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Thursday, October 19, 2000

Many college football experts regard the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference as the top two conferences in Division I. But for a second consecutive year, it's looking as if neither conference will be represented in the national championship game.

The highest-ranked Big Ten team in the Associated Press poll this week is Ohio State at No. 14. The highest-ranked Southeastern Conference school is Florida at No. 8. The Bowl Championship Series rankings come out Monday night, but Florida and Ohio State probably won't fare much better in the rankings that determine which two teams play in the national championship game.

The top six teams in the nation this week, according to AP, come from the Big 12 (Nebraska and Oklahoma), the Big East (Virginia Tech and Miami) and the ACC (Clemson and Florida State). Some of those highly ranked teams will play each other in the coming weeks -- No. 1 Nebraska and No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 2 Virginia Tech and No. 4 Miami, No. 5 Clemson and No. 6 Florida State -- which will cut the field of contenders in half. Three teams could end the regular season without a loss, while Miami and Florida State will have at least one loss.

Last year, Florida State and Virginia Tech had undefeated records heading into the title game.

That's why Penn State Coach Joe Paterno continues to lobby for a national championship playoff.

"I told [Big Ten commissioner]Jim Delaney and [SEC commissioner]Roy Cramer that it's going to be very difficult to get a Big Ten team or an SEC team in the game because the two conferences are so tough," Paterno said.

Florida has a better shot than a Big Ten team. But the Gators would have to beat three ranked teams, including Florida State in Tallahassee Nov. 18, and hope for a lot of help.

Smelling the roses

Minnesota, fresh off its 29-17 victory at Ohio State, is one of four teams tied for first place in the conference. Purdue controls its own destiny for the conference title and a trip to the Rose Bowl, but Minnesota is in the race.

The Gophers have not played in the Rose Bowl since 1962.

"Somebody called me first thing Sunday morning and asked me if I saw the headlines in the newspaper," Minnesota Coach Glen Mason said. "It said, 'Gophers smelling roses'. And I said if we believe that, it will be 'Gophers will be smelling like road kill.' "

Mason does not want to look ahead, but the Gophers could win the rest of their games. They play at Indiana this week, at home against Northwestern next week, at Wisconsin Nov. 4 and at home against Iowa.

Purdue, which beat Minnesota three weeks ago, plays at Wisconsin this week and is host to Ohio State next week before closing the season at Michigan State and at home against Indiana.

"Once you allow yourself to speculate, something bad happens," Mason said. "Let's just concentrate on the things at hand and going down and playing Indiana."

A lofty comparison

Michigan State sophomore running back T.J. Duckett has been drawing comparisons to Ron Dayne, the 1999 Heisman Trophy winner and the NCAA Division I all-time rushing leader.

Wisconsin Coach Barry Alvarez is one of the people making the comparison.

"T.J. Duckett is an outstanding player," Alvarez said. "He reminds me of a guy we used to have here. They're very similar. Everyone wants to compare them because of their size. But there's more to it than size. Both have good vision, they both break tackles and, when they both get in the secondary, they can outrun people. He's a complete player like Ron was."

Duckett rushed for 80 yards in a 17-10 loss to Wisconsin Saturday. But Duckett, who has been hampered by a hip pointer, is the nation's fifth-leading rusher with 890 yards.

Duckett, who is 6 feet 1 and 252 pounds, spent last season splitting time between offense and defense. He played linebacker for the first half of last season before going over to offense full-time. Duckett, who was a quarterback at Loy Norrix High School in Kalamazoo, Mich,, finished last season with 606 yards and 10 touchdowns.

"To compare him to Ron Dayne would not be a fair comparison," Michigan State Coach Bobby Williams said. "Ron Dayne won the Heisman Trophy. T.J. is in his first year. He's still learning a lot about the game. Maybe in a year or so we'd be able to make that comparison."

Quote of the Week

Northwestern Coach Randy Walker on losing to Purdue last week and the recent national media attention the Wildcats had been receiving:

"We got a little enamored with the attention. That was the first week I thought we let the distractions affect us."