The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 17

The Des Moines Register Monday. Decemder 9. 1 9ftfi 3S College Football awks to Alamo Bowl, will play Texas Tech Decision soon on Iowa radio voice A decision is near on the naming of a new announcer who will broadcast University of Iowa football and men's basketball games, starting with the 1 997 football season. "1 think we're pretty close," Iowa Athletic Director Bob Bowlsby said Sunday. "We may make an announcement within the next week." Bowlsby said no announcer has yet been offered the job, but added, "We've narrowed the field further." Iowa awarded exclusive radio rights for the next three years to Lear-field Communications Inc.

of Jefferson City, Mo. Veteran announcers Jim Zabel of WHO in Des Moines, Ron Gonder of WMT in Cedar Rapids and Bob Brooks of KHAK in Cedar Rapids have already been told they won't get the job when the Learfield contract takes effect. However, Zabel, Gonder and Brooks will have the opportunity to work on pregame and postgame shows during Hawkeye football and basketball broadcasts. One announcer who is considered a strong candidate for the play-by-play job is Jim Rose, 33, who works on the Nebraska network and has done football and basketball play-by-play in the past. Rose has been interviewed by both Learfield and Iowa officials.

"I have not been offered the job," Rose said Sunday, "but it's nice to be considered for it. I regard the Iowa position as one of the best in collegiate broadcasting." Rose, who is employed by station KLIN in Lincoln, is working on pregame and postgame Nebraska radio shows this fall and conducts a nightly two-hour call-in show. He filled in for Zabel last season for WHO broadcasts of Iowa's basketball games in the Great Alaska Shootout. Iowa's athletic department will receive $2.85 million over the three-year period under the arrangement with Learfield. RonMaly 1 1 (II r.r-Y Seminoles must play Gators again The rematch nobody except Florida wanted is official: Top-; ranked Florida State will have to beat the Gators again, this itime in the Sugar Bowl on Jan.

2, to win the wire-service national championship. Florida State (11-0) beat Florida, 24-21, in Tallahassee on Nov. 30, and Seminoles Coach Bobby Bowden winced at the thought of playing coach Steve Spurrier's Fun N' Gun offense a second time. "You would think that if you beat No. 1 during the regular season, you wouldn't have to beat them twice," Bowden said.

On bowl bid Sunday, the rest of the postseason picture came into focus. The Fiesta Bowl matches No. 7 Penn State against No. 20 Texas (8-4) on Jan. 1, while the Or-' ange Bowl pits No.

6 Nebraska (10-2) against No. 10 Virginia Tech (10-1) on Dec. 31. The biggest bowl loser was No. 5 Brigham Young, which saw an $8.5 million payday disappear when it was excluded from an alliance game despite being the highest-ranked team available after the Sugar Bowl picked.

"I'm obviously disappointed," Brigham Young Athletic Director Rondo Fehlberg said. "I think BYU clearly had a team and a season that deserved to be in the alliance." Brigham Young will play No. 14 Kansas State in the Cotton Bowl. While the Cougars may dis- appointed, the trip is seen as much more of an accomplish- ment for the Wildcats (9-2). Kansas State, selected over Colorado by the Cotton Bowl committee, is in the postseason ifor the fourth consecutive season, a school first.

The Cotton bid also is a high-water mark for Bill Snyder's program, which was in an 0-26-1 tailspin when he took over. Kansas State Athletic Director Max Urich said the bid "is a reward and a great opportunity to play a great coach and a great team in a bowl on New Day." No. 2 Arizona State and No. 4 Ohio State will meet in the non-alliance Rose Bowl. HARRY IUI'MKRTTiik Rkoistkk Northern Iowa's Matt Waller is congratulated Saturday by teammate Chris Clapp after kicking the field goal that beat William Mary, 38-35, in an NCAA Division I-AA playoff game at the UNI-Dome.

This time, Waller is UNI's kicking hero IOWA Continued from Page IS Texas, has been a licensed Pentecostal minister since 1995. He attends a Pentecostal church in DeSoto and a Baptist church in Lubbock, where Texas Tech is located. During the football season, Han-spard limits his sermons to once a month at Community Baptist Church, which is located in Lubbock's poorer east side. It was somewhat of a surprise that Hanspard wound up at Texas Tech because he had narrowed his choices to Colorado, Texas Nebraska and Notre Dame as a high school senior. Confused by high-pressure recruiting, Hanspard said he prayed for guidance.

