COLLEGE FOOTBALL / GENE WOJCIECHOWSKI : Pollsters Have Wildcats Purring

Do not adjust your newspaper. That really is Northwestern, former whoopee cushion of the Big Ten, listed among “Others receiving votes” in this week’s Associated Press poll.

Fresh off a 22-21 upset of then-No. 22 Boston College, the Wildcats (1-1) are beginning to make an impression. Of course, you need a time warp to determine the last sighting of Northwestern in the AP poll. And even that might not help.

According to school officials, Northwestern finished the 1962 season ranked 16th in the now-defunct United Press International poll. That was the year the Wildcats, under Ara Parseghian, finished 7-2 and John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth. Since then, Northwestern has been lost in space.

This week, though, at least two of the AP’s 62 voters thought enough of the Wildcats to put them in the top 25.

As for the USA Today/CNN poll, Northwestern was on the ballot of six of the 62 coaches who vote.

The 1-1 record helps, but not as much as the way the Wildcats beat Boston College. Rather than kick a game-tying extra point with 4:29 to play, Northwestern Coach Gary Barnett went for two.

“It was a no-brainer,” Barnett said this week from his office. “My son could have made that call.”

The Wildcats, who were beaten by Boston College last year, 49-0, scored on the play and then held the Eagles not once, but twice in the remaining minutes.

Barnett, in his second year at Northwestern, also earned admirers by the way his team played tough against Notre Dame in the season opener. The Wildcats dominated the first half and led before losing, 27-12.

“What Notre Dame did to us . . . it made us mad that we got too excited and didn’t take advantage of an opportunity,” Barnett said. “We really did think we could have won the game.”

Northwestern will win more than the three games of a season ago. The Wildcats figure to beat Wake Forest on Saturday, and victories over Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan State aren’t out of the question. That’s six. Then there’s an outside chance of upsetting Wisconsin or Iowa. Forget about beating Ohio State or Penn State, it won’t happen.

“Ohio State and Penn State look to be real physical and really pretty good,” Barnett said. “Shoot, I think we’re going to play (the rest of) them heads up.”

NIGHTMARE REVISITED

What an out-of-body experience it must have been for Colorado Coach Bill McCartney as he watched his once-No. 8 Buffaloes gag on a 10-point, fourth-quarter lead and lose last Saturday at Stanford, 41-37. The game was Colorado’s and then, poof, it was gone in the last 3:33.

Did you see the ESPN sideline shot of McCartney moments after Stanford scored the go-ahead touchdown? Mouth agape, face contorted in disbelief.

The Cardinal, which really had no business winning the game, was magnificent in those final minutes.

Steve Stenstrom doesn’t deserve the “Best Quarterback in the Pacific 10” designation, he deserves more. Five touchdowns, 30 completions, 382 yards. . . . Those are numbers that win games and Heismans.

Receivers Justin Armour and Tony Cline combined for 21 catches, 275 yards and four touchdowns.

And Stanford’s suspect defense, which gave up 285 yards rushing and 277 passing, held during the critical last few minutes.

But the difference was Cardinal Coach Bill Walsh, whose play-calling confounded Colorado’s defensive coaches, to say nothing of the Buffaloes’ nicked-up secondary. Stenstrom executed each of Walsh’s instructions to perfection, but it was Walsh who understood that McCartney’s team had provided him with an unexpected opportunity.

So Mr. Mensa did just that--with an assist from the officials, who ruled that Cline’s feet touched the end zone moments before the ball was knocked out of his hands in the waning seconds. And by the way, it was the right call.

Watching from afar was Barnett, McCartney’s former offensive coordinator at Colorado.

“I thought it was a great college football game,” said Barnett, whose team plays Stanford next season. “I enjoyed it. (McCartney) did not enjoy that last quarter. I tried to call him today. He’s taking this all personally. He felt like he got outcoached, but he can’t feel that way.”

Sure he can, because in this case, it happened.

