary at quarterback and Maurice Douglas at tailback.”

BYU enters the game with the nation’s fifth-best passing attack, averaging 298 yards and nearly 30 points a game, but because of injuries will be relying on a fourth-string quarterback, Tom Young, brother of quarterback Steve Young of the San Francisco 49ers.

The dream of Willie Williams is to play in the NFL, and today he’ll have the chance to impress scouts.

The defensive back from Western Carolina was named to the Gray team for the Blue-Gray game in Birmingham, Ala., as a last-minute replacement for Clemson’s Eric Geter, who sprained an ankle.

Other Blue players from smaller schools in the game are receiver Darren Stohlmann of Nebraska Wesleyan and linebackers Dwayne Gordon of New Hampshire and Doug Miller of South Dakota State.

The Gray has backs Gregory Robinson and Roosevelt Potts of Northeast Louisiana, receiver Anthony Brooks of East Texas State and linebacker Mike Caldwell of Middle Tennessee State.