SEPTEMBER 1999

KEEPING SCORE

BARNES

PERSONALITY OF
THE COACH MAKES THE SCHOOL

BY CHARLIE BARNES

Like a thin oasis in that lonely desert between the end of spring practice and the arrival of the freshmen in August, the pre-season magazines provided just enough sustenance to ensure survival of the committed college football fan. If you have not had the chance to drink your fill from all the self-appointed wellsprings of knowledge, here are excerpts from this year's crop. Enjoy.

ATHLON SPORTS COLLEGE FOOTBALL - ACC & NATIONAL EDITIONS
No.1 Florida State
Tennessee No. 3
Georgia Tech No. 9
Miami No. 14
Florida No. 17
"Florida State slid into last year's Fiesta Bowl through the back door and fell into a snake pit," is the dubious beginning of the FSU analysis, but ATHLON picks the Seminoles a solid No. 1 to start the season, comparing the 1999 Seminoles to the 1980 version: "[you] have to dig back that far to come with a team that returns so many key elements as this one."
The magazine notes that FSU is the winningest Division I team of this decade, and in 1999 returns "its entire receiving corps, its top five rushers and nine of its top ten scorers." The defense has a "penchant for mayhem."

Chris Weinke in the game against LouisianaTech

Sentinel columnist Jerry Greene identifies the "Three Injustices" suffered by the Orange & Blue in this edition of ATHLON. First, Danny Wuerffel is not listed among the 19 greatest quarterbacks of the 20th Century (FYI, Charlie didn't make the list either). Second, the "Quarterback of the Decade" is Tennessee's Peyton Manning "who built his career around losing to Wuerffel and the Gators." And third, the Gators are 17th in ATHLON's preseason poll.
I have to say, putting the O&B at 17th seems like flawed thinking. Whatever else Spurrier is, he is a great coach and motivator, and while the defense is short on experience, talent is in long supply.
ATHLON lists 13 "Greatest Coaches of the Century." Bobby Bowden is No. 2 on the list, second to West Point's Red Blaik, and is the only man on the list ever to be the Head Coach at a school in Florida. In writing about the upcoming father/son match with Tommy Bowden, Bobby is quoted as saying he's not concerned about splitting the family. "That week I'll just remind everybody that the will is still in my name."
Finally, ATHLON sent a writer around the country to experience the joys of tailgating at all the best schools. Joe Cahn, who is now the self-declared Commissioner of Tailgating, anoints his own Top 10 Tailgating Champions, based on his adventures during the 1998 season. Florida State is tied with Navy at No. 10. Penn State, Michigan and Georgia are 1-2-3. Evidently, Michigan allows tailgating on the University golf course adjacent to the stadium. Now that's a football school!

JEFF ALLEN'S 1999 COLLEGE FOOTBALL PREVIEW & BETTING GUIDE
No. 1 Florida State
Florida No. 3
Tennessee No. 6
Miami not listed (Top 10 only)
The reason I like this particular national magazine is that the cover features photos of five guys: Jeff Allen, Bobby Bowden, Weinke, Minor and Warrick. The headline reads: FOUR GOOD REASONS JEFF ALLEN RANKS FLORIDA STATE No. 1.
This publication makes no pretense to be anything other than a betting guide.
Bookmaker Dan Pastorini has an ad in the publication and his own list: No. 1 is Nebraska, FSU is No. 2, Tennessee is No. 3, Florida is No. 6, Georgia Tech is No. 10 and Miami's No. 17. Pastorini says: "Georgia Tech has leapfrogged Virginia and UNC into second place in the ACC, but faces the insurmountable task of beating Florida State.
"When it's all said and done, Tech will once again be playing second fiddle to the guys in Tallahassee." Of the Seminoles: "An inexperienced offensive line limited most of Bowden's offensive scheme for most of the year."
If you're worrying about sports agents, worry about gamblers too. There are two ads in this book for JIMMY NEWMAN SPORTS. It sent a chill down my back to read: "Jimmy gets his information right from the stadium locker room on game days" and "The inside information specialist you're looking for! Get direct information from the locker room on game days." Is he talking about OUR locker room?

