The Missoulian from Missoula, Montana • 26

D4 Missoulian, Monday, November 24, 1997 SPORTS H-iE ffeofeSl playofiffs Final December 20 Semflnals December 13 Quarterfinals December 6 First round November 29 Sed Team Racord No. 1 Villanova (11-0) 1997 l-AA playoffs at VMIanova, Ptnn, 10 am No. 16 Colgate (7-4) No. 8 Yougstown Stale (9-2) 3 ir rm n' at Young Btown, Ohio, TBA. AH timet Mountain No.

9 Hampton (10-1) No. 3 Eastern Washington (10-1) at Spokana, Wastk, 1:30 pm No. 14 Northwestern St. (8-3) No. Western Kentucky (9-1) at Bowling Groan, noon No.

12 Eastern Kentucky (8-3) at Chattanooga, 10 am No. 2 Western Illinois (10-1) DAN PELLEAssoclated Press Washington State's Leon Bender drinks in the sweet smell of success Saturday after the Cougars defeated Washington to earn a berth in the Rose Bowl. WSU will face No. 1 Michigan. Cougs prepare for first Rose Bowl in 67 years at Macomb, noon No.

15 Jackson State (7-2) No. 6McNeese State (10-1) at Lake Charles, La, 6 p.m. No. 11 Montana (8-3) No. 4 Delaware (10-1) at Newark, 10 a.m.

-a No. 7 Georgia Southern (9-2) at Statesboro, TBA No. 10 Florida (9-2) FROM PAGE D1 TAP Top 25 Vie Top Twenty Five teams in The Associated Press college football poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Now 22. total points based on 25 points for a first place vtue through one point ft a 25th place cole anil precious ranktin: Record Pts Pv 1. Michigan (69) 11-0 1.749 1 2.

Nebraska (1) 10-0 1.679 3 S.Tennessee 9-1 1.570 5 4. PennSI. 9-1 1.497 6 5. Florida St. 10-1 1,470 2 6.

UCLA 9-2 1.311 7 7. Florida 9-2 1.285 10 8. North Carolina 10-1 1,236 8 9. Ohio St. 10-2 1,206 4 10.

Washington St. 10-1 1,178 11 11. Kansas St. 10-1 1,163 9 12. Arizona St.

8-2 978 12 13. Auburn 9-2 907 13 14. Georgia 8-2 865 14 15. Texas 8-2 727 16 16. Syracuse 8-3 648 18 17.

LSU 7-3 589 20 18. Purdue 8-3 473 23 19. Missouri 7-4 433 21 20. Colorado St. 9-2 359 25 21.

Washington 7-4 270 17 22. Mississippi St. 7-3 257 15 23. Southern Miss. 8-3 192 24.

Air Force 10-2 148 25. Oklahoma St. 8-3 118 Others receiving tites: Virginia Tech 112. Iowa 70. West Virginia oil, Wisconsin 44.

New Mexico 41, Louisiana Tech 30. Marshall Ml, lemson 23. Notre Dante 20, Virginia 6, Southern Cat 4, N. Carolina St. 2.

USAESPN Top 25 Tlte Top Twenty Fiw teams in the USA TodayltSPN college football poll, with first -place wles in parentheses, records timmgh Nov. 23. total poinls based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote, and previous ranking: Record Pts Pv 1. Michigan (46) 11-0 1.534 2 2. Nebraska (16) 10-0 1.502 3 S.Tennessee 9-1 1,350 5 4.

Penn State 9-1 1,300 6 5. Florida State 10-1 1.259 1 6. North Carolina 10-1 1,176 8 7. UCLA 9-2 1,113 9 8. Florida 9-2 1,112 10 9.

Kansas State 10-1 1,107 7 10. Washington State 10-1 1,057 11 11. Ohio State 10-2 1.016 4 12. Arizona State 8-2 860 12 13 Auburn 9-2 777 13 14. Georgia 8-2 755 14 15.

Texas 8-2 655 16 16. Syracuse 8-3 586 17 17. LSU 7-3 505 18 18. Purdue 8-3 370 25 19. Colorado State 9-2 354 22 20.

Missouri 7-4 270 23 21 Virginia Tech 7-3 228 15 22. Washington 7-4 202 20 23. Air Force 10-2 180 24. Southern Mississippi 8-3 168 25. Oklahoma State 8-3 124 Others receiving votes: West Virginia 121.

Mississippi Slate UN. Iowa 9H. New Mexico V4. Wisconsin 3H. Clemson 35.

