COLLEGE FOOTBALL / GENE WOJCIECHOWSKI : They Won’t Give McNair Liberty

Alcorn State and the Liberty Bowl can say, “Pretty please,” all they want, but the NCAA is not going to allow the Division I-AA team and its Heisman Trophy candidate, quarterback Steve McNair, to play in the Dec. 31 game.

If it were up to Liberty Bowl officials, Alcorn would receive an invitation to face either East Carolina or hometown Memphis. It makes sense: McNair’s presence would sell lots of tickets; it would give television viewers an actual reason to watch the game and it could provide the struggling bowl a unique regional matchup, what with Alcorn in neighboring Mississippi and the possibility of Memphis as the other team.

“We’d love to have him,” Liberty Bowl spokesman Chris Bork said. “He’s a great player. But it’s not going to happen. The NCAA won’t allow it.”

That’s because the NCAA requires bowl teams to have at least six victories against Division I-A teams. Alcorn plays exclusively in Division I-AA.

“At this point, it’s dead,” Alcorn Coach Cardell Jones said. “We’re just hoping and praying the NCAA will sanction it and let us go.”

Liberty Bowl representatives contacted the NCAA about an exception to the rule but didn’t receive much encouragement. Jones said Alcorn might make a similar request.

If the NCAA doesn’t change its mind--and it won’t--Alcorn and McNair will have to hope for an at-large bid to the Division I-AA playoffs or an invitation to the Division I-AA Heritage Bowl in Atlanta.

“I’d rather play in the Liberty Bowl,” Jones said, “because of the exposure and because this is something that hasn’t been done in the history of college football. I think it would be great for Steve to play against a Division I-A ballclub before he graduates.”

We’d love to see McNair get his moment, too, but for the NCAA to change the rule for Alcorn would be unfair to every Division I-A program that wins those six required games.

HELPFUL GRAPHICS

Just in case any of the Associated Press voters covering last Saturday night’s Kansas State-Colorado game needed a reminder, the Folsom Field scoreboard operator offered a not-so-subtle ballot hint. Read the huge screen at the conclusion of Colorado’s 35-21 victory:

1 Penn State Is Idle

In other words: We played. We won. We deserve No. 1.

The voters weren’t swayed, but Kansas State might have been. The Wildcats have played Nebraska, the former No. 1, and Colorado in successive weeks and limped away from each defeat thinking they could have won each game.

Instead, they lost to the Cornhuskers by 11 and the Buffaloes by 14. So who wins when No. 2-ranked Colorado travels to No. 3 Nebraska on Saturday?

The vote is nearly unanimous: the Buffaloes.

“They have so many weapons and with (Cornhusker quarterback) Tommie Frazier out, that negates Nebraska’s whole plan,” Kansas State strong safety Chuck Marlowe said.

“I think Colorado will win,” wide receiver Tyson Schwieger said. “It will be a great game. I think offensively, they are a lot better than Nebraska was.”

Said Kansas State Coach Bill Snyder: “If Nebraska has some balance in their offense, they have a chance. I don’t know who is the better team. A week ago I would have said Colorado. Right now, I think Colorado has great balance and they can be as good as any team in the country.”

We have mixed feelings about picking Colorado. You would too if you heard Buffalo quarterback Kordell Stewart make the following offer: “If we come out with a big win, I’ll kiss all of you (reporters).”

THE ANSWER MAN

College football’s three most-asked questions:

--When will UCLA drop to Division I-AA?

--Who’s No. 1?

--When will there be a national playoff?

For now, we’ll concentrate on the playoff issue, mostly because UCLA is beyond help and Penn State is No. 1 . . . this week.

Asked by ABC’s John Saunders if they supported a playoff, Colorado Coach Bill McCartney and Auburn Coach Terry Bowden offered some fresh views on the subject. Misguided, but fresh.

Bowden, who coached on the Division I-AA level before arriving at Auburn two seasons ago, has seen how a 16-team national playoff tournament works and he didn’t like it. True, one champion is decided on the field, but Bowden said there always were questions and complaints about the selection and seeding process. In other words, a controversial title--even with the playoff.

McCartney, whose team split a national championship in 1990 with Georgia Tech, favors a 16-team playoff, but with a selection twist. He wants a media panel to choose four teams from each of the four major regions of the country and then let the playoff begin, like the NCAA basketball tournament.

It is a nice thought, except for one teensy-weensy problem: What happens if there aren’t four teams in a region worthy of selection? Take this season as an example:

East--Penn State, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, Miami.

South--Duke, Florida, Alabama, Florida State.

Midwest--Colorado, Nebraska, Texas, Michigan.

West--Arizona, Utah, Brigham Young and, uh, the San Diego Chargers?

If McCartney wants it like the Final Four, then Auburn, Washington and Texas A&M--all; on NCAA probation--wouldn’t be eligible. And if McCartney really wants a playoff, then he first has to persuade the folks on the NCAA’s powerful Presidents Commission that the tournament would be worth the trouble. Fat chance. This past summer the Commission disbanded the NCAA special committee formed to study such a playoff.