One night, he said, "The spirit in my heart directed me to Texas Tech." After reaching 2,000 yards this season, Hanspard said it was "a goal I set this year that God blessed me to accomplish." "I have to give God all the praise for giving me the teammates he's surrounded me with." Elliott said Texas Tech quarterback Zebbie Lethridge, a 195-pound junior from Lubbock, is "real elusive a real good scrambler." Lethridge completed 117 of 267 passes for 1,686 yards and 1 1 touchdowns. He was intercepted six times. He finished fifth behind Hanspard in the Big 12 in total offense. Iowa and Texas Tech will each earn at least $1 million for playing in the game. Bob Gennarelli, assistant executive director of the Alamo Bowl, said he and other bowl officials are thrilled to have Iowa back at San Antonio.

Gennarelli said Iowa brought about 12,000 fans to the 1993 game on short notice, and that Iowa Athletic Director Bob Bowlsby told him he felt 14,000 to 15,000 Hawkeye fans would attend the 1996 game. "San Antonio is a city our people can drive to, and I think we'll have a lot of fans going," Bowlsby said. "There is a lot of enthusiasm for this team." The Alamo will be Iowa's third Texas bowl in four years. The Hawk-eyes beat Washington, 38-18, in the 1995 Sun Bowl at El Paso. Hawkeye players seemed to prefer going to a Florida bowl on Jan.

1 when the regular season ended, but their hopes of going to the Outback Bowl in Tampa were dashed when Michigan upset Ohio State in a Big Ten Conference showdown Nov. 23. Michigan is going to the Outback Bowl instead. "A few weeks ago, Coach Fry thought we might be going to the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando," Date Opponent Result Date Opponent Result Sept. 7 Arizona W.

21-20 Aug 31 at Kansas State 14-21 Sept. 14 Iowa State W. 38-13 Sept. 7 Oklahoma State W.31-3 Sept. 21 at Tulsa 20-27 Sept.

21 at Georgia 1215 Oct. 5 Michigan State (H) 37-30 Sept. 28 Utah State 58-20 Oct. 12 at Indiana 31-10 Oct. 5 Baylor 45-24 Oct.

19 at Penn State 21-20 Oct. 12 at Kansas 30-17 Oct. 26 Ohio State (P) 26 38 Oct. 19 Nebraska 10-24 Nov. 2 at Illinois 31-21 Oct.

26 at Texas 13-10 Nov. 9 Northwestern 13-40 Nov. 9 Texat Nov7l6 Wisconsin W.31-0 Nov. 16 SW Louisiana 5fr21 Nov. 23 at Minnesota W.

43-24 Nov. 23 at Oklahoma 22-12 Dec, 29 vs. Texas Tech-x 7 p.m. Dec. 29 vs.

lowa-x 7 p.m. PLAYOFF SCHEDULE QUARTERFINAL ROUND SATURDAY'S GAMES Marshall 54, Furman 0 Montana 44, East Tennessee State 14 Northern Iowa 38. William Mary 35 Troy State 3 1 Murray State 3 SEMIFINAL ROUND DEC 14 (Sites, Times TBA) Marshall (13-0) vs Northern Iowa (12-1) Montana (13-0) vs. Troy State (121) UNI Continued from Page IS opposing team a chance to win. "If this is a prelude to going to Huntington for the championship, we've got to finish the game off like we should have (last weekend)," Spann said.

"Once you've got the game in hand like we did in the first half, you've got to take control and finish it off." Northern Iowa Coach Terry Allen said a desire to get back to Huntington helped the Panthers overcome obstacles such as William Mary's comeback. "(A team) could fold up the tent a number of times throughout the course of the year, but these guys wanted to go back, and they wanted to play Marshall in the worst way. Now we're going to get that opportunity." Waller said he was happy his two missed field goals against Eastern Illinois didn't short-circuit Northern Iowa's season. The Panthers won, 21-14, but Waller had an uncharacteristic temper tantrum after his misses. "That was probably the most temper I've shown on a field goal," Waller said, "but Sunday morning rolled around, and I was still on a team that was still playing in the playoffs.

I felt like the luckiest man on the team. Starting that morning, I looked forward to (the quarterfinals) and kept telling myself, 'I'm not going to have a It was the fourth game in his three years of kicking field goals that Waller's right leg determined the When it comes to bowl picture, the drama drags on far too long Homecoming. Parents day; x-Alamo Bowl, San Antonio. Texas. Bowlsby said.

"Then there was the Outback possibility. "But with Hayden's Texas background and the fact that Donnie Patterson and a number of our players are also from Texas, there are lots of reasons to be excited to be going to San Antonio." Patterson, Iowa's offensive coordinator, was born in Corsicana, Texas, and recruits the Dallas-Fort Worth and north Texas area for the Hawkeyes. Seventeen Iowa players are from Texas. Iowa finished the Big Ten season with a 6-2 record. Texas Tech was 5-3 in the southern division of the Big 12.

Iowa, which is ranked No. 21 in both the Associated Press and coaches' polls, will be making its 13th bowl appearance in Fry's 18 seasons as coach. Nebraska. Texas Tech has the magnificent Byron Hanspard, who will soon become the second major-college mnning back to run for 2,000 yards and not win the Heisman Trophy. And while the Red Raiders won three of their final four games, they still don't come at you like the Longhorns, from eight directions at once.

Texas has won five in a row and is playing as well as anybody else in the country. In that respect, the Hawkeyes were one of the bowl-derby winners. In another respect, they are losers. Going by Big Ten record, Iowa clearly deserves a sexier berth than Outback-bound Michigan. The Hawkeyes tied for third; the Wolverines tied for fifth.

But this mating dance was never about who's more deserving. Brigham Young understands that as well as anyone. Even in victory, the fifth-ranked Cougars slipped from a possible title match with Florida State past the Fiesta Bowl all the way, apparently, to the Cotton. Had Alabama beaten Florida in the league title game, BYU could have moved ahead of the Gators in the rankings and into the Sugar Bowl. x-Alamo Bowl, San Antonio, Texas.

Iowa is one of seven Big Ten teams playing in bowl games. Ohio State plays Arizona State in the Rose, Penn State plays Texas in the Fiesta, Northwestern plays Tennessee in the Florida Citrus, Michigan plays Alabama in the Outback, Michigan State plays Stanford in the Sun and Wisconsin plays Utah in the Copper. Texas Tech Coach Spike Dykes, whose team likely would have gone to the Aloha Bowl in Hawaii if Texas hadn't upset Nebraska, 37-27, for the Big 12 title Saturday, said Red Raiders fans got what they wanted. "The other deal sounded great, but we're going to the place we wanted to all along," Dykes said. "So many of our fans were fearful we were going to Hawaii and they wouldn't be able to go with us.

"Now they can all just load up and go to San Antonio." Fellow Western Athletic Conference member Wyoming has it even worse. Ten victories, the No. 22 ranking and apparently no place to go for the holidays. Meanwhile, Wisconsin, a 3-5 Big Ten team, is headed to the Copper Bowl. Undefeated Florida State wasn't a loser Sunday, but another game against Florida isn't exactly what the Seminoles had in mind.

Last year, Nebraska had to beat Florida once to become the national champion-elect. As if once wasn't hard enough, Florida State now must do it twice. "I don't want no more of them," Bobby Bowden said of the Gators. "It takes all the fun out of it." Not for Florida, the big bowl-derby winner. If this were 1998, Florida State would play Arizona State.

But since the Big Ten and Pac-10 don't join the alliance for another two seasons, Florida gets another shot at the final No. 1 ranking. What's a coach to do about the chaos and conf usion? The most rational philosophy belongs to William Taylor "Spike" Dykes, the colorful coach at Texas Tech. "We'll just have to take what they give us," he said recently, "and be tickled to death to have it." End Zone Football Update lie kicked a 39-yard field goal with no time left for a 19-17 victory over Southwest Missouri State last season. Waller kicked four field goals in Northern Iowa's 1 2-7 victory over Southwest Missouri State, and his 33-yard field goal gave the Panthers an 1 1-10 victory over Indiana State, both in 1994.

