Friday, Sept. 25, 1998 | 10:28 a.m.
STEVE GUIREMAND is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer.
Memo to UNLV football fans:
Things could be worse. A whole lot worse.
Just ask the folks at Northern Illinois University.
The Huskies saw their best chance at a victory in 1998 slip away last weekend when they lost to Division 1-AA Eastern Illinois 24-10 at home in DeKalb, Ill., extending the school's losing streak to 21 games.
That's the longest losing streak in Division 1-A. UNLV enters Saturday's game at Colorado State with an eight-game losing streak, modest by NIU standards.
The Huskies figure to extend their string to 29 by season's end. Not only did Northern Illinois lose starting quarterback Chris Finlen to a season-ending injury during summer camp, his replacement, Frisman Jackson, suffered a season-ending torn calf muscle in the Eastern Illinois loss.
The quarterbacks listed as Nos. 3 and 4 on the Huskies' preseason depth chart, true freshmen Dan Urban (nerve disorder in throwing arm) and Jason Hogrefe (mononucleosis), are also out indefinitely. The No. 5 quarterback is academically ineligible.
That means Northern Illinois, which fortunately has a bye this week, will be using a true freshman walk-on, Craig Harmon, when they play at Ball State next week. After that they travel to Central Florida and NFL quarterback prospect Duante Culpepper.
Can you say ugly?
"I have always said this team has solid character," NIU coach Joe Novak said. "Now it's going to be tested."
Here's just how bad NIU is. Against 1-AA Eastern Illinois, they controlled the ball for just 19:50. And linebacker Kevin Selover, who also plays on special teams, played an almost unheard of 100 snaps.
Big week in Pac-10
The image of Pac-10 Conference football will be under the microscope this weekend when three of the league's heavyweights hit the road for marquee nonconference matchups.
Preseason favorite UCLA and star quarterback Cade McNown travel to Miami where, weather permitting, they face the Hurricanes. Meanwhile, crosstown rival USC heads to Tallahassee to face Florida State. And Washington, which already has impressive wins over Arizona State and BYU, goes to Lincoln to face Nebraska.
Only UCLA is favored among the three. The Bruins, who don't face Arizona State this year, figure to be 9-0 heading into back-to-back season-ending showdowns at Washington and against USC if they can get by Butch Davis and company Saturday.
This will be the first big test for new Trojan coach Paul Hackett.
Once upon a time, USC used to go into places like Birmingham or Knoxville or South Bend and win big nonconference showdowns like this. But you have to go all the way back to Ted Tollner's last year at Troy, 1986, for the last time the Trojans defeated a top 10-ranked team on the road in a nonconference matchup. And that was No. 9 Baylor (17-14) on a last-second field goal.
An upset of Bobby Bowden's Seminoles would give Hackett and the Trojans some much needed national credibility, especially when recruiting comes around this winter.
Once around the WAC
AIR FORCE: Falcons (3-0, 2-0) have converted 25 of 45 third-down tries this year, an excellent 55.6 percent success rate.
BYU: Backup QB Drew Miller announced through a school press release that he would remain in Provo. However, Miller's dad, Dave, continues to be critcial of Cougar coaches on BYU web sites.
COLORADO STATE: Rams will have a streak of seven straight games on national TV snapped when they host UNLV Saturday.
FRESNO STATE: Bulldogs (0-2), thin on the offensive line to begin with, will be without two starters, Russ Harding (torn knee ligaments) and Josh Kobdish (sprained right knee), for their home opener against Nevada-Reno Saturday.
HAWAII: Rainbows (0-2, 0-1), who enter Saturday night's game with Arkansas State ranked No. 96 in the nation in pass defense, will start two new safeties this week: Washington State transfer Phil Austin at strong and Donnell Williams at free.
UNLV: Colorado State's Kevin McDougal has been a thorn in Rebels' side on both sides of the ball. Two years ago at Fort Collins, when UNLV was driving for potential game-tying TD in fourth quarter, McDougal was inserted on defense and forced a key fumble. Last year he rushed for 112 yards and scored a 57-yard touchdown in Rams' 45-19 victory.
