Lou Holtz was on the field that first day of 1969. He remembers the thrill of being associated with one of the great teams in college football history.
Ohio State had it all that year. Quarterback Rex Kern, the big fullback in John Brockington, safety Jack Tatum. He was mean even back then.
And what a coaching staff. It read like a who`s who. Earle Bruce worked with the offensive line, and Bill Mallory was in charge of the defensive line. The defensive backs were Holtz`s responsibility.
Then there was the head man, Woody Hayes. The legendary coach certainly was enhancing his legend on this day.
The climax to a perfect season was played out in the Rose Bowl. The Buckeyes methodically rolled over USC, which had a pretty good running back in O.J. Simpson. The final score read Ohio State 27, USC 16.
They all saluted Woody Hayes that night. The national championship of college football was his again.
”It was a great feeling,” recalled Holtz, now at Notre Dame. ”It was a super team, and I really enjoyed working with all those great people. That team started 16 sophomores. We all thought it was just a start. I thought Ohio State would win the next two national titles.”
The Buckeyes, though, didn`t win the next two years. And the Big 10 hasn`t won since.
With the 1988 season about to begin, the Big 10 is set to experience a dubious anniversary. It has been 20 years since one of its schools has had the right to say ”We`re No. 1.”
During that time, Archie Griffin won two Heisman Trophies and Bo Schembechler had two open-heart surgeries; Illinois went on and off probation, maintaining its tradition; Northwestern, with a running back named Mike Adamle, just missed winning the Big 10 title in 1970. Ten years later, there were suggestions that the Wildcats, mired in a disastrous losing streak, should look for another conference.
Woody Hayes punched a Clemson linebacker and lost his job. In 1987, he died.
But to his dying day, Hayes staunchly believed that Big 10 football was second to none. And he might have been right, because the conference`s attendance and national exposure are at its peak.
Still, 20 years?
”Really, has it been that long?” said conference newcomer, Ohio State coach John Cooper. ”That is surprising.”
And embarrassing, considering that no other major conference besides the Big 10 has gone as long without winning the national championship. Since Hayes` big moment in 1969, independents have won seven titles; the Big 8 five; the Southeast Conference three; and the Pac 10, the Athletic Coast Conference and the Western Athletic Conference one each. The Big 10-zero.
The story could have been different, if not for the Rose Bowl. In 1970, 1975 and 1979, Ohio State went out to Pasadena undefeated and was within grabbing distance of No. 1. Michigan was in the same position in 1972. Each time, the Big 10 came away empty.
The Big 10 hasn`t made a serious run for the national title in the 1980s, although Iowa, with a favorable schedule and a talented team, could put in a bid this year.
Even if the conference falls short again this year, Schembechler says it won`t matter. The Big 10, Bo believes, is above all this national title talk. ”The Big 10 is about winning the conference, and going to the Rose Bowl,” Schembechler said. ”Not about national championships.”
A national title is the only thing Schembechler lacks on his illustrious resume. Wouldn`t he like just one?
”It`s not going to get me a bigger raise,” Schembechler said. ”It`s not the one thing missing from my career. I never thought about it.”
Schembechler laughed. ”I`d just like to win a bowl game,” he said.
Schembechler and the other coaches maintain that the overall strength of the Big 10 makes it much more difficult for one of its teams to win a national title. The No. 1 team usually goes undefeated, and that`s no easy feat in the Big 10, the coaches say.
”The Big 10, in my judgment, is as strong as I`ve ever seen it,”
Schembechler said.
That may be true, when the Big 10 is viewed top to bottom. In the Big 8, the season annually comes down to the Oklahoma-Nebraska game. The Sooners and Cornhuskers plow through the rest of the conference schedule without breaking a sweat. The winner of the big showdown goes to the Orange Bowl undefeated, with a clear shot at No. 1.
The Southeast Conference is tough, but until this year, teams only played six league games. The Big 10 schedule calls for a minimum of eight conference games, and sometimes nine.