This will be Northern Iowa's third trip to Huntington. The Panthers lost, 41-24, last year and 41-13 in 1991. Both games were quarterfinal-round playoff games. Marshall, the Division I-AA national champion in 1992, has out-scored its opponents, 1 13-14, and averaged 614 yards in two playoff games this season. Those numbers don't scare the Panthers, quarterback Steve Beard said.

"I don't look at it that they're this big king of Division I-AA," Beard said. Allen said he anticipates fullback Jell Stovail will play Saturday. Sto-vall had to be helped off the field Saturday after he sprained his right ankle. APT0P25 (First-place votes, record, points, previous rating) 1 FloridaState(62)(ll-0) 1.670 1 2 ArizonaState(5)(110) 1.612 2 3 Horitl.Mll 1) 1,639 4 4 Ohio State! 10 1) 1 4b4 5 5 Brifiham Young (13-1) 1.322 6 6 Nebraska (10-2) 1.271 3 7 Penn State (10-2) 1.2b9 8 8 Colorado (9-2) 1.248 7 9 Tennessee (9 2) 1.078 9 10 Virginia Tech (10-1) 1,037 11 11 Northwestern (9-2) 1,000 10 12 North Carolina (9 2) 929 13 13 Washington (9-2) 914 12 14 Kansas State 19-2) 838 14 15 Michigan(8 3) 676 16 lb Alabama (9 3) 655 15 17 Louisiana State (9-2) 645 17 18 Notre Dame (8-3) 504 18 19 Miami (8-3) 459 19 20 Texas (8 4) 423 21. Iowa (8-3) 291 21 22 Wyoming 1 10 2) 288 20 23 Syracuse (8 3) 242 22 24.Army(10-l) 213 23 25 West Virginia (8 3) 78 24 Other, receiving votes-Virginia 46.

East Carolina 34. Southern Mississippi 19. Auburn 8 Texas Tech 7. Clemson b. Houston 5.

Stanford 4. Navy 2 (First-piece votes, record, points, previous rating) 1 FloridaState(57)(ll-0) 1.545 1 2 Arizona Slate (5) (11-0) 1.491 2 3 Flondadl 1) 1,410 4 4 OhioState(lO-l) 1,340 5 5 Bngham Young(13 1) 1.235 6 6 Nebraska (10-2) 1.185 3 7 Penn State (10-2) 1,162 7 8 Colorado(9-2) 1.106 8 9 Virginia Tech (10 1) 1,098 9 10 Tennessee (9-2) 989 10 11 Northwestern (9-2) 889 12 12 Washington (9 847 13 13 North Carolina (9-2) 815 14 14 Kansas State 9 2) 727 15 15 Alabama 9 3) 651 11 16 Louisiana State (9-2) 615 16 17 Michigjn(8 3) 529 17 18 Notre Dame (8-3) 421 18 19 Miami(Ha )(8 3) 408 20 20 Texas (8 4) 324 21lowa8-3) 312 21 22 Syracuse (8-3) 251 22 23 Wyoming (10-2) 246 19 24 Army(lO-l) 231 23 25 West Virginia (8-3) 130 24 Others receiving votes Virginia 74. East Carolina 30. Auburn 22, Texas Tech 18. Southern Mississippi 12, San Diego State 10.

Clemson 9. Houston 6, N.ivy 5 Wisconsin 4 Michigan SI, ite 3 a THURSDAY, DEC. 19 LAS VEGAS BOWL AT LAS VEGAS. NEV. 8:00 Nevada (8-3) vs.

Ball State (8-3) (ESPN) WEDNESDAY, DEC. 25 ALOHA BOWL AT HONOLULU, HAWAII 2:30 California (6-5) vs. Navy (8-3) (ABC) FRIDAY, DEC. 27 LIBERTY BOWL AT MEMPHIS. TENN.

2:00 Houston (7-4) vs. Syracuse (8-3) (ESPN) CARQUEST BOWL AT MIAMI. FLA. 5:30 Miami (Fla.) (8-3) vs. Virginia (7-4) (TBS) COPPER BOWL AT TUCSON.

