Four Tops Warm Up for the Big Show

Has there ever been a more compelling Saturday in college football?

Probably, but none of the players involved in today’s showcase games were alive to see it.

For the fourth time since the Associated Press poll was born in 1936, and the first time since 1971, four of the AP’s top five teams are matched against each other in a same-day doubleheader that will define programs and affect the national championship.

First up is No. 4 Michigan, 8-0 overall and 5-0 in the Big Ten, at No. 2 Penn State (7-0, 4-0) in a game with Rose Bowl and national title implications, followed by No. 3 Florida State (8-0, 6-0 in Atlantic Coast Conference) at No. 5 North Carolina (8-0, 5-0). The winner of that game gains an inside track to the Jan. 2 Orange Bowl.

It will be the first same-day meeting of four top-five opponents since Nov. 27, 1971, when No. 1 Nebraska beat No. 2 Oklahoma and No. 3 Alabama defeated No. 5 Auburn.

Today’s underdogs are Michigan and North Carolina, programs boiling with envy and expectations.

Michigan used to be a Big Ten power broker. In 1992, the Wolverines finished 9-0-3 and made their fourth Rose Bowl appearance in five years.

Then Penn State joined the conference.

Michigan beat Penn State in 1993, 21-13, but has since lost three in a row. Since Penn State butted in, Michigan has finished fourth, third, third and fifth in the Big Ten.

Michigan Coach Lloyd Carr is trying not to oversell the importance of one game.

“This is the game for Michigan this week,” Carr said. “The tradition of the Ohio State game I don’t think will ever be anything less than tremendous, but we also recognize to win the Big Ten championship, you have to beat Penn State, you have to beat Wisconsin, you have to beat Iowa, you have to beat all those people. They all count one.”

Penn State is at home but will have a difficult time scoring against Michigan, which is flirting with becoming one of the best college defenses ever. The top-ranked Wolverines are giving up 202 yards and 7.5 points per game and have not given up a second-half touchdown all season.

Last week, Minnesota managed a field goal in a 24-3 loss.

“If Penn State has as much trouble moving the ball against the Michigan defense as everyone else has, I’d have to give the edge to Michigan,” Golden Gopher Coach Glen Mason said this week.

Tuesday, Penn State Coach Joe Paterno was asked whether he would challenge Charles Woodson, Michigan’s all-world cornerback who also plays offense.

“I don’t know whether I have enough guts yet,” Paterno said.

Michigan is solid, if not spectacular. Only one player leads the Big Ten in any category--Woodson’s interception average of .63 a game. Brian Griese ranks eighth in passing, leading rusher Chris Howard eighth in rushing.

A victory would return Michigan to glory.

A win for North Carolina in Chapel Hill would be historic.

The Seminoles are favored for obvious reasons. They’ve won more big games the last two years than the Tar Heels have ever won. North Carolina is 0-28-1 against AP top-five teams, 0-7-1 against Florida State since 1983.

“Edge?” Seminole Coach Bobby Bowden asked. “Let’s see, we’re not playing here. I don’t know. We’ve been there more, we’ve had more title fights, you might say.”

Florida State defensive end Andre Wadsworth says big-game experience counts.

“If they’re down by three touchdowns, they might be panicky, saying it might be all over,” Wadsworth said. “For us, if we’re down three touchdowns, we always think we’re still in the game. We’ve been in big games.”

North Carolina hopes to change its image in one, 60-minute home stand.

“This is North Carolina versus Florida State, it’s not Florida State versus Miami in the past,” Tar Heel linebacker Brian Simmons said. “I see nothing that gives them an advantage.”