Noire Dante 2V, Louisiana Tech 21, Michigan State 13. Marshall Tulane 7, Virginia 4. iieorgta Tech 2. Cincinnati Toledo I. of tradition in the playoffs.

It seems like they've been in the playoffs for the last 100 years." Dennehy's first road trip as a Grizzly assistant coach in 1991 was a 10-day marathon to Louisiana, when UM played back-to-back games at Louisiana Tech and McNeese. The latter was a nightmare game for Montana, a 31-3 defeat. The Cowboys made their first of five straight playoff appearances that season. They reached the quarterfinals the next three years, then were upset at home by Marshall in the 1995 semifinals. Playoffs Continued a 13-7 setback to Stephen F.

Austin. They tied with Northwestern State for first place but received the tie-breaking nod with a 50-7 win over the Demons in October. Keasler has guided McNeese in all three previous matchups with the Grizzlies. "We've played Montana enough to know something about them," Keasler said. "They're an excellent football team, and they've got a lot Montana beat Marshall the next weekend for the national championship.

"McNeese is one of the good programs around," Dennehy said. "We've played them three or four times, and we've played them down there so we're a little bit familiar with that conference, their stadium and the city of Lake Charles." The playoff field presents a couple of interesting twists. Georgia Southern is the only selection from the Southern Conference, which sent a team (Marshall) to the championship game five of the past six years. Meanwhile, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, whose teams haven't won in the playoffs since Florida national championship in 1978, has two teams the Rattlers and league champion Hampton. So as not to match teams from the same conference until the championship game, the brackets were juggled.

Villanova's side doesn't include the No. 4 seed, Delaware. Instead, No. 1 meets No. 3 in the semifinals if neither is upset before that.

The ultimate goal is to play for the national championship in Chattanooga, on Dec. 20. By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS Associated Press SEATTLE His team had just beaten Washington to advance to the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1931. Washington State coach Mike Price, however, had some immediate business on his schedule.

"We're going to party!" Price shouted Saturday night after the 41-35 victory sent WSU to Pasadena. The Cougars will play top-ranked Michigan, a team they have never beaten in three previous encounters. "We have a month to prepare for them," said quarterback Ryan Leaf, a Heisman Trophy hopeful. "We can play with anybody in the country." Defensive lineman Leon Bender said he didn't expect the Cougars (10-1, 7-1) to be highly regarded by odds-makers. "I expect us to be 20-point underdogs," Bender said.

"I expect for us not to have any respect." The Cougars' return to Pasadena will end the longest Rose Bowl drought in the Pac-10. Against Washington, the Cougars scored 17 unanswered points to take control in the second quarter. They piled up 520 yards, 20 more than their season average, and nearly matched their average of 42 points. They have the nation's second-hottest offense after Nebraska. The defense, which has been just good enough all season, responded with five interceptions of Washington quarterback Brock Huard, including three by freshman defensive back Lamont Thompson.

Washington (7-4, 5-3), loser of three straight, is going to either the Sun Bowl or the Aloha Bowl. Washington State becomes the sixth different team to represent the Pac-10 in the Rose Bowl in six years, following Arizona State last year, USC, Oregon, UCLA, and Washington. Michigan last went in 1993, defeating Washington. The Wolverines have been to the Rose Bowl 15 times since WSU last went in 1931. "We're past due," receiver Shawn Tims said.

This Rose Bowl matches opposite ends of major college football. The Wolverines have long been one of the elite teams, drawing more than 100,000 fans per home game, playing often on national television and residing near the top of the polls. The Cougars, based in tiny Pullman, 300 miles east of Seattle, have been to only six bowls in their history, win about as often as they lose, and rarely draw more than 30,000 fans at Martin Stadium. They are on national television so infrequently that veteran sportscaster Keith Jackson, a positions. Hines had no reason to worry on Plentywood's next two plays.

The Frenchtown rush pinned Walker in the pocket, as he slipped down for a seven-yard loss. An incomplete halfback screen attempt followed and the Wildcats faced third and 17 from the Frenchtown 44. Then, a first-half flashback. Walker held tight and found Chandler 19 yards down field for the first down. With Plentywood setting up shop at the Broncs' 25-yard line, Hines' white jersey seemed like a beacon.

