COLLEGE FOOTBALL / GENE WOJCIECHOWSKI : Giving a Ward His Due, and Other Awards, Too

No need for tuxedos and cummerbunds. With little pomp and circumstance, we present our season-ending awards:

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

The nominees: 1. Charlie Ward, Florida State quarterback; 2. Are you kidding?

Shortly after last Saturday’s 33-21 Florida State victory over Florida, a well-meaning radio reporter breathlessly asked Seminole Coach Bobby Bowden about Ward’s Heisman Trophy chances. The reporter wanted to know if Ward, who had completed 38 of 53 passes for 446 yards and four touchdowns that day, had “set himself up” to win college football’s most coveted award.

“Well, I won’t say he set it up,” Bowden said. “I’d say he wrapped it up.”

With a ribbon.

Notre Dame Coach Lou Holtz was right when he said Ward was a no-brainer for the Heisman. In fact, Holtz said he couldn’t remember the last time the choice was so clear cut.

“I’ve got to be honest,” Holtz said. “I’ve never seen anybody like Charlie Ward. I’ve never seen anybody control a game like Charlie Ward.”

The amazing season numbers: 264 of 380--that’s 69.4%--for 3,032 yards, 27 touchdowns, four interceptions, four touchdowns rushing and countless escapes from would-be sackers.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

(In a Non-Charlie Ward Parallel Universe)

The nominees: LeShon Johnson, Northern Illinois running back; Heath Shuler, Tennessee quarterback; Trent Dilfer, Fresno State quarterback; Glenn Foley, Boston College quarterback; Kevin McDougal, Notre Dame quarterback; J.J. Stokes, UCLA wide receiver; Aaron Taylor, Notre Dame offensive tackle; Marshall Faulk, San Diego State running back; Byron Morris, Texas Tech running back; Steve McNair, Alcorn State quarterback.

The winner: Johnson is the narrow choice here over McDougal and Dilfer. Johnson nearly reached the magical 2,000-yard mark despite a banged-up shoulder and an offense that was without a sound quarterback. Everybody in the stadium knew Johnson was going to get the ball and yet, he finished the season with 1,976 yards and a rushing average of 6.0.

McDougal finishes second not so much on statistics--respectable, nothing more--but on performance. Had freshman Ron Powlus not injured his shoulder, McDougal probably would have spent the season on the bench. Instead, he led the Irish to a 10-1 season--11-0, if Notre Dame’s defense hadn’t collapsed against Boston College. In the process, he made a liar out of Holtz, who said before season’s start: “I’ve never coached a bad quarterback, never coached a bad offense, but we have all the ingredients for that this year.” And now? “I apologize for the comment I made during the summer,” Holtz said.

Dilfer edges UCLA’s Stokes for third, mostly because his numbers are too impressive to ignore. He threw for more than 3,000 yards, had 28 touchdowns and only four interceptions. His passing efficiency rating was boffo. Louisville’s Jeff Brohm, Georgia’s Eric Zeier and Dilfer are perhaps the best passers in the game.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR

The nominees: Derrick Brooks, Florida State linebacker; Ken Alexander, Florida State linebacker; Rob Waldrop, Arizona nose guard; Trev Alberts, Nebraska linebacker; Jeff Burris, Notre Dame safety, Aaron Glenn, Texas A&M; cornerback; Dan Wilkinson, Ohio State tackle.

The winner: Brooks, barely, over Alberts and Burris.

Brooks, according to Bowden, “is the missing link in our defense.” Even playing with a dislocated bone in his right hand, Brooks was a force in the victory against Florida, a one-man wrecking crew.

Alberts, the heart and soul of Nebraska’s defense, came this close to slipping ahead of Brooks.

Burris, because of his versatility--he played three of the four secondary positions, was on nearly every special team, was the designated short-yardage ballcarrier--finished third ahead of Waldrop.

COACH OF THE YEAR

The nominees: Barry Alvarez, Wisconsin; Terry Bowden, Auburn; Holtz, Notre Dame; Bobby Bowden, Florida State; Don Nehlen, West Virginia; Mack Brown, North Carolina; Tom Osborne, Nebraska.

The winner: Terry Bowden.

The Tigers finished 11-0, even knowing they couldn’t play in a bowl, couldn’t win the Southeastern Conference championship, couldn’t play on television and couldn’t qualify for the coaches’ poll--all because of NCAA probation. Somebody had to convince them it still was worth the trouble. That somebody was Bowden, a rookie Division I-A coach who energized the Auburn program and managed not to alienate the Pat Dye loyalists in the process.

If Wisconsin beats Michigan State on Saturday and earns the Rose Bowl bid, Alvarez is coach of the year 1A. Like Bowden, he changed attitudes and generally kicked butt.

As for Nehlen, that isn’t a chip on his shoulder, it’s a tree trunk. Nehlen, who thinks the whole world is against him and his poor Mountaineers, is to be commended for an improbable unbeaten regular season. West Virginia isn’t the prettiest team to watch, but Nehlen got the most out of it. He was especially adept at making a two-quarterback system work.

