TOO MANY BOWLS OFFER TOO LITTLE

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, January 3, 1993                   TAG: 9301030097
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk   Staff
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Long
TOO MANY BOWLS OFFER TOO LITTLE
Gino Torretta watched college football's national championship game like millions of other Americans: He spent a long Friday night lying on a rug.
On the Superdome carpet, Alabama vacuumed Miami's 29-game winning streak like the crumbs from a New Year's bowl of party mix. Torretta, the Hurricanes' quarterback, was in the eye of the storm, and just maybe Bill Walsh isn't the only genius that coached on Jan. 1.
The Sugar Bowl ended about 12:25 a.m. Saturday, but it was over about 90 minutes earlier, when Alabama defenders ran into Miami passing lanes on two straight possessions. Torretta went from being chased to the chaser after interceptions, and when players sent a tide of ice water over Gene Stallings' shoulders, it was evident that 'Bama finally had found a coach who could get the Bear off his back.
It was No. 1 against No. 2 and it was 2-sided. Ending a 13 1/2-hour bowl daze, Alabama's 34-13 victory left Miami as shredded as the Fiesta Bowl sod on a day when eight games were definitely enough.
Miami couldn't run, and Torretta - who has a bit more speed than the man atop his Heisman Trophy - couldn't hide. Alabama's plan when Miami had the ball had to turn on the lightbulb in the heads of a bunch of defensive coordinators.
Alabama stuffed the line of scrimmage with at least nine - and often all 11 - wily defenders. Those that weren't rushing Torretta were bumping the Hurricanes' roadrunner receivers into "patternus interruptus" before a harried Torretta threw.
Alabama changed its attack mode so often that the Miami blockers and Torretta, without a running game to slow the Tide, were confused when not simply outmanned, even when there wasn't a blitz. Of course, it worked because the 13-0 Southeastern Conference champions had something not many teams possess - the speed to play man-to-man coverage with the Hurricanes.
That speed kills was very evident in some of the other games that appeared on the Zenith, like Tennessee's undressing of Boston College in the Hall of Fame. Also, when was the last time Penn State was the worst team that played on a New Year's Day? Wasn't the Orange Bowl dampened enough with Nebraska's presence before a stormy second half? And will the Southwest Conference champion score a Cotton Bowl touchdown before the next decade?
Alabama's national title led a great two days for the SEC, which was 5-0 bowling entering the soldout Peach Bowl between Mississippi State and North Carolina on Saturday night. Notre Dame's ripping of Texas A&M's unbeaten season in the Cotton put a saving face on the bowl coalition.
The Rose Bowl isn't only the granddaddy of them all. For whatever reason, it's usually the best game, and Michigan's 38-31 victory over Washington wasn't only worth the game's $6.5 million paycheck to its two competing conferences. It also dabbed some whitewash on an awful year for the Big Ten.
Although they don't play a conference schedule until next season, the 7-5 Nittany Lions - who don't belong in the final Top 25 - wore Big Ten patches on their uniforms in an embarrassing show against a slow Stanford team in the last Blockbuster Bowl. The video-rental giant is ending its sponsorship of a bowl that matched Walsh against Joe Paterno but had almost 30,000 empty seats at Joe Robbie Stadium.
Stanford's win was the only light in the bowl-a-thon for the Pacific 10, which lost four games and a coach. Speaking of coaches, how loud do you think the volume is in Columbus, Ohio? The Buckeyes' Citrus loss to Georgia was their fourth straight in bowls and made John Cooper 3-13-2 against ranked teams in Woody Hayes' old job. Cooper has no bowl wins, which is five fewer than Earle Bruce - who is available.
The SWC and Big Eight are talking about a merger, but that union would produce only national title pretenders. Nebraska has lost five straight bowls. Who was doing Colorado's play- and timeout-calling in the Fiesta Bowl against Syracuse, Mork from Ork? The SWC champion has eight points in the past three Cotton bowls, two field goals and a safety. Texas A&M won a bad league.
Meanwhile, Syracuse is unbeaten in six straight bowls, Tennessee has won six of seven and Florida State stretched its consecutive bowl-success record to eight wins with its harvesting of the Cornhuskers. The next quarterbacking job for Orange Bowl MVP Charlie Ward will come Wednesday night at University Hall in the Seminoles' ACC basketball opener against Virginia.
Wake Forest's comeback win over Oregon at the Independence Bowl gave Bill Dooley his second victorious New Year's Eve exit in seven years. Dooley doesn't expect to be back in coaching next season, and you have to wonder whether some bowls won't return, also.
The Alamo Bowl - at San Antonio's new Alamodome - is expected to become the 18th major bowl in the coming December. However, the postseason is too crowded, and maybe that's the reason the stands aren't.
The Aloha and Liberty bowls were played before half-filled stadiums. The Independence drew only 31,337. The Hall of Fame had 22,000 empty seats, the Holiday 18,000 and the Orange 17,000, even with Florida State playing in its home state.
Like Alabama's title performance, the bowl season has just too much of a good thing.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB