OK, So All of It Didn’t Turn Out Crystal Clear

As Woody Hayes, the late Ohio State coach, used to say as he pounded his desktop: “The Buckeye stops here!”

If he never said it, well, he should have.

You have to be accountable in this business, take credit for your successes and fess up to your failures.

With another season winding down, it’s time for the college beat scribe to face the music--just so long as it’s not that stinking Tennessee “Hee-Haw” anthem, “Rocky Top.”

Here’s a look at how some August predictions made in this column turned out,

complete with unflagging, self-critical analysis.

On Aug. 22, it was written:

--This is the last year in college football that everything can go to Lubbock in a hand basket and, rest assured, it will.

How it turned out: Bull’s-eye. Of course, the family dog could have woofed out this prediction. In the final season before the Big Ten and Pacific 10 conferences join the super alliance, there figured to be mayhem and, alas, the Orange Bowl may get squeezed out of the national title game because Michigan ended up No. 1 in both polls and is contractually bound, one last time, to the Rose Bowl.

On Aug. 22, it was written:

“Four Streaks We Predict Will Mercifully End.”

1. Prairie View’s. The NCAA-record losing skein stands at 67. . . . The streak will end Sept. 13 against Langston.

How it turned out: The streak did not end Sept. 13 against Langston. Prairie View lost that game and every other one on its schedule to extend its misery index to 77 straight losses.

2. Missouri’s. The Tigers have posted 13 consecutive losing seasons, but Larry Smith’s team has 16 starters and quarterback Corby Jones from last year’s 5-6 edition.

How it turned out: Missouri finished 7-4, is headed to a bowl game, and would have defeated Nebraska if not for a freak AYSO deflection for touchdown. Corby Jones? He had a sensational season, thank you very much.

3. Northwestern’s. After two consecutive Big Ten titles, the sky falls this season.

How it turned out: The sky fell. The Wildcats finished 5-7.

4). Colorado’s. The Buffaloes will end a five-game losing streak to nemesis Nebraska on Nov. 28 in Boulder. Otherwise, Rick Neuheisel leaves to coach the Dallas Cowboys.

How it turned out: Colorado lost its sixth straight game to Nebraska, 27-24, but made the game so close as to damage Nebraska’s hopes of gaining ground on No. 1 Michigan in the polls. Neuheisel is still Troy Aikman’s choice to coach Dallas.

In August, it was written:

“Don’t be surprised if:”

--Florida State freshman tailback Travis Minor emerges as a star and turns out to be a bigger, faster version of Warrick Dunn.

How it turned out: After a slow start, the freshman emerged as a star and turned out to be a bigger, faster version of Warrick Dunn.

--Wisconsin’s Ron Dayne suffers a mild sophomore jinx.

How it turned out: Dayne got off to a slow start, was hobbled by injuries, but a 1,421 rushing-yard season is no jinx.

--Tim Couch becomes a star quarterback at Kentucky, now that cloud-of-dust disciple Bill Curry is gone and pass-happy Hal Mumme has taken over.

How it turned out: The Kentucky offense scored seven passing touchdowns in 1996. This season, Couch threw for 3,884 yards and 37 touchdowns.

--Colorado State wins the WAC title and Moses Moreno becomes a household name.

How it turned out: Colorado State plays New Mexico for the WAC title Saturday; Moreno is not a household name.

--Temple gets kicked out of the Big East if it has another lousy, empty-seat season.

How it turned out: Temple had another lousy, empty-seat season, leading to coach Ron Dickerson’s firing. The Big East boot may be forthcoming.

In August it was written:

--North Carolina will win the national title.

How it turned out: No apologies. The Tar Heels are 10-1 and No. 5 in the coaches’ poll. If seven teams finish with one loss, I won’t lose sleep.

Need to vent? Try the Sporting News, which tabbed Colorado as preseason No. 1. Or, Bob Griese’s College Football Preview ’97. Griese picked Washington to win it all. Griese had Michigan at No. 14. He must have been concerned about the quarterback position.

In August, it was written:

--The best player in college football is not Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning . . . the best player is Randy Moss.

How it turned out: A wash. Manning still might win the Heisman Trophy while Marshall’s Moss--22 touchdown catches and counting--will make first-team All-American in every publication that matters.

