"'' COLLEGE PRO aAnno 93, Tampa Bay .
BASKETBALL BASKETBALL MSNESOTA 91 at Phoenix, inc.
North Carona St. 47. ATLANTA 89 PRO COLLEGE
Georgia 45 SeatAle 87 HOCKEY HOCKEY
Temple 68, CLEVELAND 101 Colorado 2. FERRISSTATE 7,
Auburn 42 Chicago 80 DETROIT 0 AlaskaFairbanks 2
Texas vs. MIAMI 101, PHILADELPHIA 1, Rensselaer 3
Princeton, inc. Sac ramento 82 Ottawa 0 Union (N.Y) 2 Wednesday
Southern Calforna NEW YORK 93 TORONTO 5, e e sd1 y
us. New Me o n Denver 90 Chicago 2 November 12, 1997
K Ilhngan's
S was it really just the numbers
game that dictated this week's
ESPN/USAoday top 25 coaches
' robably not.
Even if Michigan had picked apart
yerv Penn State player limb from limb,
rand if Florida State posted just a ho-
pjwm blowout of North Carolina, it prob-
bHty wouldn't have swayed all 62 voting
coaches in the Wolverines' favor.
'-he coaches had their minds made up
t.i advance.
ut it had
nothing to do
itI how Florida
Stae, Michigan, :.
Nebraska per-
srteiled this
weekend. ALAN
his was GOLDENBACH
. t gther episode
o politics quite The Bronx
possibly influ- Bomber
encing the
national championship.
its no secret that the absence of both
the Big Ten and Pac-10 from the Bowl
Alliance - this year in particular, where
three Big Ten teams could play for the
national championship - has annoyed
plenty of people across the country.
Some feel that the two conferences
carry themselves in a manner in which
they look down upon other conferences.
And that attitude has caused some
voters perhaps to voice their disapproval
by not voting a Big Ten team No. 1, or
by yanking one off the top shelf at their
first opportunity. Such was the case
three weeks ago when Penn State fell to
No. 2 after narrowly avoiding an upset
at the hands of Minnesota.
is there trouble in voting paradise?
- "°There might be some (animosity
' gainst the Big Ten)" Ohio State coach
John Cooper said. "I would hope that's
not the case, but there might be some"
This is not the first time that there has
,een debate over a Big Ten team as a
7itional chamnpion.
In 1994, 12-0 Penn State team wal-
. ped weak Pac-10 champ Oregon in
Ire-Rose Bowl and lost out to Nebraska
-for the national championship because
Ite Comhuskers beat a higher-ranked
worst enemy - laziness
opponent in Florida State.
"(Penr State) coach (.loe) Paterno has
spoken at length about that a couple of
years ago when they were undefeated
and still didn't have a chance to win the
national championship or at least a share
of it," Cooper said.
But it wasn't the low-caliber of the
Big "Ten's opponent that kept the Rose
Bowl winner from the national title. It
was politics gai, at least according to
Cooper.
"I think there sometimes might be a
little bit ofjealousy out there around the
country," Cooper said. "Maybe envious
is a better word to use. I think some-
times the Big ten and the Pac-10 are put
on a pedestal. We're not metimbers of the
college football association. We play in
the best bowl game you can play - the
Rose Bowl - every year.
"When somte of those teams get shut
out of that bowl game, there might be a
little bit ofjcalousy or animosity on
some of the people's part. I hope it's not
the case, but it might be"
The case might just be a point that is
blatantly right in front of us. Laziness.
For example, look at how Paternot's
vote was cast this week.
Due to the late start of his game
against Michigan, Paterno wasn't able to
see any of the early games not the late
ones, And because of the beating his
team took Saturday, meetings with his
coaching staff started bright and early
Sunday morning before he could see the
highlights of the day before.
So although he didn't explicitly say it,
Paterno essentially had someone else
cast his vote for him.
"I'm kind of disappointed in the vot-
ing," the Penn State coach said. "I had
someone else help me do the voting and
we didn't vote Michigan No. 1. That
bothered me."
Paterno went on to say how he later
voiced his displeasure at tis "assistant"
for not doing as JoePa would have liked.
Be did say how it is still too early to
start losing sleep over the polls.
"I don't want to get into a pol contro-
versy," said a flustered Paterno. "There's
a lot of football to be played. At the end,
of the year, we'll see if they're being
unfair to the Big Ten."
But it may be too late. You can't
expect eseryone to have voted so blindly
this week. Year after sear, it has been
shown that as long as the team atop the
polls .ng into New Year's Day wins its
bow I game. it will remain there.
Which means that if Paterno and
other coaches don't have time to follow
the national scene, they should turn their
ballots over to a coach who does, or the
Bowl Coalition should use this scenario
as in example to completely disregard
the coaches poll.
So as it turns out, Florida State's top-
rankitg in the coaches poll was, in fact,
a result of the numbers game.
Destiny: Two very good reasons why
this could be Michigan's year:
ElThe Sports Illustrated cover jinx.
This is a brutal affliction that has hurt
too many young, up-and-coming sports
figures. Or simply ruined them, at least
temporarily for the remainder of that
particular season.
This week was a prime opportunity
for Michigan to be on the cover of SI as
the Wolverines' victory over Penn State
was by far the biggest sports story of the
past seven days.
But, this week is 51's college basket-
ball preview issue. Duke guard Trajan
Langdon is on the cover,
® This one is eerie.
On our way back from State College
on Saturday night, myself and two Daily
colleagues were stopped in Ohio on 1-80
for speeding at about 2:30 a.m. The
police officer saw our parking pass from
Beaver Stadium and we told him that we
were Michigan students.
The officer took the license of the dri-
ver (whose identity will be withheld)
and went back to his cruiser for a few
minutes. tie returned with the license
and a warning saying. "You were doing
80 in a 65 zone. Slow down and be
carefoul."
limm. An Ohio state trooper stopping
University rof Michigan students right
after a Michigan victory and not laying
down the law to its fullest? This must be
a year of Michigan luck all around.
Well, there was a catch.
We were pulled over right outside the
exit for the town of Fremont, home of
Michigan cornerback Charles Woodson.
- Ilan Goldenbach can e reached via
e-mail at agoldauumich.edu
SARA STILLMAN/nai
If Michigan hangs on to the No. 1 ranking as tightly as Anthony Thomas does to the ball, the Wolverines should have no prob-
lem maintaining the nation's top ranking. And, as a consequence, the Big Ten will be looking up at the 230-pound fullback as
well as his Michigan teammates at season's end.
1998 NCAA ICE HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP
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Friday, November 14, 1997 at the
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