Ryan’s Hope Is for Scoreless Tie

It teeters more toward game of the weak than game of the week, but Oklahoma (2-4) at Oklahoma State (2-4) on Saturday will command the undivided--well, better make that divided-- attention of one thoroughbred horse trainer in Lexington, Ky.

“I’ll just pull for both defenses and hope they have a zero-zero tie,” the voice on the phone says.

Buddy Ryan is long gone from coaching--burning more bridges en route than Sherman--but the father of the “46” defense, scourge of the NFL in the 1980s, made sure to produce enough offspring to carry on the carnage.

Buddy’s son Rex Ryan is the defensive coordinator at Oklahoma; Rex’s twin brother, Rob, holds the same position at Oklahoma State.

Both operate versions of the “46” defense made famous by their pugnacious dad, whose menacing, attack-dog schemes revolutionized NFL defenses.

Buddy is far too humble to admit as much, but he can quote people who have.

“John Madden once said that Buddy Ryan, with his eight-man fronts and blitzing schemes, had more influence on the NFL than that old boy Bill Walsh with the 49ers,” Buddy says.

Forget the NFL.

Ryan’s defense, and all its tentacled permutations, might have had a more dramatic impact on the college game. Most of the best defenses now play eight-man fronts, “Eight-in-the-box” and man-to-man defense on the wide receivers.

Defenses blitz from all formations with the intent to disrupt, disarm and disable the opposing quarterback.

Love him (Mike Singletary), hate him (Kevin Gilbride) or spite him (Norman Braman), Ryan’s 1985 Chicago Bear defense may be remembered as the greatest in NFL history.

Ryan was the Bears’ defensive coordinator that championship season--Buddy vaguely recalls a guy named Ditka technically running the show.

Ryan’s defense was nasty enough in the NFL, against veteran, cream-of-the-crop quarterbacks.

But it is the “bomb” in college, where the fire-drill defense can discombobulate unsuspecting, redshirt freshmen.

“It’s an offensive defense is what it is,” Ryan says, “and every week it changes. No way the opponent is going to know what you’re going to do because every week you change to do what’s best to stop them.”

Ryan says the “46,” named after the uniform number of Bear safety Doug Plank, is so complicated most schools run knockoff versions.

“A lot of people run part of it, a lot of people run the ‘46’ and call it different things,” Buddy says.

Of course, nothing pleases Ryan more than the success of his sons. When Rob and Rex worked under their dad when Buddy was head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, there were charges of nepotism.

“There was no reason for that except they were kin to me,” Ryan says. “That’s the only bad thing they had going for them.”

The twins are doing OK on their own.

Rex’s Sooners rank sixth nationally in total defense.

Last year, as defensive coordinator at Cincinnati, Rex’s Bearcats finished fifth in the nation against the run.

Without Ryan, Cincinnati this week ranks 112th-- dead last--in total defense, giving up 536.3 yards per game.

“I imagine if you called that head coach over there, he’d be crying,” Buddy says of Cincinnati’s Rick Minter.

Rob’s Oklahoma State defense ranks 25th but was among the top 15 before last week’s 52-20 loss to Kansas State.

Buddy speaks with or faxes his sons at least twice daily.

“They call me and tell me what they’re doing, what the other team is doing,” Buddy says. “Sometimes they’ll fax me the game plan and then I’ll watch them on TV, that way I know what they’re doing.”

Rex’s setback against Kansas State was disappointing in the wake of one of the best defensive stands so far this season Oct. 3, when Oklahoma State limited Nebraska to 73 net rushing yards.

Rex used a spinoff of his dad’s defense called “TCU” or “Jet” in which the defensive ends and tackles lined up wide to cut off the corner for the Cornhuskers’ vaunted option.

Buddy Ryan, who raises racehorses in Kentucky, says he misses the camaraderie of the locker room--”45 guys for the cause and all that”--but not much else.

And, no, San Diego Charger General Manager Bobby Beathard did not phone Ryan last week after firing Gilbride, whom Ryan once sucker-punched during a game while both were assistants in Houston.

“Bobby likes to be in charge and so do I,” Ryan says. “I don’t think that would be a workable deal.”

Ryan won’t attend his sons’ game in Stillwater.

“You’d end up having to sit on one side, then the other,” he said. “I’ll just stay home and pull for both of them.”

For the record, Buddy, the last scoreless tie in college football was Oregon versus Oregon State in 1983.

With new overtime rules in place, however, it probably won’t happen again.

TICK, TICK, TICK

Bob Toledo might turn out to be the best hire at UCLA since the Bruins lured a basketball coach west from Indiana.

Yet, the man needs help.

If others can look in the mirror and face conditions such as agoraphobia and triskaidekaphobia, Toledo should come clean and address his clinical fear of stopping the game clock:

Timeoutaphobia.

Last year, it might have cost UCLA a victory over Washington State and the conference title.

Remember that Pacific 10 opener? With an exhausted Skip Hicks on the bench and timeouts to burn, Toledo elected to go with the flow and hand redshirt freshman Jermaine Lewis the ball on fourth and inches at the Cougars’ goal line.

Lewis was stuffed and the Bruins lost, 37-34.

“We did not want to stop the clock,” Toledo explained then. “We knew we had them on the ropes.”

Last Saturday, had UCLA not prevailed against Oregon in overtime, 41-38, Toledo might have been skewered for his decision not to call time with a chance to win in regulation.

