It Gets Tricky if One Mentions Ricky

Imagine a home run race between Sammy Sosa and Sammy Sosa.

Or two Steve Youngs competing for the passing title.

Well, this week, Ricky Williams and Ricky Williams are locked letter for letter in what could be a season-long battle for the national rushing title.

We’re not only talking two Ricky Williamses. We’re talking two Rickys without the “e” . . . two Rickys from universities in Texas . . . two Rickys from the Big 12 Conference.

“It’s very weird,” Texas Tech’s Ricky says when reached by phone in Lubbock. “That we end up playing the same position, we’re both in a Big 12 school and we got the same name.”

Texas Tech’s Ricky is the nation’s second-leading rusher with 421 yards in 69 carries.

Texas’ Ricky, the Doak Walker Award-winning tailback for the Longhorns, is No. 3 with 375 yards in 65 carries.

Both Rickys trail a fellow Big 12 back, Missouri’s Devin West, who leads the country with 444 yards.

Naturally, folks in Austin would have you believe there is only one Ricky Williams--theirs. Texas’ Ricky is a senior, the defending national rushing champion, a leading Heisman candidate and a future top-10 NFL pick.

In fact, there were some chuckles in Austin this summer when, to counter Texas’ Heisman campaign, Texas Tech sent out a letter with its Ricky’s picture and the proclamation: “Will the real Ricky Williams please stand up?”

Tech’s Williams has been the “other” Ricky in Texas since he made his name last year by breaking Byron Hanspard’s school rushing record for freshmen with 894 yards.

“He percolated along pretty good this last year,” Texas Tech Coach Spike Dykes says of his Williams.

Tech’s Ricky also bested Texas’ Ricky, 131 rushing yards to 80, when the two met on the field last year in Austin.

Yet, no pro scout is going to confuse the two. Texas’ Ricky, 6 feet and 225 pounds, is the superior athlete and NFL prospect. Tech’s Ricky is 5-9 and had to bulk up in the off-season to reach 190 pounds.

Still, Tech’s Ricky is getting a charge out of the name-game competition.

Dispelling knocks that he wasn’t durable, Tech’s Ricky carried 41 times for 251 yards in the Red Raiders’ season-opening victory over Texas El Paso, and had 170 yards in 28 carries last weekend against North Texas.

The “other” Ricky?

“My mom told me, ‘I gave you this name, you’re the real Ricky Williams,’ ” Tech’s Ricky says. “So I say I’m the real Ricky Williams. That was the name given to me. It’s just good to get off to a good start, maybe I can make a better name for myself.”

The two Rickys don’t know each other. Texas’ Ricky is from San Diego; Tech’s Ricky is from Dallas.

They chatted briefly after Texas Tech’s win at Austin last year.

Tech’s Ricky says he has never been confused with Texas’ Ricky.

“Most people know Ricky Williams has dreadlocks,” Tech’s Ricky says. “I don’t have them.”

Tech’s Ricky, a sophomore, says he has the utmost respect for Texas’ Ricky.

“He’s a great running back, he’s got a lot of ways,” Tech’s Ricky says. “He’s going to be a great running back one day in the NFL, I know for sure; just to be compared against somebody that is going to the NFL and going to be a great running back, that’s special for me.”

Tech’s Ricky is trying to take advantage of attention he wouldn’t be getting if his name were Joe Smith.

Who knows, maybe an NFL scout will come see him play by mistake?

“If I’m meant to play in the NFL, then I’ll play in the NFL,” Tech’s Ricky says. “If I’m not, I’m not. I always know I can play on any level I want to. I look at a running back like Warrick Dunn [of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers]. He’s about the same height as me. If he can do it, I can do it.”

FYI: The Rickys meet again on Nov. 14, when Texas travels to play Texas Tech at Lubbock.

NO GAMBLING? BINGO

In the wake of betting scandals that have rocked the Evanston, Ill., campus, Northwestern has instituted a “zero tolerance” gambling policy for all school employees and athletes.

“If you want to gamble, pardon the pun, you’re taking a chance,” Northwestern Athletic Director Rick Taylor said this week.

Taylor says the no-tolerance policy applies to all forms of gambling, including Internet wagering and NCAA tournament office pools.

The punishment?

Taylor: “If you’re an employee, it could lead to termination; if you’re a student athlete, it could lead to permanent loss of athletic scholarship.”

Taylor said the policy was a direct result of point-shaving scandals involving the men’s football and basketball programs between 1992 and 1995.