ARIZ. 8:00 Utah (8-3) vs. Wisconsin (7-5) 1 (ESPN) SATURDAY, DEC. 28 PEACH BOWL AT ATLANTA. GA.

7:00 Clemson (7-4) vs. Louisiana State (9-2) (ESPN) SUNDAY, DEC. 29 ALAMO BOWL AT SAN ANTONIO. TEXAS 7:00 Iowa (8-3) vs. Texas Tech (7-4) (ESPN) MONDAY, DEC.

30 HOLIDAY BOWL AT SAN DIEGO. CALIF. 7:00 Washington (9-2) vs. Colorado (9-2) (ESPN) TUESDAY, DEC. 31 HERITAGE BOWL AT ATLANTA.

GA. 11:00 a.m. Howard (9-2) vs. Southern University (7-4) (ESPN) SUN BOWL AT EL PASO, TEXAS Noon Stanford (6-5) vs. Michigan State (6-5) (CBS) INDEPENDENCE BOWL ATSHREVEPORT.

LA. 2:30 Auburn (7-4) vs Army (10-1) (ESPN) ORANGE BOWL AT MIAMI. FLA. 3:00 Nebraska (10-2) vs. Virginia Tech (10-1) (CBS) WEDNESDAY, JAN.

1 OUTBACK BOWL AT TAMPA, FLA. 10:00 a.m. Alabama (9-3) vs. Michigan (8-3) (ESPN) GATOR BOWL AT JACKSONVILLE. FLA 11:30 North Carolina (9-2) vs.

West Virginia (8-3) (NBC) COTTON BOWL AT DALLAS. TEXAS 11:30 Brigham Young 13-1 vs. Kansas State (9-2) (CBS) CITRUS BOWL AT ORLANDO. FLA Noon Northwestern (9-2) vs. Tennessee (9-2) (ABC) ROSE BOWL AT PASADENA.

CALIF. 3:30 Arizona State (1 1-0) vs. Ohio State (10-1) (ABC) FIESTA BOWL AT TEMPE ARIZ. 7:00 Penn State (10-2) vs. Texas (8-4) (CBS) THURSDAY, JAN.

2 SUGAR BOWL AT NEW ORLEANS Florida State (11-0) vs. Florida (ll-D(ABC) HANSEN Continued from Page IS blazers. They schmooze with the media. They glad-hand the coaches and athletic directors. They tell the schools gosh-golly-yes, would we ever like to have your boys at our bowl extravaganza.

The speculation builds and builds, and then what happens? On Dec. 7, the day the college football season finally ends, we know only a little more than we did on Nov. 7. As reporters and other officials shuffled into the press box elevator after Texas' upset, an Alamo Bowl rep smiled through his frustration. "No reason for us to go in the locker room now," he said.

"We still won't know what's going on until Sunday night." The Alamo people thought they were going to tell the Longhorns they'd see them in San Antonio. No need for that now. Not unless they wanted to say goodbye. Goodbye Texas, hello Texas Tech. Before Saturday, the Red Raiders figured they were headed to the Aloha Bowl to face Cal.

Texas, by the way, did the Hawkeyes a big favor by beating Dubose to coach Alabama Alabama defensive coordinator Mike Dubose is expected to be named the team's new coach today. The Birmingham News and Mobile each citing sources close to the athletic department, reported that Dubose will succeed Gene Stall-ings. A press conference is scheduled at noon CST. Dubose was offered the job Thursday by Athletic Director Bob Bockrath, the Birmingham paper reported. Bockrath and Dubose declined comment until today.

The 16th-ranked Crimson Tide allowed six touchdown passes during a 45-30 loss Saturday to Florida in the Southeastern Conference championship game. That was one more touchdown pass than the team had given up in its first 1 1 games. The 45 points were the most Alabama had allowed in Stall-ings' seven years and the most since a 48-23 loss to Mississippi in 1970, when Bear Bryant was coach. But until Saturday's performance, Dubose's defense was one of the top in the country. Alabama went into the championship game ranked No.

1 in the country in pass defense and No. 1 in the conference in most major defensive categories. Dubose's stock rose this season, his first since replacing Bill Oliver, who left Alabama after last season to take a similar job at Auburn. When Oliver left, Stallings promoted Dubose from defensive line coach. That's right.

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