Southwest Conference

Sporting News, The, August 21, 1995 by Kirk Bohls

The QB conference

So what if folks are tabbing Florida State's Danny Kanell and Florida's Danny Wuerffel from the Sunshine State as the front-runners for the All-America or the All-Danny team. And, yeah, no quarterback has been around as long as Steve Taneyhill at South Carolina. But the Southwest Conference needn't take a back seat to anyone when it comes to the signal-callers because every team in the conference returns its starting quarterback.

Colorado's Kordell Stewart was good last year, but TCU senior Max Knake threw 24 TD passes, 14 more than Stewart.

Wuerffel was good, too, but he couldn't claim an unbeaten record as a starter as Texas' James Brown could. A poor practice performer who was a perfect 4-0, Brown saved Coach John Mackovic's job and the Longhorns' season last season, leading Texas to a comeback victory over North Carolina in the Sun Bowl.

Brown is only a sophomore, and the same goes for Texas Tech's Zebbie Lethridge, who was the league's consensus Newcomer of the Year after taking the Red Raiders to the Cotton Bowl for the first time as the SWC representative.

Taneyhill has been around the block, but so has Texas A&M senior Corey Pullig, who has started since midseason of his freshman year and has a 24-3-1 mark. Pullig threw just one fewer touchdown pass than Alabama's Jay Barker last season.

There may not be a Tommie Frazier in the bunch, but shifty SMU junior Ramon Flanigan may be every bit as versatile and explosive. Although he sat out eight quarters with a nagging hamstring injury last season, Flanigan led the league in total offense.

Rice Coach Ken Hatfield returns a pair of solid quarterbacks in senior Josh LaRocca, who has to run more than he likes, and sophomore Chad Nelson, who has worked on his passing.

Chuck Clements will try to resurrect Houston's moribund program after breaking his hand last season. He has thrown for more than 2,000 yards but needs to reduce his interception tendencies (15 in 1 1/2 seasons).

Baylor's chunky Jeff Watson has whittled 15 pounds, to 200, off his 6-foot frame. Poised beyond his years, Watson led the school's most productive offense ever. Who knows, the league might even produce an All-America quarterback for the first time since Andre Ware with Houston's run-and-shoot in 1989.

Ferocious Frogs

Don't be surprised to see Texas Christian as the surprise team of the conference in 1995.

The Frogs tied for the SWC crown last season -- but didn't everybody? They have arguably the best 1-2 offensive punch with seniors Max Knake at quarterback and Andre Davis at tailback and the nation's best tight end in Brian Collins.

Even better, they have a marshmallow-soft schedule that could easily reward TCU with a 7-0 start with games against Iowa State, Kansas, Vanderbilt, Houston, Rice, Tulane and Baylor.

The hot seat

Three years have taken John Mackovic to one bowl game, 19 victories, a share of one Southwest Conference title and to the brink of the unemployment line.

The Texas coach enters the fourth season of a five-year contract one step ahead of the wolves who are calling for his job because of a tendency to recruit out-of-state talent more than in-state, a trend of losing games (to TCU and Rice) he should unquestionably win and a perceived arrogance toward and resentment of the media and alumni.

Suggestions by the UT administration that Mackovic be given a two-year extension after the Sun Bowl victory over North Carolina were rebuffed, leaving Mackovic in limbo.

Stadium hop

SMU hasn't played in the Cotton Bowl -- the event, not the stadium -- since January 1, 1983, and not at all since 1992 when the Mustangs moved their home game against Texas A&M from their tiny, on-campus Ownby Stadium on Mockingbird Lane to the storied facility at Fairgrounds Park.

SMU has opted to leave Ownby and its artificial surface and play all its home games at the Cotton Bowl with its lush grass installed last year for the World Cup.

Houston will celebrate its 50th year of football by playing its first home game against Louisiana Tech at on-campus, 22,000-seat Robertson Stadium, where it hasn't played since 1960.

Canadian connection

The Southwest Conference long has endured the intruders who have trespassed into the Lone Star State and robbed Texas of much of its blue-chip talent.

Turnabout is fair play except that the SWC teams are pushing the boundaries beyond the 50 states. For instance, Houston signed defensive back Derrick Boxill, who played high school ball in Canada. He caught the eye of Houston assistant Dan Lounsbury when Lounsbury was on the Toronto Argonaut's staff.

Texas Tech also raided Canada, signing Jayson Hansen, a 6-foot-4, 300-pound lineman from British Columbia.

RELATED ARTICLE: ORDER OF FINISH

1 TEXAS A&M: Coming off a year of NCAA probation and angered by last year's five-way tie for first by teams the Aggies beat, Coach R.C. Slocum's bunch has motivation to burn and the bad break speed and talent to go with it in Heisman candidate Leeland McElroy and Lombardi Award hopeful Brandon Mitchell. The question isn't if the Aggies will win the title but by how much.