Columnist Ron Kantowski: Title hopes end early for some teams

Wednesday, Nov. 24, 1999 | 10:04 a.m.

Ron Kantowski's notes column usually appears Tuesday and Thursday. Reach him at ron@vegas.com or 259-4088. Regular columnist Dean Juipe has the day off.

There are a lot of good reasons for having a playoff system in college football, not the least of which is the plight of this year's Marshall team. Or Tulane last year.

The Thundering Herd is headed for a perfect 11-0 regular season. Yet under the current bowl setup, it has no chance of winning the national title. And probably never will.

That's Marshall Law. Or a Tulane Highway. Last year, the Green Wave went 12-0 but had to buy a ticket to get into the Bowl Championship Series.

As a radio talk show host pointed out this week, NCAA Division I football is the only "league" where you can go undefeated and have no chance of playing for the championship.

For instance, the chances of Disco Tech of the V-SMAC (Very Small Athletic Conference) reigning over the Final Four of men's basketball are a million-to-1. But that's better than a million-to-none, which are what Marshall and every other team from a mid-major football conference is looking at -- even before the season begins.

Imagine if you're Thundering Herd coach Bobby Pruett and you want to set some lofty objectives for your players before the start of two-a-day workouts.

"Men, as much as we would like to make winning the national championship our goal, that's not possible here. So we'll have to settle for beating Toledo and anybody else that's willing to play us and proving our legitimacy in the Motor City Bowl."

As if the Motor City Bowl was some sort of showcase.

If the Motor City Bowl was behind Door No. 1 on Let's Make a Deal, you would opt for what Jay has in the box.

The second most minor of the bowl games (lest we forget the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise) might have served Randy Moss well a couple of years ago. But there aren't too many high school seniors who choose a MAC school over the Big Ten because they dream of playing in the Motor City Bowl.

* HATCHET JOB IN HOUSTON: As far as anybody knows, Kim Helton didn't have a relationship with a co-ed or splice explicit sexual images into an opponent's game film (as did predecessor John Jenkins). So why was he fired after leading the University of Houston to a 7-4 record this fall?

Evidently, because not enough fans were on hand to witness the Cougars' resurgence.

Houston beat Rice in front a sellout crowd of 32,000 to open the season but crowds at Cougars home games dwindled after that. Sources said that was the reason Helton was let go.

Anybody who doesn't belive Division I football has become big business governed by dollars and lack of sense had better check his helmet at the door.

* CONSERVATIVE ISSUE: Why do NFL teams start playing for a tie midway through the fourth quarter? Essentially, that means coaches are putting most of their faith in a coin flip, given the majority of overtime games are decided on the first possession of sudden death.

Unless the The Amazing Kreskin is on your team's payroll, I'd say it would make just as much sense to go for two in the latter stages of regulation. Why prolong the agony?

* WHAT'S THE POINTS? NASCAR needs a new point system that the non-racing fan can understand. Come to think of it, NASCAR needs a point system that the dyed-in-fireproof-overalls fan can understand.

Take this year's championship. Dale Jarrett won the title with 5,262 points while Bobby Labonte finished second with 5,061. Was that a close finish? A blowout? Dunno. I'm not sure even Benny Parsons knows.

NASCAR needs a system like Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), where the champion usually finishes with about 200 points, or even better, Formula One, where only race positions 1-6 receive points.

Either that, or I need somebody from North Carolina to explain to me why finishing 18th is nearly as good as finishing first.

* NO BIG DEAL (I GUESS:) The Cimarron-Memorial faculty was so excited by its football team's second straight Class 4-A state championship that the Spartan coaches and players were greeted by the following message on the school marquee Monday upon returning from the 21-7 victory over McQueen:

"Happy Thanksgiving."

* AROUND THE HORN: The Indy Racing League spin doctors will have you believe that Al Unser Jr. "defected" from Championship Auto Racing Teams to join the struggling IRL. But according to insiders, Little Al's skills and/or dedication to his craft have eroded to the point where nobody in CART could justify meeting his exorbitant salary demands. ... Hold on to your sports bras: Women's soccer will be the next intercollegiate sport offered at Community College of Southern Nevada, with the debut set for the 2000 fall semester. ... It's probably not good sportsmanship, but I always thought it was cool when Nebraska or Oklahoma fans pelted the field with oranges following touchdowns in a late-season game with Orange Bowl implications. That got me to wondering what supporters of Las Vegas Bowl-hopeful Colorado State might toss onto the field following scores agai nst UNLV on Saturday. Gaming tokens? Ninety-nine cent shrimp cocktails? Dead parlay slips? Loaded dice? ...

And finally, Uga V, the University of Georgia bulldog once rated the top mascot in the country by Sports Illustrated, died this week of congestive heart failure. He was 9.

"He served my team well and represented all things we want in a mascot and a team -- strength, courage, dignity and pride," Georgia coach Jim Donnan said.

Meanwhile, the guy in the Wichita State wheat shock suit is doing just fine.