FLOP OF THE YEAR

The nominees: Syracuse (6-4-1); Michigan (7-4); San Diego State (6-6); Rutgers quarterback Bryan Fortay; Northwestern (2-9); USC running attack (virtually nonexistent); South Carolina quarterback Steve Taneyhill (more than twice as many interceptions as touchdowns for preseason cover boy); Mississippi State (3-6-2); ABC Big Ten-Pacific 10 television contract (Michigan State-Penn State instead of Florida-Florida State?); SEC championship game.

The winner: In a landslide, the Orangemen of Syracuse. A preseason top-three pick, Syracuse finished with a 6-4-1 record and, barring a last-minute surprise, no bowl invitation.

Runner-up honors go to Fortay, who sued Miami because the Hurricanes allegedly stunted his development. So Fortay transfers to Rutgers and bombs.

And congratulations to the third-place finisher, the SEC championship game. The teams involved, Alabama and Florida, are both ranked lower than Citrus Bowl-bound Tennessee.

WHAT IF . . .

Don’t look now, but it’s conceivable that poll voters will be facing a familiar problem the night of Jan. 1.

If Florida State defeats Nebraska in the Orange Bowl, and West Virginia, presumably headed for the Sugar Bowl, loses to Florida or Alabama, and Notre Dame beats Texas A&M; in the Cotton Bowl, the question is, “Who’s No. 1?”

Is it 12-1 Florida State, ranked first in the Associated Press poll, second in the coalition poll and third in the coaches’ poll?

Or is it 11-1 Notre Dame, which is ranked fifth in the AP, fourth in the coaches’, fifth in the coalition, but beat Florida State when they played?

The same sort of thing happened in 1989, when the Irish completed the regular season with an 11-1 record, beat then-No. 1 Colorado in the Orange Bowl and pleaded their case for a national championship. Notre Dame’s only loss: a two-point defeat by Miami at the Orange Bowl in the final regular-season game.

Meanwhile, Miami beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl and finished the season 11-1. The Hurricanes’ only loss: a 14-point defeat by Florida State at Tallahassee in late October.

When it came time to choose a national champion, though, both polls settled on Miami. Voters apparently viewed the Hurricanes’ victory over the Irish as the tiebreaker.

Holtz was predictably peeved. He argued that Notre Dame’s schedule was tougher, that the Irish had one more victory than Miami, that they had just beaten the No. 1 team in the country. In short, all the things Florida State’s Bobby Bowden will point out should the Seminoles beat the Cornhuskers, ranked No. 1 in the coalition and coaches polls.

As for Notre Dame this season, the Irish have history on their side. A precedent of sorts has been set: When in doubt, voters have picked the winner of head-to-head competition.

But this year might be different. The X factor: undefeated and probation-tethered Auburn, No. 4 in the AP and coalition polls. Nobody knows where the Tigers might end up, especially if the Seminoles and Irish struggle in their bowl victories.

Another possibility is a split vote. Florida State could get the AP championship, Notre Dame the coaches’ title. And don’t be surprised if some ballots include half a first-place vote for both teams.

THE REST

--According to Ken Stabler, the former Alabama quarterback who still makes his home in the state, rumors persist that Crimson Tide Coach Gene Stallings might resign at season’s end. Stallings reportedly is considering the move so he could spend more time with his family.

--”This might be the first time in history a change has been made when the coach is on the winning side of the ledger,” said Al Luginbill, after San Diego State had pressed the ejector button on his coaching career. Wrong. Clemson recently squeezed Ken Hatfield out of the picture despite a 32-13-1 record, and Tennessee jettisoned Johnny Majors last year despite a 116-62-10 mark. Luginbill was canned because the Aztecs often gagged against the Western Athletic Conference’s best teams, gagged in November and cost the school millions of dollars in lost bowl revenue.

--Pity the Gator Bowl if Florida somehow loses to Alabama and has to travel to Jacksonville for its bowl reward. In other words, the Gators would rather eat green flies. “I don’t want to go back there, and I don’t think it’s wrong to say so,” quarterback Terry Dean told the AP. And this from guard Jim Watson: “It’s like playing a bowl game (in Gainesville). Why bother? We stayed out in the middle of nowhere. There was nothing for us to do.”

Top 10

As selected by staff writer Gene Wojciechowski

No. Team Record 1. Florida State 11-1 2. Nebraska 11-0 3. Notre Dame 10-1 4. Auburn 11-0 5. West Virginia 11-0 6. Tennessee 9-1-1 7. Texas A&M; 10-1 8. Wisconsin 8-1-1 9. Florida 9-2 10. Miami 9-2

Waiting list: North Carolina (10-2), Penn State (9-2), Ohio State (9-1-1), UCLA (8-3), Arizona (9-2).