Conclusion?

Next year, Dionne Warwick writes the first column.

AWARDS, KUDOS, REFLECTIONS

Best prediction by a defensive back in September: Marcus Ray, Michigan safety, after his team’s home victory over Colorado: “There’s something special about this team. I can’t tell you what it is today. It’s a little gift. I can feel it.”

Best back-track by a head coach: USC’s John Robinson, after an Oct. 11 loss to Arizona State: “If we don’t do better, then I won’t be here.”

Robinson after USC’s seventh straight loss to UCLA on Nov. 22: “I am probably coming back.”

Comeback player of the year: Michigan quarterback Brian Griese. The fifth-year senior and son of NFL legend, Bob, had to be talked into returning this year by his brother. Griese beat out Scott Dreisbach for the starting job and is now poised to lead the Wolverines to their first national title since 1948.

Play of the decade: Nebraska’s Shevin Wiggins’ kick of a deflected pass to Matt Davison for a score-tying touchdown on the last play of regulation against Missouri. Nebraska won in overtime, 45-38.

Play that may cost a team the national title: With UCLA’s Skip Hicks sucking Pullman wind on the sideline, Cade McNown hands to freshman Jermaine Lewis on fourth and goal against Washington State.

Player of the year. Charles Woodson, Michigan.

Coach of the year: Lloyd Carr, Michigan. So what if he’s as quotable as a tongue depressor?

Best coach, single game: Florida’s Steve Spurrier, suspecting his opponent had decoded his hand signals, switched quarterbacks on alternating downs in the Gators’ win over Florida State.

Best finish: Auburn 18, Alabama 17. Auburn kicker Jaret Holmes drops to his knees after his game-winning field goal, two minutes after Alabama back Ed Scissum fumbled at his own 36.

Worst P.R. move: Michigan State’s decision to allow a Sports Illustrated reporter to sit in on team meetings the week before the Michigan game. Swell story, but the Spartans lost that game and their next two.

Worst use of company money: An Independence Bowl man was seen scouting a game at Brigham Young late this season. The Independence Bowl is played on a Sunday this year. For religious reasons, BYU doesn’t play on Sundays.

COAST TO COAST

* How has Marshall done in its first season in Division I-A? Last year, the Thundering Herd averaged 486 yards and 44 points a game en route to a 15-0 record and the Division I-AA title. This year, 9-2 Marshall is averaging 445 yards and 38 points a game.

* Nebraska has a secret weapon for Saturday’s Big 12 title game in San Antonio: Flu shots. After Texas stunned an influenza-weakened Nebraska team in last year’s conference title game, Cornhusker Coach Tom Osborne ordered that the entire team be inoculated eight weeks ago. “Normally in the past, if we’ve given them flu shots, it’s been before the bowl game, about the middle of December,” Osborne said this week.

* If No. 2 Nebraska wins its next two games, it could be the first 13-0 school in history not to win the national title.

* Illinois, Northern Illinois and Rutgers finished 0-11, the first time three teams finished winless in the same season since Northwestern, Kent and New Mexico State all went belly up in 1989.

* Washington State Coach Mike Price, in town for a Rose Bowl news conference, said his team is not satisfied just getting to the Rose Bowl after a 67-year drought. “It’s not just another game, it’s the Rose Bowl,” Price said. “It’s not just another team, it’s Michigan.”

* A final mention about Grambling’s Eddie Robinson, who retired last Saturday after 57 years and 408 victories. Robinson actually coached 55 seasons, the school suspending the program in 1943 and ’44 because of World War II. Waiting out the war, Robinson coached two seasons at Grambling High and one year led the team to the Louisiana state title.

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Group Dynamics

Number of conference teams in bowl games in the 1990s (Based on current alignments, 1990-96):

* Atlantic Coast: 9 of 9 teams

* Big East: 5 of 8

* Big Ten: 9 of 11

* Big 12: 9 of 12

* Big West: 2 of 6

* Conference USA: 4 of 7

* Mid-American: 4 of 12

* Pacific 10: 9 of 10

* Southeastern: 11 of 12

* Western Athletic: 12 of 16

Source: World Features Syndicate