Holtz Takes Over at, er, USC

Lou Holtz strode to the freshly painted 50-yard line, back in the game and bringing his winner’s legacy to a South Carolina team coming off its worst season in more than a century.

As the former Notre Dame coach entered Williams Brice Stadium on Friday, about 5,000 Gamecock fans cheered--giving him 33 ovations in all.

“Our goal is to win the national championship,” Holtz said, drawing even louder yells from the crowd as the Gamecocks’ mascot, Cocky, roamed the stands, and a sign said “Out w/the old, in w/the Lou.”

Holtz, who has been a football analyst for CBS after 27 seasons as coach and one national championship for the Irish, takes over a Southeastern Conference program that went 1-10 this year, its worst season in 106 years. Coach Brad Scott was fired Nov. 23, but on Friday was named an assistant at archrival Clemson.

“When I left the University of Notre Dame, I honestly felt I would never coach again,” Holtz, 61, said after completing the five-year, $600,000-a-year deal. “My heart is now here at the University of South Carolina. My effort and dedication is to you.”

Holtz was 100-30-2 at Notre Dame. He also has coached William & Mary, North Carolina State, Arkansas and Minnesota, where he also took over a 1-10 team after the 1983 season. He spent one season with the NFL’s New York Jets.

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Chad Pennington threw a 19-yard pass to Nate Poole for the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter at Huntington, W.Va., and Marshall beat Toledo, 23-17, for the Mid-American Conference championship.

Marshall (11-1) heads to the Motor City Bowl as the MAC champion for the second consecutive year and will face Louisville (7-4) on Dec. 23 in Pontiac, Mich.

Pennington finished 23 of 38 for 249 yards. His touchdown pass gave him 63 in only two seasons, tying him with Bowling Green’s Brian McClure for the conference career mark. McClure set the record from 1982 to 1985.

Toledo finished 7-5.

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It didn’t get much better for the Western Athletic Conference in the first WAC championship game. Brigham Young was challenging for a top bowl bid, the stadium was full and the conference was getting the national television time it craved.

Three years later, BYU is back in the WAC title game, playing No. 17 Air Force today at Las Vegas in a game that matches two bowl-bound teams.

Instead of playing in the first WAC championship game, though, these Cougars will be playing in the last.

“It’s the end of an era for the WAC,” Commissioner Karl Benson said.

Air Force and BYU are among the eight schools leaving to form the new Mountain West Conference.

Air Force (10-1) has won seven consecutive games after losing its only game, 35-34 to Texas Christian, while BYU also has won seven in a row after opening 2-3.

The Falcons will start backup quarterback Cale Bonds, who replaced Blane Morgan when Morgan sprained an ankle in the first quarter of Air Force’s 22-16 victory over Rice Nov. 21.

It’s not the first start of the year for Bonds, who led the team to a season-high 536 total yards in a 49-7 win over Navy.

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Navy Coach Charlie Weatherbie tries to keep a straight face. Warning the opposition about the Midshipmen’s passing attack is like Florida’s Steve Spurrier saying the Gators are going to run the wishbone.

“We’re not going to run it every down,” said Weatherbie, discussing strategy for the Midshipmen’s game against Army today in Philadelphia. “We’ll throw the ball at least once.”

If five wideouts, shotgun formations and Fun ‘N Gun is what you want, this is the wrong game. Army leads the nation with 283.1 rushing yards a game, and Navy is tied for fourth at 264.9. The game plan for both teams is run, run, and if that doesn’t work, run some more.

Army (2-8) vs. Navy (3-7) doesn’t have bowl implications or national rankings at stake. The outcome won’t make the bowl championship series standings so much as blink.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s Army-Navy in football or squash, in the backyard or at the Vet,” Army offensive tackle Neil Ravitz said. “It’s special because it’s Army-Navy, and nothing else has to be added to it.”

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Florida State reserve defensive back Shawn McCorkel will sit out the Seminoles’ bowl game because of a drunk-driving arrest last month. McCorkel was suspended after being arrested Nov. 3 in Dothan, Ala., and missed two games. He was reinstated to play against Florida.

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Ed Widseth, a former New York Giant and a standout tackle at Minnesota in the 1930s, died Thursday at 86. Widseth played at Minnesota from 1934-1936 under Coach Bernie Bierman, when the Golden Gophers went 23-1. He was inducted into the National College Football Hall of Fame in 1953.