COLLEGE FOOTBALL / GENE WOJCIECHOWSKI : It Would Take Hurricane to End Streak

Barring, say, a late-week Pell Grant scandal that results in the suspension of the entire Miami team, the sixth-ranked Hurricanes will defeat Georgia Southern on Saturday at the muggiest, nastiest pit in college football--the Orange Bowl.

Beating the Division I-AA Eagles is nothing special. Beating them at the Orange Bowl is.

With the victory, Miami becomes sole owner of the longest home winning streak--58--in NCAA football history. At the moment, the Hurricanes are tied with Alabama, whose streak at Tuscaloosa stretched from 1963 to ’82.

If this isn’t the most impressive team record in the books--Oklahoma’s 47-game winning streak is our choice--it’s close. Miami hasn’t lost a game at the Orange Bowl since Sept. 7, 1985, when Florida won, 35-23. The Hurricanes have outlasted Reagan, Bush and now have Clinton looking over his shoulder.

The numbers of note:

--Eight Miami freshmen classes have never lost a game in the Orange Bowl.

--Of the 41 teams to travel to Miami during the streak, Florida State has suffered the most, going 0-4. Notre Dame and Cincinnati are 0-3, and Nebraska, Virginia Tech and Tulsa are 0-2.

--The Hurricanes have beaten four No. 1 teams during the streak.

--Prominent losers: Florida State’s Bobby Bowden, Notre Dame’s Lou Holtz, Nebraska’s Tom Osborne, Penn State’s Joe Paterno, then-Arkansas’ Ken Hatfield, West Virginia’s Don Nehlen, Louisville’s Howard Schnellenberger, then-Oklahoma’s Barry Switzer, Arizona’s Dick Tomey, Iowa’s Hayden Fry.

--Closest margin: 8-7 vs. Arizona on Sept. 26, 1992.

--Total scores: Miami 2,049, Victims 273.

As for Georgia Southern’s chances for an upset, forget it. Miami defensive end Rusty Medearis is predicting humid, miserable weather, followed by an intermittent rout.

“I wouldn’t want to be them, either,” he said. “I hope they prepare themselves because we’re going to be ready. I think they’re going to have a new sense of the word hot when they come and play here at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. We’re used to it. We could play a doubleheader.”

NO LUCK OF THE IRISH

The Ron Powlus Tendinitis Watch continues as Notre Dame tries to find an actual sound starting quarterback.

Holtz’s first choice would be Powlus, a gifted sophomore who would have been the probable starter last year if he hadn’t broken his right collarbone twice in two months. Now Powlus, who never sat out a high school game, has tendinitis in his throwing arm.

The condition, apparently the result of Powlus’ long layoff combined with the stress of throwing too many passes during recent two-a-day workouts, is expected to improve with rest. Problem is, Notre Dame needs a quarterback in time for Saturday’s game against Northwestern at Chicago’s Soldier Field.

Powlus’ prized right arm has been examined by doctors from Notre Dame, the Indianapolis Colts and the Cleveland Browns. Everyone says the same thing: The tendinitis isn’t serious, but enough already with the 150-passes-a-day routine.

Powlus tossed a few passes to team trainers Monday. He threw 30 Tuesday and a few more Wednesday.

To him, the decision is a no-brainer.

“I don’t have any pain,” Powlus said. “It’s just a sore arm. There’s no doubt in my mind that I’ll be physically ready and mentally ready, and the rest is up to Coach Holtz.”

Holtz, who said he expects Powlus to play Saturday, has been surprisingly cool for a coach without a quarterback. If Powlus can’t start, Holtz will choose between sophomore Tom Krug of Los Gatos, Calif., and freshman Leon Blunt of San Fernando High.

What do Powlus, Krug, Blunt and fourth-stringer Gus Ornstein have in common?

None of them has taken a snap in a varsity game.

BOWL BLUES

The Cotton Bowl, which is still in shock after being ditched by the bowl coalition, is considering its limited options.

The choices:

--It could remain a postseason bowl event and make its own deals with the leftovers from the Big Three--Sugar, Fiesta and Orange.

--It could become the site of a possible league championship game involving the divisional winners of the Big 12 Conference, which begins operation in 1996.

--It could wave goodby.

A vote by Big 12 members (the existing Big Eight Conference and newcomers Texas, Texas A&M;, Baylor and Texas Tech) is expected in the next several weeks. Good luck getting a consensus with this group.

Nebraska’s Osborne is against a championship game because he said it renders the loser’s bowl game anticlimactic, as well as lessens the chance of two major bowl bids for the conference.

And Osborne has just about had it with the newcomers trying to dictate policy. For example, why the mad rush to locate the game in Dallas, a recruiting stronghold for the four new teams?

“To me, the people down there joined the Big Eight, and now all of a sudden we hear things like, ‘We ought to not take Prop. 48s because the Southwest Conference doesn’t,’ ” Osborne said. “When they joined up, it was my understanding that they were going to accept the Big Eight rules and play by the Big Eight rules and they were happy to get in the Big Eight.