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO WALDEN

Texas A&M; destroyed Missouri, 73-0. Texas somehow tied favored Syracuse. UCLA almost beat Nebraska. Arizona squeaked past Illinois. Pittsburgh got whipped by Ohio State, 63-28.

The results almost brought a smile to Jim Walden’s face.

“I was a little shocked, to say the least, when I heard some of the scores,” said Walden, whose Iowa State team (1-2) was beaten by Wisconsin, 28-7. “It’s kind of like morbid, but there’s that moment of time when you think you’re the most incompetent, most alone, sorriest coach that ever was. Like, ‘Why are you doing this?’ Then all of a sudden you start hearing all the scores.

“Everyone who lost thinks they’re useless. Everyone who won thinks they’re great. All it does is reinforce that I’m not as bad as I thought I was.”

BOFFO BIG TEN

After last season’s dismal Big Ten performance--only three teams received bowl bids, and two of them, Ohio State and Illinois, lost--the league had a bit of an image problem. Had it not been for the Southwest, the Big Ten might have been the worst major conference in the country.

Not this season. Ohio State, Michigan and new member Penn State are ranked seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively, in the AP poll, and Wisconsin is 22nd. The Big Ten hasn’t had three top-10 teams since 1985.

Also, Indiana is 3-0, Iowa is 2-1 and Michigan State and Northwestern are 1-1.

Of course, Iowa’s Hayden Fry isn’t jumping to any conclusions. Said Fry after last Saturday’s 31-0 defeat by the Nittany Lions: “I think Penn State has a chance to be very competitive in this league.”

Fry needs to turn down the tint in his glasses: He can’t see anymore.

THE REST

Despite beating North Carolina last Saturday, 33-7, Florida State’s players were surprisingly complimentary of the Tar Heels. “They’re a damn good team,” said star Seminole linebacker Derrick Brooks. “In the skill positions, they can score with the best of them.”

Don Nehlen’s West Virginia team plays Missouri, which is a tad inconsistent. Missouri beat Illinois in its opener, 31-3, then disappeared off the radar screen against Texas A&M.; “A&M; must have been taking mean pills,” Nehlen said. That said, Nehlen did his best to hype Saturday’s game against the Tigers. “I think our people will see the film and know this is a team that won’t get beat, 73-0,” he said. Maybe not, but West Virginia has scored 48 and 42 points in its two victories. The Mountaineers also have Jake Kelchner, a transfer from Notre Dame who leads the nation in passing efficiency.

By the end of the Missouri game, Texas A&M; was using mostly scout-team players. But despite the 73-point margin, Missouri linebacker Darryl Major said: “They didn’t outplay us.” Missouri, ranked fourth in scoring defense before the game, is now 99th. In fact, Missouri’s basketball team held Texas A&M; to fewer points in an 81-55 victory last season.

Boston College Coach Tom Coughlin finds himself under criticism after an 0-2 start. “I don’t think we’re practicing as we have in the past,” said Coughlin. The Eagles, losers of five of their last six games, are down to four wide receivers, four tight ends and a few running backs. “I don’t know who else we can go to,” Coughlin said.

Temple’s Ron Dickerson, Wake Forest’s Jim Caldwell and Eastern Michigan’s Ron Cooper--the only three black Division I-A head coaches--now have a victory each. Cooper and Caldwell earned theirs last Saturday. Eastern Michigan beat Western Illinois and Wake Forest beat Appalachian State.

Top 10

As selected by staff writer Gene Wojciechowski

No. Team Record 1. Florida State 4-0 2. Alabama 3-0 3. Miami 2-0 4. Ohio State 3-0 5. Notre Dame 3-0 6. Penn State 3-0 7. Florida 3-0 8. Nebraska 3-0 9. Oklahoma 2-0 10. Michigan 1-1

Waiting list: North Carolina (3-1), Arizona (3-0), Tennessee (2-1), Syracuse (2-0-1), Colorado (2-1), Louisville (3-0).