JIM FEIST'S VEGAS INSIDER COLLEGE FOOTBALL ANNUAL
No. 1 Florida State
Tennessee No. 4
Miami No. 10
Florida doesn't appear; in fact there is only one SEC team in his list of twelve.
Feist puts Duke at the bottom of the ACC: "New Coach Carl Franks goes into battle with more returning starters than any other ACC team (19). But just because a starter's returning doesn't mean he's very good." Florida State, on the other hand, "returns with more individual honors than Burt Reynolds has hair pieces." He does counsel that FSU's linebacking corps is "weaker than usual." Of Alabama, he says "Seven years have passed since 'Bama last ruled the roost in the SEC. By the end of November it'll be eight."
Kentucky gets the same treatment: "Now that Tim Couch is cashing NFL paychecks in Cleveland, will the real Kentucky please stand up?" Poor Northwestern doesn't escape either: "Now woefully short on talent, there is good reason why Gary Barnett fled so quickly to Colorado. Excellence isn't a word that will be used too often when sizing up the Wildcats in 1999."

FOOTBALL ACTION '99 - COLLEGE EDITION
No. 1 Florida State
Actually, FA99 doesn't have a Top 10 list; but predicts of Florida State: "So what else is new? FSU will compete for, and likely win, another National Championship." Close enough for me.
Of the Gators: "This could be one of the toughest seasons in recent memory for Steve Spurrier." That sort of reminds me of what people said about us before we went 11-1 in 1997. Unfortunately, Spurrier's at his best when his back is to the wall.

LINDY'S COLLEGE FOOTBALL - ACC & NATIONAL EDITIONS
No. 1 Florida State
Tennessee No. 2
Florida No. 7
Miami No. 11
Georgia Tech No.14
You've got to love a magazine whose cover features a dynamic picture of Peter Warrick hauling in a pass, and a headline that trumpets "NOLES ARE No. 1." LINDY'S begins by saying that picking the Seminoles No.1 is a bit like picking the Yankees. "Everybody knows they're the best team, now they just have to go out and prove it."
The prediction, a reasonable one, is that Florida will beat either Tennessee or FSU in the Swamp. I didn't know that UT has not won in Gainesville since 1971. Georgia Tech's "post-season fate may be sealed by the second game of the season. The problem with [playing] FSU is that they don't lose when they are being challenged."
Like ATHLON, LINDY'S also ranks all 114 Division I-A teams in descending order, from No. 1 Florida State to No. 114 Buffalo.
Among ACC teams, FSU has the toughest schedule again. "Florida State is getting close to retiring this award."
LINDY'S National lists who most influenced college football in this century, "college football's evolution from a brutal, essentially unregulated club sport to a centerpiece of American culture."
Knute Rockne is the first name on the list. Jim Thorpe is No. 4; Bear Bryant is No. 5. "He smoke, he drank, he loved to play craps. He was neither an innovator nor a stern moral voice [but] Bear Bryant simply was college football."
Florida State's own Tom Nugent (Head Coach 1954-58) is given credit for inventing the I-formation. Bobby Bowden is named; so is Steve Spurrier. Charlie Ward and Deion Sanders both get nods to the list of 100, along with Byron "Whizzer" White, 1937 All-American at Colorado, and later Supreme Court Justice of the United States.

PREVIEW SPORTS COLLEGE FOOTBALL '99
No.1 Florida State
Tennessee No. 2
Miami No. 9
Florida No. 10
Georgia Tech No.11
"Coach Bobby Bowden will again sport one of the nation's stingiest defenses, and the Seminoles continue to play that ACC schedule - which is murder in hoops but a definite advantage on the gridiron." Sort of a left-handed compliment, I suppose, but Preview Sports rates FSU a solid No.1. "Florida State, which has been a pain in the neck to opposing quarterbacks, will be the team to beat if the pain in their own quarterback's neck subsides.
Preview Sports observes that "the only job [Texas'] Mack Brown might leave for is to succeed Bobby Bowden at Florida State."
The magazine ends with a tribute to tailgating and the glorious cacophony of college football.
"Even if the next 1,000 years brings us universal rocket travel and an average life expectancy triple our current rate, let's hope college football remains basically the same."
And to put it all in a personal perspective, they write: "The spirit of sharing a pair of gloves with a friend, just so he can hold a beer on a freezing November morning, cannot be recreated in any other athletic arena."

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