Scrutiny on the Stanford Banned

Mistakes were made. Heads will roll. The buck stops at the tuba player.

It’s fall-out time at Stanford, home of the president’s daughter, a pretty good football team and its legendary, irreverent and suddenly blacklisted band.

Band on the run.

Don’t expect the band to accompany the team next year to South Bend, Ind., not after last Saturday’s taste-challenged extravaganza at Stanford Stadium during the Cardinal’s victory over Notre Dame.

After a performance that included a parody of the Irish potato famine, Stanford Athletic Director Ted Leland announced that the band will not be allowed to perform at Notre Dame in the school’s next two trips there--in 1998 and 2000.

The band already had been banished by Notre Dame officials since a 1991 incident at Stanford in which the drum major wore a nun’s habit and banged the drum with a cross.

Last Saturday, many in the crowd at Stanford booed the band. A group of Catholic school administrators also criticized the performance as “bigoted.”

Leland agreed that band members had been “tasteless” and “crossed the line from funny to obnoxious and offensive.”

Also the edict prevents the Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band, its formal title, from performing at Stanford Stadium the next time the Fighting Irish visit for a football game in 1999.

The statement appeared to indicate that the department, which has a policy of reviewing the band’s scripts before performances, has accepted some responsibility for the fiasco. The department, it said, “will revamp its standing procedure to review band scripts.”

In a one-paragraph statement, the band acknowledged that complaints that the Saturday shows had been offensive were “legitimate.”

6-0 NOT GOOD ENOUGH

Pressure from North Carolina fans seeking perfection in basketball may have contributed to Dean Smith’s retirement last week, and now Mack Brown is feeling that kind of pressure in football.

“For North Carolina to be 6-0 in football and anybody not [being] happy you need to go get checked, you need to get some counseling,” Brown said. “And I’m going to pick up all those papers in the morning and check it out to see if we need to recommend someone to you guys.

“You know, we became bowl eligible [Saturday]. Nobody talked about that and there have been days whenever we became bowl eligible we would be throwing parties around here. It’s unbelievable the change in attitude.”

A STEVE FISHER BY ANY OTHER NAME

It was announced Saturday that Steve Fisher was fired. Also on Saturday, Steve Fisher returned a blocked punt for a touchdown in the third quarter to help North Carolina and Mack Brown.

We’re talking about two different guys named Steve Fisher, of course; but have you ever seen the two of them in a room together?

WALK THAT WALK

Michigan State sophomore tailback Sedrick Irvin’s monster performance to lead the Spartans to a38-6 victory over Indiana was all about maturity.

Irvin, who rushed for a career-high 178 yards and two touchdowns and returned a punt 80 yards for a score (and who is a cousin of Michael Irvin), said he’s finally beginning to feel comfortable in college ball.

“Last year, I was a baby trying to crawl. This year, I learned from the mistakes and the things that I didn’t know last year. So now I’m beginning to walk,” Irvin said.

Walk, run, catch, whatever it takes.

“Anything I can do to help the team. If it takes me to hike the ball, I’ll do it,” he said.

Irvin totaled 306 yards in rushing, punt returns and receptions.

His previous high rushing was 158 yards, against Indiana last year.

AUBURN ISN’T KNOXVILLE

Auburn quarterback Dameyune Craig, who has passed for more than 300 yards in four consecutive games, is emerging as a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate.

But Auburn Coach Terry Bowden knows Craig faces an uphill battle.

“He definitely should be considered,” Bowden said, “but with our team, his hopes have got to go along with wins. They won’t consider him if he has some of the losses like Peyton Manning does.”

HOME IS WHERE ALL THE GAMES ARE

Oregon State’s best start since 1988 should be considered with a caveat: Counting Saturday’s 24-16 victory over Utah State was the Beavers’ fifth consecutive home game to start the campaign.

Oregon State is 3-2, yippee! But plays four of its last six on the road (including Saturday at UCLA), and its home games are Washington and USC.

“It feels pretty natural,” first-year Oregon State Coach Mike Riley said of playing in Corvallis. “It will be hard to adjust to going on the road.”

Utah State, meanwhile, left the state of Utah to play football for the first time in eight games dating to last season.

NOTEWORTHY

Prairie View’s NCAA-record losing streak reached 73 games in a 24-9 loss to Alcorn State at Lorman, Miss. . . . Wisconsin’s 31-7 defeat of Illinois gave the Badgers’ their first six-game winning streak since 1950. . . . Kentucky sophomore Tim Couch needed only six games to set school records for passing yards (2,078) and touchdown passes (23) in a season, throwing for 294 yards and two scores in the Wildcats’ 38-24 loss to South Carolina.

--Compiled by Tim Kawakami