COLLEGE FOOTBALL / GENE WOJCIECHOWSKI : Florida Hit Series ‘seventysomething’ Tops Ratings

Those weren’t game films Kentucky defensive coordinator Mike Archer watched a few days ago, they were sci-fi flicks. Mere humans couldn’t do what Florida did to the Wildcats last Saturday, or to New Mexico State the week before.

Since when does a team open with 70-21 and 73-7 victories against Division I-A programs and not be a member of the AFC East, or accused of sharing performance-enhancers with the Chinese women’s swim team?

Florida did it--win big, that is--which is why the Gators are the new No. 1 in the Associated Press poll, passing Nebraska to get there.

So overpowering were the Gators in Gainesville that they probably could have beaten Kentucky in street clothes. A year ago, Florida needed a last-minute touchdown to defeat the Wildcats. This time it could have quit after the first quarter and still won, 14-7.

“The first possession of the game we go on the field and their offense goes three (downs) and out,” Archer said. “I’m saying to myself, ‘This is going to be like last year’s game. It’s going to be a nail-biter.’ ”

Instead, Florida scored on its next five possessions and barely broke a sweat doing it. During one stretch, the Gators scored 52 unanswered points.

Archer could have been treated for shock.

“I mean, they’ve got my vote for No. 1,” he said. “I don’t know if anybody else can match up with them speed-wise and ability-wise.”

The reasons? Let Archer and Kentucky Coach Bill Curry count the ways:

1--A five-wide receiver scheme that Curry said “is unusual at our level.” And according to Curry, each one of the Gator receivers is as good as the next.

2--A rushing attack led by redshirt freshmen tailbacks Elijah Williams and Tyrone Baker and true freshman Fred Taylor. “They’re probably going to be better than Errict Rhett,” Archer said of the former Florida star who finished his career last season as the Southeastern Conference’s third all-time leading rusher, behind Herschel Walker and Bo Jackson.

3--A quirky substitution pattern and a clever no-huddle offense of sorts, all devised by Coach Steve Spurrier to create last-moment matchup problems.

4--A quarterback who doesn’t miss: senior Terry Dean, who Archer said is much improved from a shaky junior season.

5--A defense so good that Curry said, “It doesn’t have a visible flaw.” Archer, who singled out defensive tackle Ellis Johnson and defensive end Kevin Carter, said the Gators “are probably better on defense than they are on offense. That’s a scary thought.”

THE TEAM THAT ATE COLLEGE FOOTBALL--PART II

None of this stuff about Florida is news to New Mexico State Coach Jim Hess, whose Aggies earned $600,000 of sacrificial lamb money for playing the Gators and Arizona in the last two weeks.

Hess could have told Kentucky’s coaches all about the Gators’ wholesale substitutions and maybe offered some advice about those 30 formations he saw, some of them with that five-wide receiver set.

Problem is, nobody called.

“They just figured it was New Mexico State, that we weren’t worth (anything),” Hess said.

Hess acknowledged that the Aggies probably had no business playing Florida. But New Mexico State needed the money, so the Aggies became Gator bait.

“We’re not in their league,” Hess said. “We’re a lower Division I-A school.”

No need to apologize. Kentucky is in Florida’s league--the SEC--but you wouldn’t have known it Saturday.

“They were sensational and we were awful,” Curry said.

Now the Gators travel to Knoxville for Saturday’s game against 15th-ranked Tennessee, a team that has beaten Florida 10 of the last 13 times at Neyland Stadium.

Here’s how much that swayed everyone’s thinking:

“I’d have to take Florida,” said Hess, who added that Volunteer coaches have yet to call, either. “I’m anxious to see it. If they score in the 50s against Tennessee, then, my goodness.”

And this from Archer: “My personal gut feeling? Yeah, I think (Florida) will beat them.”

Curry was more diplomatic. Or maybe it was shellshock. Anyway, he said the Gators “have a chance” to be a great football team. How great wouldn’t be determined until they faced another great team--and it wasn’t Tennessee.

Curry’s choice? “Florida State,” he said of the Nov. 26 game at Tallahassee.

POLLS WITH AN ASTERISK

Someone has been sipping on too much Appalachian moonshine these days. How else do you explain West Virginia (0-2) getting eight votes in this week’s AP poll, good enough for 38th place.

“Did my wife vote?” said Mountaineer Coach Don Nehlen, whose team has lost to Nebraska and Rutgers.

Meanwhile, the ghost of Corky Simpson is alive and well this season, thanks to some knucklehead who awarded unimpressive but undefeated Alabama a first-place vote. The Crimson Tide (2-0), which actually got booed at home in last Saturday’s 17-7 victory over lowly Vanderbilt, is lucky to be ranked No. 12.

