Gloom and Glory

10 SORROWFUL PROLOGUE

The season opened with a disturbing trend of players from high school to the pros perishing on the field. Rashidi Wheeler, a Northwestern senior safety from La Verne Damien High, died of an asthma attack during rigorous, unsupervised preseason conditioning drills Aug. 3. That was two days after the death of Korey Stringer, a Minnesota Viking lineman who suffered heatstroke at the team’s training camp. Those deaths set off alarms throughout football about training procedures and the use of diet supplements.

9 GRIEF AND CONFUSION

The NCAA does not have the authority to postpone regular-season games, which left the 11 Division I-A conferences to decide individually whether to play Saturday, Sept. 15, four days after the terrorist attacks. By Wednesday, only the Pacific 10, Atlantic Coast and Big East had announced that they would not play. The Big Ten and Big 12 said the decision would be left up to its schools, and the Southeastern said its games would be played. But when the NFL and major league baseball postponed games, conference administrators reevaluated, and by Friday morning only a Division I-AA game between Columbia and Fordham was still scheduled--in New York. Later in the day, that too was postponed.

8 JOE PA AND THE BEAR

Most days the Bear eats you, one day you eat the Bear--if you are Penn State coaching legend Joe Paterno. After starting the season 0-4, the Nittany Lions upset Northwestern and Ohio State, pushing Paterno past Paul “Bear” Bryant for most victories in Division I-A. Penn State finished 5-6, giving Paterno a 327-96-3 mark. Paterno has had successive losing seasons for the first time in his 51-year association with Penn State, but with Pop Warner, Amos Alonzo Stagg and Bryant in the rearview mirror, the 74-year-old coach is cautiously peeking forward. “I hope I can go another five years,” he said. “I don’t know. You have to be realistic.”

7 SEPTUAGENARIAN SECOND BANANA

Bobby Bowden, 72, equaled Bryant’s victory total of 323 when Florida State beat Virginia Tech in the Gator Bowl. But the Seminoles failed to win the Atlantic Coast Conference for the first time since joining it in 1992 and finished a ho-hum 8-4. Bowden can only hope the season was seminal for the Seminoles--Chris Rix was the first freshman to start at quarterback in Bowden’s 25 years and the seeds are planted for a return to prominence. And Paterno ought to be looking over his shoulder.

6 SHORT DRIVES AND LONG CONSEQUENCES

UCLA tailback DeShaun Foster drove a Ford Expedition lent to him by a Hollywood director and was suspended for the last four games (bye-bye Heisman Trophy). UCLA’s final drive against Oregon stalled, forcing a failed 50-yard field-goal try in a 21-20 loss (bye-bye conference title). Quarterback Cory Paus drove after drinking, neglected to inform Coach Bob Toledo about his subsequent conviction, and the already spiraling Bruins fell to USC, 27-0 (bye-bye bowl game). The distractions nearly drove the overburdened Toledo crazy (bye-bye play-calling duties next season).

5 A REAL THROWBACK

Eric Crouch is considered old school because he runs better than he passes, but the Nebraska quarterback cemented the Heisman Trophy when he became a triple-threat, catching a 63-yard reverse throwback in the fourth quarter of a 20-10 victory over Oklahoma. Crouch handed off to Thunder Collins, who pitched the ball to split end Mike Stuntz on a reverse, and Stuntz threw downfield to the quarterback. Crouch became the 13th player to rush and pass for 1,000 yards in the same season, winning the Heisman in a close race against a bunch of other quarterbacks.

4 BAN COLORADO, SINCERELY, BCS COMPUTER GEEKS

By crushing Nebraska in a regular-season finale, slipping past Texas in the Big 12 title game, then falling flat against Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl, Colorado did more damage to the BCS than any computer virus. A pitch on the Buffalo web site reads: “Now you can own a piece of Colorado history with the special 30-minute tape of the Buffaloes throwing the BCS in a tangle by piling up 582 yards and humiliating Nebraska, 62-36.” No word on availability of the sequel: Colorado Gags on Duck.

3 DECEMBER’S DELICIOUS BCS MOMENTS

Ernest Wilford of Virginia Tech dropping a two-point conversion pass that would have tied the score late in the fourth quarter, enabling Miami to finish the regular-season unbeaten.... Oregon sloshing past Oregon State in a driving rainstorm, 17-14, to win the Civil War but lose the BCS battle.... Tennessee booting Florida from the BCS picture by winning at the Swamp, only to stumble over Louisiana State in the SEC championship game.... Brigham Young wailing and threatening lawsuits over its BCS snub, only to lose to Hawaii in Honolulu, 72-45, then to Louisville in the Liberty Bowl, 28-10.... Texas Coach Mack Brown failing to bring quarterback Major Applewhite off the bench in the Big 12 title game in time to orchestrate a comeback against Colorado, then watching Applewhite pass for a school-record 473 yards in a 47-43 Holiday Bowl victory over Washington.

2 LUCKY CHARMS

The stench of hastily hiring a coach with the requisite apostrophe in his name but lies and deceit in his game cleared miraculously when Notre Dame turned to Tyrone Willingham, the unblemished Stanford coach who becomes the first minority to head an Irish program. Notre Dame will survive the episode and, who knows, might even field a winning team. But the damage to George O’Leary’s reputation rivals the damage caused by Mrs. O’Leary’s cow. And the Georgia Tech team he coached all year did fine without him--dispatching Willingham from Stanford with a 24-14 defeat in the Seattle Bowl.

1 HURRICANE LARRY

Sure, he inherited a roster of embarrassing riches. Yes, the NFL soon will be littered with alumni from this Miami team. And Butch Davis built the foundation. But nothing can diminish Larry Coker’s accomplishment of going unbeaten in his first season as a head coach, at 53. The Miami players certainly appreciate Coker’s contribution--they can add national championship rings to their already prodigious bling-bling.