With 11 seconds left and the ball on the Oregon three, Toledo ordered the field-goal unit onto the field with the clock ticking toward expiration. UCLA had three timeouts remaining.

Chris Sailer shanked a 21-yard field-goal attempt.

Toledo explained afterward that he did not want to “freeze” his kicker, who happens to be a senior All-American.

The argument for calling time?

First, the Bruins were in a general state of disarray, if you believed the postgame comments of quarterback Cade McNown.

Second, UCLA had plenty of time and timeouts for McNown to have taken a snap and moved the ball to the center of the field, which would have provided Sailer a better kicking angle.

This was the strategy the San Francisco 49ers employed to beat the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday in regulation.

With 10 seconds left and the ball on the left hash mark, 49er quarterback Steve Young took a center snap, moved the ball a few yards toward the center of the field, then called time.

Wade Richey, an otherwise erratic rookie from Louisiana State, calmly booted the game-winner from 24 yards.

Like Houdini, Toledo slipped away unscathed Saturday.

Looking ahead, though, will the UCLA coach be so lucky against, say, No. 1 Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl?

HERE’S TO THE LOSERS

Last weekend, Temple, Rutgers and Northern Illinois won games on the same day for the first time since Sept. 22, 1989.

Before Saturday, Temple and Rutgers had never won Big East games on the same day.

Northern Illinois ended a 23-game losing streak with a 16-6 victory over Central Michigan. Sensing victory before the game, the school newspaper ran an article with instructions on how to tear down the goal posts.

Northern Illinois Coach Joe Novak had the quote of the week afterward: “I will only answer questions about our current winning streak.”

Temple’s unfathomable 28-24 victory over then-No. 14 Virginia Tech at Blacksburg probably will hold up as upset of the year.

The Owls entered the game with a 5-34 record since the start of the 1995 season, and there were rumblings that the program’s days in Division I-A were numbered.

First-year Coach Bobby Wallace used 17 first-year players in the game. Three of the Owls’ four touchdowns were scored by true freshmen.

“Everyone is in shock, and rightfully so,” Wallace said Monday. “I’m glad we’re off this week, because it will take a while to get everyone’s head in the right direction.”

Wait, there’s more shocking news.

With Rutgers and Pittsburgh next on the ledger, the Owls have a chance to string together a three-game winning streak.

TWO-MINUTE DRILL

* UCLA received one first-place vote this week in the coaches’ poll and one in the writers’ poll. The difference is that we know the name of the writer because the Associated Press opens its books to the public; the coaches don’t.

The Bruin honk? It’s Scooter Hobbs, sports editor of the Lake Charles Louisiana American Press. “I voted them No. 1 in preseason and they haven’t done anything to lose it,” Hobbs said this week. “Anyone that wants to argue Ohio State is better, I don’t know if I have an argument.”

Hobbs, for the record, has no relatives attending UCLA and has seen the Bruins play once on television, against Arizona, this season.

* With one eye on the NCAA rushing record and the other on fellow Heisman candidate McNown, Texas tailback Ricky Williams spent part of his bye weekend at the UCLA-Oregon game. With 5,380 rushing yards, 1,225 this season, Williams needs 663 yards to break Tony Dorsett’s Division I mark of 6,082. Texas (4-2) has five remaining games plus a possible bowl game.

Cautionary note: Three of Williams’ remaining five game are against Nebraska, Texas Tech and Texas A&M;, schools with a cumulative 18-3 record.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

(National Edition / B3) HEAD OF THE CLASS: TOP PLAYERS AT A GLANCE

CADE McNOWN

Quarterback, UCLA

*

SEASON

Record: 5-0

Attempts: 149

Completions: 81

Comp%: 54.4

Yards: 1,425

Touchdowns 10, Interceptions 5

*

LAST WEEK

vs. Oregon

Result: W, 41-38 (OT)

Attempts: 36

Completions: 20

Comp%: 55.6

Yards: 395

Touchdowns 3, Interceptions 2

*

NEXT

At California, Saturday

RICKY WILLIAMS

Running back, Texas

*

SEASON

Record: 4-2

Carries: 188

Yards: 1,225

Avg: 6.5

Touchdowns: 22

*

LAST WEEK

Texas did not play

*

NEXT

Baylor, Saturday

TIM COUCH

Quarterback, Kentucky

*

SEASON

Record: 5-2

Attempts: 353

Completions: 252

Comp%: 71.4

Yards: 2,782

Touchdowns 25, Interceptions 11

*

LAST WEEK

vs. Louisiana State

Result: W, 39-36

Attempts: 50

Completions: 37

Comp%: 74.0

Yards: 391

Touchdowns 3, Interceptions 1

*

NEXT

Georgia, Saturday

AKILI SMITH

Quarterback, Oregon

SEASON

Record: 5-1

Attempts: 157

Completions: 88

Comp%: 56.1

Yards: 1,639

Touchdowns 18, Interceptions 4

*

LAST WEEK

vs. UCLA

Result: L, 41-38 (OT)

Attempts: 37

Completions: 15

Comp%: 40.5

Yards: 221

Touchdowns 3, Interceptions 1

*

NEXT

USC, Saturday

RON DAYNE

Running Back, Wisconsin

*

SEASON

Record: 7-0

Carries: 155

Yards: 834

Avg: 5.4

Touchdowns: 9

*

LAST WEEK

vs. Illinois

Result: W, 37-3

Carries: 39

Yards: 190

Avg: 4.8

Touchdowns: 3

*

NEXT

At Iowa, Saturday