College Football / Richard Hoffer : Assorted Prizes Are Up for Grabs This Week

This is big-game week, that time of year when rivals, cross-bay and cross-state, play for buckets, bronzed pigs and beehive boots. Important stuff. You’d be a fool to get excited about a Michigan-Ohio State game, which produces nothing , when, across the land Saturday, there will be a bell at stake.

Up at California, there is more than the matter of the Ax, which Stanford holds fairly and squarely. Stanford, of course, has not always been fair or square as regards this sacred implement.

Back in 1933, some reporters were covering the removal of the Ax from Cal’s vault when the photographers--Stanford students, it developed--popped tear-gas bombs instead of flash bulbs. The Ax was retaken.

But that’s another story. This year, there’s the matter of Cal’s stuffed grizzly, a 7-foot piece of work stolen from a display case 2 seasons ago. Since then, there have been occasional letters to the editor of the Stanford Daily from this stuffed bear, indicating that he is being treated well by his captors.

On Wednesday, the bear sent a note saying he was ready to come home. The note came with a Polaroid picture of the bear and a dated newspaper, so he’s obviously OK.

Is it possible that Stanford students are behind this? A spokeswoman in the Stanford athletic department sighed, “It’s looking that way.”

Some other things you should know about. Iowa and Minnesota play this week for Floyd of Rosedale, a bronzed pig. This goes back to the ‘30s, when the states’ governors bet hogs on the game. Indiana and Purdue play for the Old Oaken Bucket, Houston and Rice for the Bayou Bucket. It’s hard to go to a football game this time of year and not see a pail handed about.

Brown and Rhode Island play for the Broomhead Trophy, a football named after William Broomhead (too bad, sounded interesting).

Washington and Washington State play for the Apple Cup. The Beehive Boot, a brogan supposedly worn by a member of the Mormon Battalion, is up for grabs in a round robin among Utah, Utah State, Brigham Young and Weber State.

Iowa State and Missouri play for the Telephone. This refers to a 1959 game in which the coaches donned their electronic headgear and found that the wires had been crossed. Northwestern Bell corrected that and instituted a new trophy, some of its own equipment.

It’s an upgrade, when you think about it, of the Bell Clapper, which was up for grabs in the Oklahoma-Oklahoma State game.

Big things happen this week. As far as that goes, you may have noticed a heightened anticipation of the USC-UCLA game this week. No wonder. It’s for the Victory Bell.

It appears that Washington will be denied a bowl bid for the first time in 11 years, while Washington State, its opponent Saturday, is headed for the Aloha Bowl, only its third bowl appearance since 1916.

Washington, like all but USC, UCLA and Washington State, apparently is a victim of Pacific 10 parity.

“The conference is just too good,” said Washington Athletic Director Mike Lude, noting that conference teams are 27-4 against nonconference foes.

“If we would have had four awful teams, the records of the better teams would have been more attractive.”

The Huskies are 6-4.

Another team left out could be Virginia, which also could end up 7-4, second in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

On the other hand, the Big Ten, which also is suffering from parity, may send as many as five teams to bowls. Michigan is going to the Rose Bowl; Iowa (5-3-3) to the Peach; Indiana (6-3-1) to the Liberty; Michigan State (5-4-1) to the Gator, and Illinois (5-4-1) to the All-American.

Other have-nots going into bid weekend are Texas El Paso (9-2) and Louisville (8-3).

Among the changes you can expect upon the season’s conclusion is a new coach at Missouri, where Woody Widenhofer is finishing up an 11-30-1 career.

Widenhofer had appeared to be making progress with the program after three seasons--5-6, after records of 1-10 and 3-8--but the team has slipped to 2-7-1 this season.

Top candidate? UTEP wonder worker Bob Stull. Former UTEP chancellor Haskiell Monroe now has the same job at Missouri.

North Carolina Coach Mack Brown, whose 1-9 team plays Duke, which will be without Coach Steve Spurrier because of a 1-game suspension from the ACC: “It might help us if I wasn’t on the sidelines.”