”How many times does Georgia play Alabama?” said Iowa coach Hayden Fry. ”They don`t play very often. They don`t beat each other up. We play everyone every year. It`s so difficult to go through our league undefeated.” ”I liked it better when it was Woody and myself, but those days are gone,” Schembechler said. ”It`s not the end of Michigan and Ohio State. Rather, it`s the other teams getting better. It`s a matter of some of these coaches getting the support from their administrations. Some of it was lacking a few years ago, but not anymore. And it shows on the field.”
In the last five years, the Big 10 has compiled a 93-64-3 nonconference record, hitting its peak at 27-9 in 1985; the league was 19-13-3 in 1987. The coaches also are quicker to point out that their nonconference schedules are among the toughest in the country.
”Some of us really smart guys play teams like Notre Dame, Miami and Florida State,” said Schembechler, whose Wolverines will open with Notre Dame and Miami.
The ability to mold a schedule, Schembechler believes, gives the independents a big advantage over the Big 10 in the battle for No. 1. Would last year`s national champion, Miami, go undefeated if it played the Big 10 schedule? Schembechler doesn`t think so.
”The independents have the advantage of creating a schedule to get the job done,” Schembechler said. ”They sit up at Notre Dame and say, `We want to win a national title.` What else are they going to win? The championship of Indiana? They`ve got nothing else. It`s much tougher in the Big 10.”
The independents respectfully disagree.
”It`s a lot harder coaching an independent team than a conference team,” said Holtz, who coached for two years at Minnesota. ”If you`re gearing for a conference title, you only have seven or eight pressure games. We have 11.”
”I don`t think that talk has any validity,” said Miami coach Jimmy Johnson. ”We played six teams which went to bowls last year. Our schedule is comparable to a Big 10 school`s. In my opinion, it doesn`t hold water saying an independent can schedule for a national championship.”
The situation for the Big 10 might have been different if it had won a few more bowl games, but that`s a point it would like to avoid. Since 1969, the conference is 22-35 when it goes bowling.
Of course, the Big 10`s biggest blemish is in the Rose Bowl. It has won only three times in the last 19 years. Various theories are offered.
Too much Disneyland and too many California blonds distracting those boys from the Midwest. There are other views.
”From a personal standpoint, I think we`re crippled by the time we go to the bowl games,” said Fry, even though there`s usually a five-week break. The Big 10 is so physical. Sometimes we`re carrying youngsters off the field.”
”The Big 10 stopped playing well in Pasadena when it became an artificial-turf conference,” said Holtz, alluding to the grass surface in the Rose Bowl. ”It`s difficult to play on grass when you`ve been playing on turf all year.”
”The Rose Bowl is a home game for the Pac 10,” Cooper said.
Sound philosophies, indeed, but the best one might be this: Perhaps the Big 10 just hasn`t been as good as the Pac 10. The talent level isn`t there.
Cooper diplomatically tried to make that point. He led Arizona State to a 22-15 victory over Michigan in the 1987 Rose Bowl.
”When Arizona State played Michigan in the Rose Bowl, it was apparent we had better talent on that day,” Cooper said. ”We were faster, bigger and had more team speed. The last few years, the Pac 10 has had better talent.”
The Big 10, though, is proudly sticking out its chest this year. Michigan State saved the conference some honor by downing USC in last season`s Rose Bowl.
”We`ve got good athletes in this conference,” Fry said. ”We may not have some of the team speed of the West Coast teams, but we do have some big, strong guys who can play.”
Fry`s team could put an end to the drought by claiming the No. 1 crown this season. Michigan also has been picked high in the preseason polls.
”The secret to having a national title team is that you`ve got to be good, healthy and lucky,” Fry said. ”There can be a Big 10 national champion, but it`s much harder to do it in our conference.”
Until then, the questions will remain, and the coaches will bristle at the notion that the Big 10 isn`t as good as the rest.
”We went to the Rose Bowl,” said Michigan State coach George Perles.
”and all I heard was, `Why can`t the Big 10 win the Rose Bowl, why can`t the Big 10 win the Rose Bowl?` That question is down the drain.
”Now the national title question is the big one. Once that`s down, there will be another one.”
But not one quite as big.