NEW MEXICO: Lobos make first appearance at San Jose State since 1975 this weekend. However, quarterback Graham Leigh made his first college start there as a redshirt freshman at Pacific in 1995 and led Tigers to a 32-30 victory with a game-winning touchdown pass on the final play of the game.
RICE: Owls (1-2), who travel to Austin to face Texas Saturday, have recorded just one quarterback sack in three games.
SAN DIEGO STATE: Junior cornerback Tairou Smith was cleared to play in Thursday night's game against Arizona despite being ejected from the USC game for taking a swing at Billy Miller. NCAA rules stipulate that another ejection will result in Smith being suspended for the season.
SAN JOSE STATE: Spartans were whistled for 30 penalties for 276 yards in last week's very ugly 58-3 loss at Oregon.
SMU: If Mustangs lose as expected against Ole Miss Saturday at the Cotton Bowl, they will be 0-4 for first time since 1960.
TCU: Wide receiver Royce Huffman, also a talented baseball player for the Frogs, may be the only player in college football who punts and also returns punts.
UTEP: Miners (0-2), who play at New Mexico State (1-2) on Saturday night, have not won a game on grass since beating Utah in Salt Lake City in 1992.
TULSA: Golden Hurricane, which travels to 19th-ranked West Virginia Saturday, are 2-0 for first time since 1991 and are seeking their first 3-0 start since 1978 when head coach Dave Rader was a senior quarterback at the school.
UTAH: Coach Ron McBride filed a complaint with the WAC about Hawaii's cadence jumping. Utah was whistled for 10 false start penalties last week in a sloppy 30-21 win over Rainbows, and Ute players said part of the problem was Hawaii players barking out Utah quarterback Jonathon Crosswhite's cadence at the line of scrimmage.
WYOMING: Broadcasting great Curt Gowdy will be one of five new inductees into the Wyoming Athletics Hall of Fame this weekend. Gowdy starred in both basketball and tennis in Laramie from 1940-42.
Once around the nation
ACC: Georgia Tech (1-1, 0-0), which faces North Carolina (0-2) on ESPN Saturday night, has not won in Chapel Hill since 1945. Tar Heels expect to get starting quarterback Oscar Davenport back from knee surgery.
BIG 12: Iowa State (2-1), which ended a 15-game losing streak with a 27-9 upset of Iowa and followed that up with the school's first shutout in 153 games, 38-0, over Ball State, will be trying for its first three-game win streak since 1989 when it hosts unbeaten Texas Tech Saturday.
BIG EAST: West Virginia officials have decided to do away with festival seating in its student section after Mountaineers were hit for two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in 42-20 win over Maryland last week. Seems a couple of golf balls and a whiskey bottle were tossed onto the field from that area producing the penalties.
BIG TEN: Saturday will mark the 100th anniversary of the Michigan-Michigan State rivalry. The teams first played on Oct. 12, 1898 in Ann Arbor with Michigan winning, 39-0.
BIG WEST: Nevada-Reno (0-2) will start its third quarterback in three games, freshman David Neill, Saturday at Fresno State.
CONFERENCE USA: Tulane's Shaun King leads the nation in passing efficiency (189.2) and also is fourth in total offense (358 yards per game).
MAC: Marshall's 24-21 upset at South Carolina last Saturday was the Herd's 92nd victory of the 1990's, the most by any 1-A or 1-AA team. Nebraska is second with 90 wins.
PAC-10: UCLA wide receiver Freddie Mitchell, who suffered a nasty-looking broken leg in last week's win at Houston, had successful surgery with a rod and two interlocking screws inserted into his femur for stability. He is expected to be back near 100 percent next season.
SEC: Florida (2-1, 0-1), which hosts Heisman frontrunner Tim Couch at The Swamp on Saturday, is last (No. 112) in the nation in turnover ratio. The Gators already have more fumbles this season (10) than they had all of 1997 (8).
WAC: Conference is dismal 13-21 (38.2 percent) in nonconference matchups this season, but breakaway eight schools (who will form a new league next year) are a respectable 9-9 going into Thursday night's Arizona-San Diego State contest.
INDEPENDENTS: Notre Dame had an extra week to prepare for Purdue's spread offense. Boilers (2-1), who drilled the Irish 28-17 last year, have beaten Notre Dame more times (22) than any school except USC (25).
archive