Don’t blame Simpson. The Tucson Citizen columnist who picked Alabama No. 1 from start to finish in 1992 no longer votes in the AP poll.

MAD TO THE BONE

Kids and Iowa State Coach Jim Walden say the darndest things.

This time Walden, who is oh-for-Iowa in 1994 (losses to Iowa and Division I-AA Northern Iowa), lashed out at critics for attacking his program and the players in it.

“It’s hard to function in a positive fashion when everybody’s telling you you’re a bum,” Walden said.

Walden is no bum, but his 28-49-2 record at Iowa State (one winning season in seven years) has landed him on the list of coaches whose job status might be in jeopardy.

Walden’s response: “Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will just bore me.

“I think what people don’t understand is that when you’re taking quotes from over the phone and putting them in newspapers it’s slut journalism to start with, and secondly, you’re paying someone else to do your slutty work. But that’s the symptom of society today. So there’s no need to worry about that. I can handle it. . . . It’s not me. But what happens is, you can call me a bum if you want to, but people act like our players aren’t affected by that.

“If certain people out there in this world feel better about saying something bad about a football coach, if that makes your day or makes you feel better, then they’re going to say it. It’s a shame because young college kids shouldn’t have to put up with that.”

THE REST

How upset was new Notre Dame defensive coordinator Bob Davie about Michigan’s last-minute drive that set up the game-winning field goal? Upset enough to call Irish Coach Lou Holtz three times Saturday night and meet with him informally twice on Sunday morning and another time during the coaching staff’s regular meeting. You would too if you were Notre Dame’s fourth defensive coordinator in the last six seasons. . . . As pregame festivities go, perhaps it wasn’t the smartest idea for Arizona State to plant a Sun Devil flag in front of the Miami bench. The Hurricanes--either annoyed by the stunt or simply upset that they hadn’t thought of it first--defeated Arizona State, 47-10. “To me, that’s not a wise decision by the opponent to taunt us or do whatever they were trying to do,” Miami Coach Dennis Erickson said. The fifth-ranked Hurricanes have two weeks to prepare for No. 19 Washington, which also has a week off before traveling to the Orange Bowl and a crack at Miami’s 58-game home victory streak. . . . As best as Big Eight Conference officials can determine, this is the first time Kansas State and Kansas have been ranked in the same poll. The Wildcats are 21st in the coaches’ poll, the Jayhawks No. 23.

If Michigan’s Tyrone Wheatley, UCLA’s J.J. Stokes and USC’s Rob Johnson want to join the Heisman Trophy race, they had better hurry. The early leaders: 1--Washington running back Napoleon Kaufman, 2--Florida quarterback Terry Dean, 3--Nebraska quarterback Tommie Frazier, 4--Penn State running back Ki-Jana Carter, 5--tie: Notre Dame quarterback Ron Powlus, Michigan quarterback Todd Collins. Honorable mention: Alcorn State quarterback Steve McNair. . . . Here’s how bad it is at Missouri: Houston Coach Kim Helton, whose team is 0-2, has guaranteed a victory against the similarly winless Tigers. Former USC Coach Larry Smith, in charge of rebuilding the Missouri program, wasn’t in the mood to match wagers. Back in August Smith said the Tigers needed to win two of their first four games. They’ve lost to Tulsa, were crushed by Illinois (one first down, with 3:41 remaining, with Illinois’ second- and third-teamers on defense) and now get Houston on the road, followed by West Virginia at home. Says Smith: “You can’t squeeze orange juice out of a turnip, we all know that.”

Even before Michigan defeated Notre Dame, Holtz was considering what his national championship chances might be with a single loss. “I am not sure if we won 15, if we would be a legitimate (contender),” he said, taking a good-natured jab at everyone who voted for Florida State last season. “I think you can lose early in the year and still come back, if you lose to a good opponent, normal circumstances would (hold). Does this hold true for Notre Dame? I don’t know. Would it hold true for a Big Ten team? I don’t know. It certainly holds true for a southern team and it has in the past. But it seems like once a team loses up north, they are just sort of put on hold.” Wrong. Notre Dame won the 1977 national title, despite an early regular-season loss to Mississippi, and Penn State won in 1982, despite a loss to Alabama. And it might not be north proper, but Colorado shared a title in 1990, despite an 11-1-1 record.

The Top 10

As selected by staff writer Gene Wojciechowski

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

Waiting list: UCLA (2-0), Wisconsin (1-0), Alabama (2-0), Virginia Tech (2-0), Texas A&M; (2-0)