WEEK 1 PRIMER : 5 THINGS TO LOOK FOR

L.A. Times Archives

Aug. 29, 1997 12 AM PT

Nebraska versus Akron in Lincoln on Saturday could be 1915 revisited. That was the year the Cornhuskers’ upended Haskell in a nail-biter, 119-0. Nebraska is still steamed about losing more games last year--two--than it had in three previous seasons. The Cornhuskers have won 36 consecutive home games and should have No. 37 clinched shortly after the national anthem. Akron is in this for kicks--to the groin, shin, gut--and the paycheck. Medical personnel in Lincoln will be on Big Red alert.

Snub factor: Arizona State came within a minute of winning the national championship last year but somehow enters the season unranked in both the Associated Press and CNN/USA Today coaches’ poll. This is not good news for New Mexico State, the Sun Devils’ Saturday opponent, and arguably the worst team in Division I-A.

All binoculars in Tempe will be on 6-foot-8 quarterback Steve Campbell, who takes over for cult figure, Jake “the Snake” Plummer. Tailback Michael Martin also returns after sitting out the last six games of 1996 because of a cracked vertebra.

Kentucky took a chance when it hired Hal Mumme from Division II Valdosta State to lead the Wildcats into the next century. The move was made to keep former Kentucky prep phenom quarterback Tim Couch in Lexington after he struggled as a freshman in Bill Curry’s conservative offense. Mumme and Couch start anew Saturday at home against state rival Louisville. Mumme has promised a fast-break offense similar to Rick Pitino’s. We’ll see.

Need your annual Big West versus WAC fix? Track down Nevada at Colorado State on the dish. The game features two of the nation’s premier yet unheralded quarterbacks in Nevada’s John Dutton and Colorado State’s Moses Moreno. Dutton is the nation’s top-rated returning passer in an offense that averaged a nation-leading 527 yards a game last season. Moreno threw for 2,921 yards and 18 touchdowns for the Rams. We’re predicting a 55-54 final.

Minnesota at Hawaii marks the Rainbows’ first game since the team’s kicker, Shannon Smith, drowned last March 30 while saving the life of Cody VonAppen, the 6-year-old son of Hawaii Coach Fred VonAppen. The game also marks the debut of quarterback Tim Carey, Smith’s best friend and former prep star at Los Alamitos High who transferred last year from Stanford. Carey had his scholarship stripped after being arrested in a gambling sting in Honolulu last spring, but he has chosen to stay in school to complete his final year of eligibility.

THE REST

* New Mexico St. (+38 1/2) at Arizona St., 6 p.m.

* Louisville (-3) at Kentucky, 10:30 a.m.

* Houston (+15) at Alabama, 9:30 a.m.

* Miami (-14) at Baylor, 1:30 p.m.

* Oklahoma St. (+6) at Iowa St., 4:30 p.m.

* Memphis (+10) at Mississipi St., 4 p.m.

* Minnesota (-12 1/2) at Hawaii, 3 p.m.

* Marshall (+16) at W. Virginia, 9 a.m.

* Arkansas St. (+34 1/2) at Georgia, 10 a.m.

* Akron (+56 1/2) at Nebraska, 12:30 p.m.

* Ball St. (+7 1/2) at Miami, Ohio, 11 a.m.