Columnist Steve Guiremand: Once-great rivalry fading out

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Oct. 15, 1999 | 9:50 a.m.

Steve Guiremand's college football column appears Friday. Reach him at 259-2324 or steve@vegas.com

Remember back in the golden age of professional wrestling -- that would be sometime between the Crusher and Dick the Bruiser dynasty and the Cyndi Lauper era -- when they used to have things called "Loser Leaves Town" matches?

The idea was the loser of the match would not be allowed to wrestle again in that city. Of course, a few weeks later he'd usually come back as The Assassin No. 1 or The Masked Marvel with some sort of garment covering his face. But, hey, nobody got killed getting lowered by a metal cable from the roof of the arena.

Well, Saturday afternoon's game between USC and Notre Dame, once billed as college football's greatest intersectional rivalry, could very well be billed a "Loser Leaves Town" match.

In one corner, Trojan coach Paul Hackett, more commonly referred to on the USC websites these days as "Buddy Hackett" for his team's almost comical lack of discipline (21 penalties at Oregon) and even more humorous play-calling and substitution patterns (Chad Morton 37 carries, Sultan McCullough just 4?).

In the other corner, Bob Davie, whose Fighting Irish has seemed to find a way to melt down at crucial times in key games and is trying to avoid falling to 0-3 in matchups against the less-than-overpowering Trojans. Sometimes you get the feeling Davie is more concerned about looking spiffy for those constant NBC sideline close-ups than teaching his team a two-minute offense.

Considering the way both programs are floundering these days, and the fact the alumni at both schools are grumbling over yet another disappointing campaign, the loser of this game very well may not be around for a rematch in the next millennium.

Forget the fact USC athletic director Mike Garrett finds himself backed into a corner after grossly overpaying a guy ($700,000 a year for five years) who was 11-21-1 in his only previous head coaching job at Pitt. Garrett has acknowledged to confidants that Hackett was only his fifth choice for the job.

And forget the fact Notre Dame athletic director Mike Wadsworth, himself on the hot seat for the school's embarrassingly poor handling of the Joe Moore age discrimination case in 1997 that further tarnished the school's -- not to mention Davie's -- not-so-golden image, recently gave Davie a two-year contract extension through 2003.

If these seasons go much further south for either team, there's more than enough money floating around both programs to make big changes.

Back in the '60s and '70s, and even for a time in the late '80s and early '90s, a USC-Notre Dame game was a can't-miss for college football fans. It was the equivalent of Ali vs. Frazier or Leonard vs. Hearns in boxing. It was, as ex-Trojan defensive line coach Marv Goux once so eloquently put it, "big man vs. big man."

Nowadays, it seems more like George Chuvalo vs. Tex Cobb, a couple of punch-drunk tomato cans trying desperately to land a haymaker and pull off a "Rocky" type finish in the Top 25 ratings.

For those of us who were lucky enough to be able to cover the game in its glory days, it's sad to see. Back in those games, nothing topped a good SC-Notre Dame atmosphere for this writer. Not even the Final Four or the Super Bowl.

For that reason, we'll be taking my 11-year-old son, Erik, back to South Bend for the first time this weekend. I want him to experience the feeling of walking around the Notre Dame campus on a chilly and damp October afternoon, looking up to see "Touchdown Jesus" and to smell the brats floating through the air over by The Grotto. And yes, watching the Leprechaun doing what figures to be a fair amount of push-ups in the end zone as the Notre Dame band plays its "Irish Clog." For as mediocre as these two teams are this year, a USC-Notre Dame game in South Bend is still hard to beat.

Hopefully, one day UNLV football fans will be able to look forward to a similar football rivalry.

* WHAT ARE THE ODDS? Wonder what kind of odds you could have gotten for this kind of betting proposition back in August: that USC, Notre Dame, UCLA and UNLV would all have three wins at the halfway point of the season?

In fact, the Rebels (3-3, 1-1) actually have a better conference mark so far than either the Trojans (3-3, 1-2) or Bruins (3-3, 1-2).