“A lot of it gets personal,” Taylor said. “The kids we had involved, all were three months away from graduation, and for a lousy couple of thousand bucks, they got involved. Maybe I come from a different generation, but I can’t conceive of kids not trying to win. At a certain time, you’ve got to make a stand, draw a line in the sand, and I think we’ve done that.”

RANK AND FILE

Circle Nov. 17 on your calendar.

That’s the date the bowl championship series will release the first of four weekly rankings.

The top two teams in that poll will play for the “national title” in the Jan. 4 Fiesta Bowl.

BCS spokesman Charles Bloom said the rankings are being released late in the season so that the strength-of-schedule component will have more weight.

The polls will be released Nov. 17, Nov. 24, Dec. 1 and Dec. 6.

“Only the last one counts,” Bloom said.

It’s going to be interesting to see how the strength-of-schedule component in the four-part formula affects schools such as Kansas State, which this season will tiptoe through three nonconference tulips.

What if Kansas State ends up undefeated and ranked No. 2 in the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN polls, while a No. 3 UCLA has one loss?

Could the Bruins finish ahead of the Wildcats in the new equation?

Yes. One loss is tough to make up in the formula, because it counts as one point against the team with the defeat.

But all other poll components being equal, UCLA could make up the difference if it finishes 25 positions ahead of Kansas State in the strength-of-schedule component.

For example: If UCLA’s strength of schedule is No. 10 and Kansas State is No. 35, UCLA makes up the point.

Get the point, Kansas State?

Pollsters are already sending the Wildcats messages.

Despite walloping Northern Illinois, 73-7, Kansas State dropped from fourth to fifth in this week’s AP poll. UCLA leapfrogged Kansas State after a less substantial 49-31 victory over a ranked opponent, No. 23 Texas.

In Jeff Sagarin’s weekly rankings, which will be used in the bowl championship series formula, 0-2 Michigan still ranks No. 15 while 2-0 Kansas State is 20th.

NAME GAME

The Western Athletic Conference’s eight “breakaway” schools are seeking a name for their new league, scheduled to begin play next season.

One of the titles being considered is the Great American Mountain Eight (GAME).

Here are some suggested titles and acronyms that probably won’t be considered:

* Assn. of Western Outlaw Lugs (AWOL).

* Body of Leaving Teams (BOLT).

* Northern Organization of Mountain Athletic Deserters (NOMAD).

* Sky North Assn. of Kindred Entities (SNAKE).

* Ingrate Outgoing Universities (IOU).

* Bolting United Mountain Schools (BUMS).

WEB PALS

The Internet is a swell way to meet players.

Just this week, West Virginia star tailback Amos Zereoue (amos20@wvu.edu) sent an e-mail to my L.A. Times address just to make sure I’d be watching him in action this weekend against Maryland on ESPN2 at 6 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.

“We are aiming for our first victory of the season against the Terrapins,” Zereoue confided in me, “and I hope to expand the WVU career rushing record that I set against Ohio State on Sept. 5. I now have 2,701 career rushing yards in 23 games.”

No chance he sent this to anyone else, is there?

TWO-MINUTE DRILL

* Kansas State kicker Martin Gramatica’s 65-yard field goal against Northern Illinois last Saturday was the longest in NCAA history without use of a tee. Don’t be surprised if he soon breaks the tee-aided record of 67 yards, shared by three kickers. Two days before his 65-yarder, Gramatica hit the cross bar on a 72-yard attempt in practice.

* Injury report: North Carolina State Coach Mike O’Cain pulled his left calf muscle while celebrating a touchdown during his Wolfpack’s stunning 24-7 victory over Florida State. O’Cain is listed as “day to day.”

* Since taking over for Rich Brooks in 1995, fourth-year Oregon Coach Mike Bellotti is 11-0 in regular-season nonconference games. Including bowl games, Bellotti is 12-1, his only defeat to a team outside the Pacific 10 Conference a 38-6 loss to Colorado in the 1996 Cotton Bowl.

* Whatever became of Stanford? Since improving to 4-1 with a home victory over Notre Dame last Oct. 4, the Cardinal has gone 1-7.

* Former Michigan coach Bo Schembechler was not kind to his former school after Saturday’s loss to Syracuse dropped the Wolverines to 0-2.

“I didn’t see anything out there that gives much hope for the future,” Schembechler told WXYZ TV.

And you, Bo, won how many national titles at Michigan?

* Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden says his players have not lost confidence in Chris Weinke despite the quarterback’s six-interception performance in last weekend’s loss to North Carolina State.

“Not a one of them can look at him and say, ‘You did bad and I did good,’ ” Bowden said. “It was a total team loss.”