Frenchtown Continued open up inside, and key the ball. I'm confident you'll do the job Yeah sure, coach. Frenchtown had made three man-sized adjustments to thwart Walker in the second half: More pressure up the middle from the backers, containment by the ends, and tightened play at the corner and ran on four of Frenchtown's next seven plays. Three first downs later, the title was decided. "The growth of our secondary as this season progressed really culminated with winning this championship," said Racicot.

"But that's not overlooking the great pass rush that we put on in the second half. Without those two components, we wouldn't have had that second half." And Schlaebitz's ankle, red and swollen, would've hurt a bit more. Chandler drew his coverage on the next play, and took Hines to the end zone. "I was looking in (Hines' area)," said Walker, who finished with 315 yards passing. "I just turned Kai a little too far outside.

He was definitely open." Walker went to the end zone on the next play, again hurried by Frenchtown pressure. Rausch, beaten twice for touchdowns by Plentywood receiver Jerud Rice, intercepted the pass in the end zone with 3:54 remaining. Schlaebitz returned to the game Exit laughing: Foreman's punch line is retirement Washington State graduate, only this season called his first game from Pullman. While reveling in their upcoming trip to Pasadena, Cougar players on Saturday also boosted the Heisman candidacy of Leaf, a junior who set a host of Pac-10 passing records this season. His 3,637 passing yards and 33 touchdown passes were league records.

He became the league's single-season total offense leader with 3,583 yards. "We want the Heisman now!" shouted wide receiver Sean DeCambra. Washington State is also the most prolific team offense in Pac-10 history. They finished with 5,524 yards this year, for an average of 502.2 per game. The 1981 Arizona State team had 5,486 yards.

By ED SCHUYLER JR. Associated Press I'm the last of the bearded ladies. Step right up. George Foreman The More You Play rounds. Larry Layton, who scored it 1 17-1 13 for Briggs, gave Briggs the seventh and eighth rounds and called each of the last two rounds even.

The AP scored it 116-112 for Foreman, favoring Foreman in each of the last four rounds. "I'm not bitter about anything," Foreman said. "This has been one of the great achievements in history, in life or in sports," Roy Foreman said of his brother's career. That might have been laying it on a bit thick, but Foreman's career unquestionably is one of the most remarkable in sports history. A street tough in Houston, Foreman won the heavyweight gold medal at the 1968 Olympics at Mexico City.

He turned pro in 1969, became undisputed world champion by stopping Joe Frazier in the second round on Jan. 22, 1973, at Kingston, Jamaica, and lost the title to Muhammad Ali when he was stopped in the eighth round Oct. 30, 1974, in Kinshasa, the capital of what then was Zaire. After being outpointed by Jimmy Young on March 17, 1977, at San Juan, Puerto Rico, Foreman said he had a vision and he retired to become an evangelist in Houston. Tbe More We ATLANTIC CITY, N.J.

George Foreman walked away from boxing, and left them laughing. Foreman, who will turn 49 on Jan. 10, announced his retirement following his majority decision loss to 25-year-old Shannon Briggs that was greeted with jeers and catcalls. "I'm walking away," said the puncher with a paunch, who defied time for a decade and made an indelible mark in a young man's sport. "This could go on for the rest of my life, chasing young guys.

Young guys should be chasing young guys In 1994, at age 45, Foreman became the oldest heavyweight champion in history by knocking out Michael Moorer in the 10th round for the WBA and IBF titles. Asked if he thought anybody would break that record. Foreman said, "If some guy breaks it, I'm coming back." Then, in his best carnival barker's voice, he added, "I'm the last of the bearded ladies. Step right up." Almost everybody but two judges thought Foreman won the 12-round fight Saturday night. "They said Shannon Briggs won," Foreman ALL DAY TfinAVI! said.

"Good luck to him." Said Briggs: "He had the crowd behind him, and that's why they reacted like they did." The reactions of most of 5,220 fans at the Trump Taj Mahal were those of dismay and anger. Ringside reporters were virtually unanimous in thinking Foreman won. Foreman, all 260 pounds of him, pressed Briggs throughout. Briggs' movement and jab might have given him an edge, or at least had him even, after eight rounds. But Foreman appeared to control the last four rounds with punishing jabs and hard rights to the head.

He hurt his 227-pound opponent in the 10th round and rocked him a few times in the last round. Judge Steve Weisfeld, who called the fight even at 1 14-1 14, gave Foreman three of the last four rounds. Calvin Claxton, who favored Briggs 116-114, gave Briggs three of the last four mtmm. mm WE'U GIVE 300 POINTS, Open Daily 10am-2am LSI TO REGISTER 4880 N. Reserve JSj.