The last time this space plugged a defensive player for the Heisman Trophy, he entered the federal witness protection program.
At least, that’s the rumor. Two days after the Tribune suggested Ohio State linebacker Andy Katzenmoyer ought to receive serious Heisman consideration, Katzenmoyer disappeared during Ohio State’s loss at Penn State.
So, it’s with some trepidation we present Charles Woodson for the . . . never mind.
Michigan’s junior cornerback can leap over the press box and is the hardest-hitting Charles this side of Barkley. Last weekend Woodson made two startling interceptions against Michigan State to move into second place on Michigan’s career list with 15.
“He dictates a lot of what goes on as far as the passing game,” Wolverine safety Marcus Ray says. “It allows the rest of us to make plays. He cuts down on half the field.”
Adds Michigan coach Lloyd Carr: “I’ve watched this kid for three years now, and I don’t think there’s a more valuable player in the country. He can control a game from the cornerback position.”
Woodson is the best player on one of the best defenses in the country, a unit that has not allowed a touchdown in the second half this season, or a point in the fourth quarter. Woodson’s Heisman hopes would get a boost if Carr would deploy him more often as a wide receiver, as he did a year ago. The occasional big catch might cement Woodson’s reputation as an all-around star and enable him to overcome the Heisman panel’s longstanding bias against defenders.
Asked if he ought to be a Heisman candidate, Woodson said: “I don’t know. I think I’m a pretty decent player.”
The probable Heisman front-runner is Tennessee’s Peyton Manning, but he’s hardly a consensus candidate. The wonderful group of quarterbacks on the West Coast–UCLA’s Cade McNown, Washington State’s Ryan Leaf and Washington’s Brock Huard–will siphon support from Manning. In the Midwest, Wisconsin tailback Ron Dayne, the nation’s No. 3 rusher, will receive votes, as will Nebraska quarterback Scott Frost. Out East, Penn State tailback Curtis Enis has the spotlight of three games against ranked opponents.
Woodson might not be an obvious choice. But in a year that has no runaway favorite, he has to be in the running–or was until we mentioned it.
Ohio U-turn: Soon after Northwestern’s revival in 1995, it became hip to ask, “Who’s going to be the next Northwestern?”
Two years later, the answer is obvious. The “next Northwestern” is that school down in Athens. Ohio, not Georgia.
The historically challenged Bobcats went 0-11 in 1994 and 2-8-1 in 1995, with the wins over 1-10 Akron and Division I-AA Illinois State.
This year, they’re 7-1, the lone loss coming by a field goal at 12th-ranked Kansas State. Ohio’s main tests come in three weeks, when it close the regular season against Miami (Ohio) and Marshall.
Ohio’s athletic director is Thomas Boeh, who went to Athens from an assistant AD job at Northwestern before the 1995 season.
“We probably were just as bad as Northwestern over the years, but they were more visible,” Boeh says. “What happened at Northwestern was what happened here. We brought in a very high-quality coach that really wasn’t interested in the way the department and the football program operated in the past. They really wanted to create an atmosphere that losing isn’t acceptable, that we’re too good of an institution to lose at anything.”
Ohio head coach Jim Grobe brought along an option attack when he came from the Air Force Academy staff. Quarterback Kareem Wilson, a junior and three-year starter, is only 5-foot-7-inches but drives opponents crazy with his feet.
No one knows about Wilson’s arm. He didn’t attempt a pass in last weekend’s victory over Akron.
Behold that Tiger: The last time Missouri played in a bowl, it lost to Brigham Young on a touchdown reception by Cougars quarterback Steve Young. That was in the 1983 Holiday Bowl.
Just 14 seasons later, the Tigers are 5-3, but head coach Larry Smith has told his players not to dream of the postseason yet. “Achieve the winning season first and then take what goes with it,” he says.
No wonder Smith’s cautious: The Tigers still have to play Colorado and Nebraska before finishing with Baylor, the Big 12’s version of the bye week.
If Mizzou draws a bowl invitation, Smith would become the fourth Division I-A coach to take four schools to a bowl, having already led Southern California, Arizona and Tulane to the postseason.
The others: Earle Bruce, Lou Holtz and Bill Mallory. Ken Hatfield of 5-2 Rice also is hoping to join that group this year.
Point (spread) taken: One year after the Boston College gambling scandal shook college football, the NCAA has begun an education campaign aimed at student-athletes in all divisions. Member schools will receive posters and stickers emblazoned with “DON’T BET ON IT.”
The handouts list the risks taken by gambling student-athletes–including “loss of NCAA eligibility,” “banishment from professional sports” and “humiliating media coverage,” as well as “violation of local, state and federal laws.”
“This will help guarantee that our message against legal and illegal sports wagering in intercollegiate athletics is getting across loud and clear,” says Bill Saum, the NCAA’s gambling authority.
Fourth and inches: Like the Big Ten, the Pac-10 is down to a four-team race for the Rose Bowl. If either Washington or Washington State wins the rest of their games, they’re headed for Pasadena. UCLA needs Washington State to lose twice, while Arizona State needs Washington to lose twice and UCLA once. Warning: Washington State is 0-10 in November road games under coach Mike Price, and the Cougars are playing Arizona State at Tempe this weekend. . . . McNown has thrown two interceptions in his last 167 passes. That’s why he’s the top-rated passer in Division I-A. Huard ranks second and Leaf is fourth. . . . USC wide receiver R. Jay Soward has suffered repeated leg cramps during games, so Trojans coach John Robinson is insisting he drink more water. “He’s one of those guys with 2 percent body fat, kind of like me,” the rotund Robinson says. “The guy drives me crazy. I ask him why he doesn’t drink more water. He said water slows you down.” . . . At 7-2, Wisconsin is likely to receive a postseason invitation. The bowl folks don’t have to know that the Badgers have walloped Boise State (3-5), Northwestern (3-6), Indiana (1-7) and Minnesota (2-6) by a total of seven points. . . . Relax, West Virginians. Those national reports that the bowl alliance would take a 9-3 Syracuse instead of a 10-1 West Virginia were mixed up. The Orangemen and the Mountaineers meet this weekend in the Carrier Dome. If West Virginia prevails Saturday and rolls the rest of the way, it is an odds-on choice for an alliance slot, probably in the Sugar Bowl.
