COLLEGE FOOTBALL SPOTLIGHT

TO TAKE A KNEE OR NOT TO TAKE A KNEE

Thousands in the crowd of 78,006 at Wisconsin’s Camp Randall Stadium booed when quarterback Mike Samuel went down on one knee with 36 seconds left in a 45-28 victory over Minnesota.

Ironically, that’s exactly what Badgers fans wanted Samuel to do three weeks ago when Wisconsin fumbled in the closing seconds against Northwestern, leading to the Wildcats’ stunning 34-30 victory and a storm of criticism aimed at Coach Barry Alvarez.

Wisconsin fans chanted “Take a knee” a week later with the Badgers leading Michigan State in the final minute, angering Alvarez.

Wisconsin fans booed Saturday because Alvarez wouldn’t give the ball to freshman running back Ron Dayne, who had 297 yards rushing and was just short Billy Marek’s school-record 304 yards.

Alvarez may not be loved, but he is winning. The same cannot be said for Minnesota Coach Jim Wacker, who has to defeat Illinois and Iowa to fulfill his five-victory mandate and keep his job.

CALL IT . . . LUCK

Perhaps the boldest call of the week was made by Western Michigan Coach Al Molde. Jason Strasser had given Bowling Green a 13-10 lead on a 30-yard field goal on the Falcons’ possession in overtime, and Western Michigan faced fourth and two at the Bowling Green 17 when Molde sent his kicking unit onto the field during a timeout.

But then Molde, calling it a ‘hunch,’ pulled them off the field, deciding to go for it.

Western Michigan quarterback Tim Lester faked a handoff, bootlegged to the right and completed a pass to tight end Jake Moreland at the two-yard line. Moreland fell into the end zone to give Western Michigan a 16-13 victory.

SO MUCH FOR THE RAVE REVIEWS

Michigan Athletic Director Joe Roberson was raving this week about Coach Lloyd Carr and a Michigan team that was in the top 10 but said to be a year away from greatness.

“I didn’t think we’d be as good as we are,” Roberson said. I thought we’d struggle more offensively because we are young. I couldn’t be happier, and that’s a credit to Lloyd.”

Roberson was so happy he extended Carr’s contract through the year 2000.

So what does Michigan do? It loses, 9-3, to Purdue, which had not defeated the Wolverines in 12 years. It was the second year in a row Michigan failed to score a touchdown against Purdue. The Wolverines won, 5-0, last season.

SLINGSHOT OFFENSE MIGHT HAVE WORKED

Illinois Coach Lou Tepper got religious this week, reading his team the Biblical story of David and Goliath in pep talks before facing Ohio State. Of course, Illinois (2-7) forgot its slingshot, losing, 48-0.

The Illini had only eight first downs--two in the first half. One of those was a 29-yard pass on a fake punt by kicker Jason Higgins, who ended the half with three times the yardage of quarterback Scott Weaver.

“I think we had the courage of David. We just didn’t have the skills of David,” Tepper said.

HE’S ALSO THE REAL DEAL

Colorado Coach Rick Neuheisel on Iowa State running back Troy Davis, the nation’s leading rusher: “[He] is the real deal. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a guy with as much power in terms of keeping his leg drive going. He’s a phenom.”

FOUR OUT OF FIVE DENTISTS CHOOSE FROGS

Coaches and players in the Kansas-Kansas State rivalry will do almost anything to win. Anything?

“I’m not going to eat any frogs or swallow any worms, if that’s what you mean,” Kansas Coach Glen Mason said. “My wife’s a dentist. She wouldn’t let me. Well, only if I flossed.”

Maybe Mason should have tried something. His Jayhawks lost, 38-12, their fourth consecutive loss to Kansas State.

BACK FOR ANOTHER RUN

Texas Tech has resumed its tradition of having its mascot, Double T, run at Jones Stadium. It has been two years since Double T was free to run around the field. In 1994, the former Double T threw the Masked Raider and died when it crashed into the southwest ramp wall while trying to leave the stadium.

NOTEWORTHY

--New Haven quarterback Jesse Showerda set an NCAA all-division record for consecutive pass attempts without an interception. He completed 30 of 41 passes for 425 yards Saturday and increased his streak without an interception to 275, breaking Trent Dilfer’s 1993 mark of 271 at Fresno State.

--A crowd of only 34,974 showed up to watch Florida State defeat Wake Forest, 44-7, at the Citrus Bowl. Wake Forest agreed to move the game from Winston-Salem, N.C., for a $1.2-million payday.

--Prairie View A&M;’s NCAA-record losing streak reached 67 games as the Panthers lost, 20-14, to Midwestern State of Wichita Falls, Texas. Prairie View pulled within six points Midwestern State near the end of third quarter, but was shut out the rest of the way. The victory was Midwestern State’s second of the season.

THE RUNNING TOTAL

It was a particularly big day for running backs from the Big Ten and the Pacific 10 conferences, but which was better?

Northwestern’s Darnell Autry joined Wisconsin’s Dayne (see column one) by going over the 200-yard mark with 241 yards in 31 carries as well as four touchdowns in a 40-13 victory over Iowa. Ohio State’s Pepe Pearson also came up big--165 yards in 21 carries against Minnesota.

For the Pac-10, Corey Dillon of Washington (143 yards in 24 carries), Oregon’s Saladin McCullough (223 yards and five touchdowns in 23 carries) and Terry Battle (165 yards and four touchdowns in 24 carries) for Arizona State had impressive performances. The combined numbers of the conference’s top three rushers from Saturday:

Big 10: 102 carries, 703 yards, 6.9 average, 10 touchdowns.

Pac-10: 71 carries, 531 yards, 7.5 average, 11 touchdowns.

A COMEBACK ROUTE RIGHT INTO A BOWL

Washington and Syracuse are two teams that used crushing losses to turn their seasons around.

Since losing, 54-20, to Notre Dame a month ago, Washington has reeled off four consecutive Pacific 10 victories, including a 42-3 victory over Oregon State on Saturday. Syracuse has won six in a row since a 35-33 loss to lowly Minnesota, the latest a 31-7 rout of Tulane.

Syracuse, has outscored its opponents, 224-52, during the win streak and is ranked for the first time in six weeks (No. 24) and still in contention for a berth in an alliance bowl.

If Washington wins its last two games, it will have nine victories for the first time since Don James’ last season in 1992. That would put the Huskies in a position to get invited to the Cotton Bowl.

BE ALL THAT MOM WANTS YOU TO BE

There was no way Army was going to lose to Air Force, not with former Heisman Trophy winner Pete Dawkins and retired Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf cheering them on at West Point, N.Y.

Army ran its record to 9-0 by defeating Air Force 23-7--the first time Army has been 9-0 since Earl “Red” Blaik’s 1949 team finished with that mark.

“People have been saying we can’t compete with the western teams, but their athletes aren’t any better than our athletes,” Army tight end Ron Leshinski said. “We’ve been waiting on this one. Emotionally, there’s no way to control the magnitude of this game. I’ve been waiting my life to win this game.”

Joe Hewitt finished with a career-best 161 yards and two touchdowns for Army, inspired by a to-the-point pregame phone call from his mother, a former medical administrator for the air force.

“My mom told me on the phone before the game to go out there and knock the . . . out of somebody and tell them it was for my mother,” Hewitt said.

--Compiled by GEORGE DOHRMANN