Can't wait for New Year's? To some its just a start

Sporting News, The, Dec 4, 1995 by Ivan Maisel

Cardinal sends

The death of the Freedom Bowl last summer nearly cost Stanford a bowl bid. The Cardinal, 7-3-1, got squeezed out of an Aloha Bowl invitation when the Honolulu game selected UCLA with the fourth pick from the Pacific 10 Conference. The Aloha is played Christmas Day on ABC and the bowl went for the Los Angeles television audience the 74 Bruins will bring. UCLA fans might point out that the Bruins defeated the Cardinal, 42-28. However, Stanford is four points away from the Rose Bowl. Had the Cardinal not lost to USC, 31-30, and had Washington not escaped Saturday with a 33-30 victory over Washington State, Stanford would be bound for Pasadena.

The Pac-10 has no deal for a fifth bowl this season. The Freedom, based at Anaheim Stadium, won't be played after 11 years of struggle. Next season, the league has a contract with the Haka Bowl, which will be played in New Zealand. Last week, the Stanford athletic department lobbied hard for an invitation to the Liberty, even though it would be a break-even proposition at best. Earlier this year, the Liberty scared off the Southeastern Conference by asking for a commitment to buy 18,000 tickets at $40 apiece. That's $720,000, and the bowl pays $750,000.

It should be pointed out that the break-even description applies only to the money. Plenty of schools are willing to play for essentially nothing. Coaches like the prestige. They love the extra practices. Nevertheless, Stanford sent videos and faxes, made phone calls and generally bombarded Memphis with attention.

Liberty officials were impressed early in the week -- with East Carolina already in the game, they wanted a national name -- but ESPN balked, perhaps in the hope that a more TV-friendly school would surface.

Stares and stripes

Although the TV replay seemed to show that Alabama split end Curtis Brown caught the last-minute pass from Freddie Kitchens out of the Auburn end zone, Crimson Tide fans -- and Brown -- believe he got his back foot in bounds before his front foot came down. The Tuscaloosa News bolstered their case with a still photograph that showed Brown's foot on the ground and the ball in his outstretched hands.

The ruling stands, of course. No touchdown. Southeastern Conference Commissioner Roy Kramer says he had no qualms with the call. The crew got lucky -- two officials had gone down in the course of the game. Even with the alternate official on the field, the crew was one man short. But not only was a striped shirt right with Brown, SEC supervisor of officials Bobby Gaston also was standing by the end zone right where Brown made the catch. Gaston says the call was a proper one.

The winners had the proper perspective. When the Auburn athletic department held a monthly staff social on the Monday after the game, AD. David Housel began by thanking the crew that painted the end-zone fine.

Extra points

Northwestern linebacker Pat Fitzgerald, named to the Football Writers Association All-America team despite missing the last game with a broken ankle, could be the Wildcats' first consensus All-American in 33 seasons. If Fitzgerald is joined by tail-back Darnell Autry, then they would be Northwestern's first All-America double since three Wildcats received the honor in 1931. ... Don't be surprised if Ray Goff lands at Alabama as quarterbacks coach. Goff is Gene Stallings' closest friend in the head-coaching fraternity, and Stallings is ready to push Homer Smith into retirement after watching the Crimson Tide sputter on offense all season.