Ten reasons to get your game face on

Sporting News, The, August 22, 1994 by Mark Blaudschun

With apologies to David Letterman and his staff, here's our Top 10 list on why this college football season will be one of the more exciting in recent years:

(Compiled straight from the home office in Tallahassee, Fla.)

10. It will be a season in which there will be a wide-open Heisman Trophy race.

The early front-runner is Michigan running back Tyrone Wheatley. But let's face it, the Heisman is generally a quarterback award. As good as Wheatley is, it will take only one early-season flub for him to drop back to the pack. And with Michigan's national television appearances against Boston College and Notre Dame the first two weeks, the feeling here is that Wheatley could look mortal very quickly (especially September 10 in South Bend.)

Our favorites are Nebraska quarterback Tommie Frazier and Stanford quarterback Steve Stenstrom.

9. It will be a season in which you will burn out your VCR and clicker on the second Saturday in October. Has anyone checked October 8. Please do, we'll wait.

We're talking Oklahoma vs. Texas at Dallas, Florida State at Miami, Notre Dame at Boston College and Michigan State at Michigan. We're already fired up.

8. It will be a season in which several bigtime coaches will have their careers on the griddle.

Let's look at three areas of the country. Down in Texas, John Mackovic's team is favored to reach the Cotton Bowl. It better. Texas Ex's, as the alumni are called, are getting antsy about playing second fiddle to those Aggies over at Texas A&M. With the SWC falling apart in two years and Texas joining the Big 12 in 1996, Mackovic had better get the Longhorns up to speed fairly quickly or he won't be around when Texas starts playing conference games against Colorado and Nebraska.

Moving into the South, Georgia Coach Ray Goff also must do some refurbishing. The Bulldogs have been hurt by early NFL defections by some of its blue-chip players and the fans in Athens are restless. Since Goff took over in 1989, the Bulldogs have had only two winning seasons and are coming off last year's 5-6 disappointment. If Georgia repeats that this season, Coach (Georgia A.D. Vince) Dooley might have the alumni clamoring for a change sooner rather than later.

Other coaches feeling the pressure are George Perles at Michigan State and Syracuse's Paul Pasqualoni.

7. It will be a season in which the bad-boy image of college football will shift north from Miami to Florida State.

With apologies to the Seminoles and Coach Bobby Bowden, who is near the top of our list of favorite coaches, the Seminoles will have to develop a circle-the-wagon mentality to survive. The Foot Locker incident was only the start of a process that will not simply go away. With all those would-be Woodwards and Bernsteins snooping through the records, someone is going to come up with something on the Seminoles that will cause headlines and turmoil. At Miami, they just shrugged it off and went about their business. We're not sure if Florida State can do that.

6. It will be a season in which there will be no Game of the Century.

Yes, we know that's hard to believe, given this age of hype. But when you look at the parity that's around college football, it's hard to find anyone who is a lock to go unbeaten.

The people down at Orlando are already billing their contest November 12 between Notre Dame and Florida State as the Game of the Century rematch. We beg to disagree. It might not even be the game of the week if Michigan knocks off the Irish in September and Miami beats FSU in October at Miami.

5. It will be a season in which a freshman will be the story of the year.

Our pick for that honor is Notre Dame quarterback Ron Powlus. Powlus, if you remember, was scheduled to make his debut last fall, but then broke his collarbone a couple of times and never played a down.

Well, he's back. A little slower and heavier than Irish Coach Lou Holtz would like. But our guess is that he's the real deal and will lead Notre Dame to a great season.

4. It will be a season in which this year's sleeper will again come from the Big East.

Last year it was Moutaineer madness, as West Virginia won the Big East and came within a victory of an unbeaten season and a possible share of the national championship.

This year, it will be Virginia Tech's season. Big East insiders tell us that this is the team to watch. With a veteran team returning from a 9-3 season, the Hokies might do even better than that and could be playing Miami for the Big East title October 29.

3. It will be a season in which Penn State finally goes to the Rose Bowl.

Hold on, all you Michigan fans. Yes, we know that Penn State's road to Pasadena must pass through Michigan October 15, but we feel the Nittany Lions can do it. Coach Joe Paterno has never coached in a Rose Bowl game and he might only be coaching for another 20 years or so, so why not take care of business right now and get to Pasadena.

2. It will be a season in which the Rose Bowl is the site for a national championship.

Sorry, just kidding. We like Penn State. And we like Arizona and USC in the Pacific 10 Conference, but playing for No. 1? Not this season, and the Rose Bowl will continue to be the granddaddy of them all without a truly meaningful game.