THE CHECK’S IN THE MAIL

Maybe it’s nothing . . . but nearly two months after their appearance in the Pigskin Classic, Fresno State and Ohio State have yet to receive full payment for playing in the Aug. 29 game at Anaheim Stadium.

According to Don Andersen, whose Orange County Sports Assn. cuts the checks, the OCSA has up to 90 days to pay participating teams. In this case, Fresno State and Ohio State are due a minimum of $500,000 each, more if ticket sales exceeded a certain level (which they didn’t). The two schools then keep a percentage of the payout and share the rest with their respective leagues, the Western Athletic Conference and the Big Ten Conference.

No dummies, the Buckeyes insisted on and received an up-front payment of $250,000 in August. Doug Clay, Ohio State’s business manager, said he is awaiting the rest of the payout but added that he won’t officially get nervous until Feb. 15, the school’s deadline for accounts to be settled.

Meanwhile, Fresno State hasn’t seen a penny, said Les Snyder, the Bulldogs’ assistant athletic director in charge of business affairs.

“When we played in the (1992) Freedom Bowl (also operated by the OCSA), we didn’t have any problem at all,” Snyder said. “We were taken care of very quickly. But in the Pigskin, we haven’t had that same (cooperation). We just weren’t taken care of.”

A possible sticking point: Fresno, which brought about 15,000 fans to the Freedom Bowl, pledged to do the same for the Pigskin. Instead, only 7,000 Bulldog supporters bought tickets.

Snyder said Fresno is willing to wait for its money. Actually, he doesn’t have much choice.

“It isn’t a problem--right now,” he said.

THE REST

Selection Day for the bowl coalition is Dec. 4. The most likely matchups: (our picks in boldface) Rose--Penn State vs. Arizona; Orange--Colorado or Nebraska vs. Miami or Florida State; Fiesta--Notre Dame vs. Nebraska or Colorado; Freedom--Brigham Young vs. Washington State or Oregon, if the Ducks can win two of their final four games; Citrus--Michigan vs. Alabama; Holiday--Utah vs. Illinois or Ohio State. . . . In what must be a Heisman candidate first, Colorado junior running back Rashaan Salaam, who leads the NCAA in rushing (1,256 yards), says he wants no part of the famed trophy. “I’m scared, man,” said Salaam, who is wavering about returning to Boulder for his senior season. “I really don’t want to win it because I know how much pressure is going to be put on me.” If he had a Heisman vote, Salaam said he would cast it for his buddy Napoleon Kaufman of Washington or Alcorn State’s McNair. Colorado wide receiver Michael Westbrook wasn’t buying it. “He wants to win it, but he has to tell himself that he has higher goals,” he said. . . . Let’s say only three Pacific 10 Conference teams--Arizona, Washington State and USC--get the required six Division I-A victories for a bowl appearance. If Arizona goes to the Rose and the bowl coalition somehow chooses Washington State, then the Freedom Bowl gets the Pac-10’s No. 3 team, the Trojans, right? Uh, no. Because USC wanted a no-repeat rule, the Freedom would have to go outside the Pac-10 for both of its teams. . . . Take it for the rumor it is, but former Auburn coach Pat Dye might be considering a return to the sidelines. With Georgia’s Ray Goff struggling, Dye’s name continues to surface. Dye played at Georgia, is close friends with Athletic Director Vince Dooley and his wife Barbara and recently retired his position at Auburn as special assistant to the president. So he’s available, but don’t hold your breath.

Who says UCLA isn’t competitive? If the Bruins remain in the Pac-10 cellar, they will become only the fourth team since World War II to go from first to last in their league. The three others: Arizona in 1965, Kansas in 1969 and Stanford in 1993. . . . Breakfast at Lincoln? Because ABC waved money and because Nebraska--or so says Colorado Athletic Director Bill Marolt--had the final say and agreed to the change, kickoff for Saturday’s game at Lincoln begins at 11 a.m., which is earlier than some cartoon shows. Said McCartney: “I’m not excited about playing morning football, but they do it at Wimbledon, why shouldn’t we? I don’t like morning football. I’d rather play at midnight.” Memo to Bill: Matches at Wimbledon don’t begin until early afternoon. Also, don’t say that midnight stuff too loud. The networks are listening. . . . If Michigan State President M. Peter McPherson was serious about Coach George Perles having to have “an outstanding season”--or else--then Perles is officially cooked after last Saturday’s loss to a dreadful Iowa team. Michigan State is 2-5 overall and 1-3 in the Big Ten.

Top 10

As selected by staff writer Gene Wojciechowski

No. Team Record 1. Colorado 7-0 2. Penn State 6-0 3. Auburn 7-0 4. Nebraska 8-0 5. Miami 5-1 6. Florida 5-1 7. Texas A&M; 7-0 8. Alabama 8-0 9. Michigan 5-2 10. Arizona 6-1

Waiting list: Florida State (5-1), Syracuse (6-1), Virginia Tech (7-1), Kansas State (4-2), Utah (7-0)