Columnist Dean Juipe: Troy State steps up to face Goliath

Dean Juipe

Monday, Aug. 27, 2001 | 10:38 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

The first order of business was determining exactly where Troy State University is located.

The answer: Troy, Ala.

The next question was more difficult to ascertain: What are the Trojans, as Troy State is known, doing with Nebraska on their football schedule?

But aside from prostituting themselves, there is no answer to that one. Troy State will take a lump-sum payment of approximately $500,000 to see its team debut at the I-A level Saturday when it is ripped to shreds by a Nebraska team that may literally score at will.

Shame on Troy State and shame on Nebraska as well for foisting this game on 74,031 ticket buyers at its Memorial Stadium. The Christians vs. the lions at the Colosseum in Rome would have been more competitive than this contest is going to be.

A line had yet to be posted Sunday at most sports books, although oddsmakers at Las Vegas Sports Consultants sent out Nebraska as a 54-point favorite. Heck, the Cornhuskers might be leading by nearly that many by halftime.

Forget the fact that the Cornhuskers failed to cover the 30-point spread in their opener this past Saturday, settling for a 21-7 victory over TCU. That 30-point line seemed a tad unrealistic going in, given TCU's 14-1 record in its most recent regular season games and the fact it was ranked as high as No. 9 by the Associated Press last season.

Nebraska's offensive line may have outweighed TCU's defensive line by 50 pounds per man, but it was without its top I-back (the suspended Dahran Diedrick) and TCU had the luxury of playing with little to lose. It kept the game close with a mix of guile and good fortune.

Troy State will have no such luck.

Ranked No. 105 in the Sagarin listings, the Trojans are moving up from I-AA this season and also have games/routs scheduled with Miami, Mississippi State and Maryland. Last year, playing all I-AA opponents, Troy State faced no one tougher than Appalachian State.

Aside from the $1.4 million it will pocket for serving as a sacrificial lamb for its four I-A assailants, Troy State will have little to show on the plus side for its misplaced overconfidence. Its team -- which did well at the I-AA level, taking three national titles in the past five years and going 9-3 last year -- is apt to be decimated by the physical (and emotional) rigors of being mauled in its season opener by one of the finest teams in the country.

Nebraska, ranked No. 4 by the AP and No. 2 by Sagarin, is a national championship contender coming off 39 straight winning seasons, 32 straight seasons of nine or more wins, 32 straight seasons of going to a bowl game and 326 consecutive weeks of having a spot in the AP poll, to say nothing of three national titles in the 1990s and a Heisman Trophy contender this season in quarterback Eric Crouch.

Given that Troy State has played only six games against I-A opposition ever, it is going to be a landslide loser against a Nebraska team that held a decent TCU squad to 186 total yards.

Nebraska and its zealous fans should take no pride in the folly of playing a pushover such as Troy State, however. It's an embarrassment even seeing the game on the schedule.