Once around the MWC

* AIR FORCE: It's believed the reason that coach Fisher DeBerry refused to shake hands with Navy coach Charlie Weatherbie after last week's game is because Weatherbie hired away Sammy Steinmark, a 17-year assistant with the Falcons, last spring.

* BYU: Saturday night's game at New Mexico will reunite Cougar quarterback Kevin Feterik with one of his favorite receivers at Los Alamitos (Calif.) High School, Sean Stein, who will start at QB for the Lobos.

* COLORADO STATE: Normally mild-mannered Sonny Lubick lit into his team following last week's 44-13 loss at Fresno. "It was kind of a shock," tight end Jose Ochoa said. "We were pretty speechless." Said Lubick: "Maybe I did raise my voice a little. It's probably the first time they heard me do it and they got scared."

* UNLV: Rebels rank second nationally in kickoff returns with a 29.4 average.

* NEW MEXICO: Lobos have been outscored 88-0 in the third quarter over their last nine games.

* SAN DIEGO STATE: Ted Tollner is just 2-6 against Colorado State, Utah and BYU in his six seasons with the Aztecs. Those are the next three opponents for San Diego State (2-4).

* UTAH: Quarterback Darnell Arceneaux had an MRI on his sore right foot Monday which revealed no ligament damage but a deep bone bruise. He's listed as questionable for Saturday's key MWC game at Air Force but will likely start.

* WYOMING: Next week's MWC game with Colorado State in Laramie has been switched from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. MST so that it can be shown by ESPN2. Long underwear is recommended.

Once around the nation

* ACC: Luke Huard, younger brother of former University of Washington quarterbacks Damon and Brock, will replace injured Ronald Curry (ruptured right Achilles) at quarterback for North Carolina on Saturday when it hosts Houston.

* BIG EAST: Syracuse (5-1, 2-0), which travels to No. 4 Virginia Tech on Saturday, went down to the recruiting wire for Hokies quarterback Mike Vick two years ago. The talented freshman lefty, who decided on Virginia Tech because it ran more of a pro style offense, leads the Big East with a pass efficiency rating of 222.4.

* BIG TEN: It must be big game week in Happy Valley. Joe Paterno imposed a team-wide gag order for Penn State (6-0, 2-0), canceling all media interviews for this week's game against Ohio State (4-2, 1-1). Nittany Lions have had a remarkable nine 7-0 starts under Joe Pa.

* BIG 12: Nebraska is 170-5-0 since 1973 in games in which it rushes for 300 or more yards.

* BIG WEST: Utah State (2-3, 1-0), which travels to No. 9 Kansas State on Saturday, actually holds a 3-1 edge in the all-time series with the Wildcats. However, the two teams haven't played since 1992.

* CONFERENCE USA: Army (2-3, 1-2), coming off its dramatic 59-52 double overtime win over Louisville, will be making its first visit to Hattiesburg, Miss., Saturday when it faces No. 25 Southern Miss (3-2, 2-0).

* INDEPENDENTS: Jarious Jackson will make his first and only career start against USC on Saturday. He missed last year's sloppy 10-0 loss to the Trojans with a knee injury.

* MAC: Call them the Not-So-Golden Flashes. Kent (1-5) has not won more than three games in any season since 1988.

* PAC-10: Don't look now but Washington (3-2, 2-0), loser to both Air Force and BYU, looks like the front-runner to go to the Rose Bowl.

* SEC: Guess who's talking bowl game? It's Vanderbilt (4-2, 1-2), which hosts disappointing Georgia on Saturday. Commodores rank a surprising 30th in the nation offensively with an average of 31.8 points per game.

* WAC: With 118 yards this week against Tulsa, LaDainian Tomlinson could get 1,000 rushing yards in a season quicker than any back in TCU history. Tomlinson, held to just 33 yards on 12 carries by UNLV last year, leads the nation in rushing with a 176.4 per game average.

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