“So, I don’t know that it’s more important than if we play in Kansas City or if we play in Oklahoma City or anyplace else,” he said. “If necessary, I think it ought to be passed around. I don’t think it ought to be played in the same site.”

Dallas is no winter pleasure stop, but neither is Kansas City, especially with its mean temperature of 32.3 degrees during December.

Not everyone agrees with Osborne. Oklahoma State Coach Pat Jones, who recruits heavily in Texas, warned against dismissing the Cotton Bowl.

“To not have a marquee game in Dallas would probably hurt the Big 12,” he said.

Whatever happens, Cotton Bowl officials will never forget the snub by coalition conference commissioners and athletic directors. Despite its submitting the second-highest bid to join the bowl alliance’s elite and thus have a chance at a national championship matchup, the coalition looked elsewhere.

Reasons: Dallas’ spotty December weather and the desire for three TV markets and time zones (Orange: Miami, Eastern; Sugar: New Orleans, Central; Fiesta: Phoenix-Tempe, Mountain).

LONE STAR SAGA

Welcome to the fun-filled preseason of Texas’ Lovell Pinkney, the all-Southwest Conference wide receiver who is making all sorts of friends in Austin.

First, he suggests that local law enforcement officials are racists. Then he shows up at practice bigger than Bevo. Then he gets a one-game suspension for driving someone else’s rental car for five weeks. Now he finds himself under investigation for allegedly accepting an agent’s invitation to fly to Los Angeles for an all-expenses-paid visit and hard sell--all NCAA no-nos.

Meanwhile, teammate and All-SWC wide receiver Mike Adams also has been suspended for driving the rental car. According to Adams, who will sit out Saturday’s opener at Pittsburgh, the rental was arranged by “a friend.”

Texas Athletic Director DeLoss Dodds has retained a Houston-based law firm to handle the initial inquiry. Considering the Longhorns’ recent problems, he probably pressed speed dial.

At the very least, Pinkney, who arrived at camp weighing 255 pounds, will also be sidelined for one game. If the investigation reveals that his amateur eligibility has been compromised, Pinkney’s college career is finished.

Partly because of Texas A&M;’s probation and Longhorn Coach John Mackovic’s rebuilding work, Texas entered the season as the SWC favorite. That could change, especially if Pinkney is booted and Adams decides to visit the Hertz counter again.

For Mackovic, who already is feeling some heat for bowl-less 6-5 and 5-5-1 seasons, it is the worst kind of news.

THE REST

After a brief 70-year cooling-off period, the football rivalry between Louisville and Kentucky will resume Saturday at Commonwealth Stadium in Lexington. Louisville fans, separated by 70 miles from their Wildcat counterparts, are taking the game seriously. A pep rally featuring an expected 10,000 Cardinal die-hards is supposedly scheduled, as is a caravan that should stretch for miles on Interstate 64, the highway linking the two cities. So scarce are single-game tickets, some Louisville fans have purchased entire Kentucky season-ticket packages, just so they don’t miss the biggest event since Derby Day. . . . Larry Smith, forced out at USC after the 1992 season, will make his Missouri coaching debut Saturday against Tulsa. He didn’t do much of anything in 1993, except wonder why he was canned. “I’m anxious, I’m eager for the game to get here and get back on the sidelines and get a game under our belt,” he said. Smith, the first new coach in the Big Eight since 1989, inherits one of the great underachieving programs of all time. . . . In what must be some sort of NCAA record, Miami’s Medearis, Syracuse linebacker Dan Conley and Texas linebacker Kevin Watler each take the field Saturday for their sixth year of eligibility. The three players, all of whom have suffered multiple knee injuries, petitioned the NCAA and were granted extra years.

If we’re real lucky, we’ve heard the last of West Virginia’s Nehlen for the rest of the season. Nehlen complained about the Mountaineers’ No. 24 ranking in the opening Associated Press poll and then promptly got waxed and buffed by Nebraska, 31-0, in the Kickoff Classic. West Virginia highlight: Would Todd Sauerbrun set an NCAA single-game record for punting average? (He barely missed--averaging 60.1, shy of the 60.4 mark.) And Nehlen is the same guy who whined about national respect before last season’s Sugar Bowl. Final score: Florida 41, Mountaineers 7. . . . Colorado Coach Bill McCartney and quarterback Kordell Stewart appear in midseason form. McCartney recently snapped at reporters, and Stewart completed all 12 of his passes in a scrimmage. Not everything is wonderful at Boulder, though. Star receiver Michael Westbrook and strong safety Donnell Leomiti have been suspended for Saturday’s Northeastern Louisiana game because of off-season problems with the law.

Before anyone jumps on that Ohio State bandwagon, listen to star offensive tackle Korey Stringer’s assessment of Fresno State, which the Buckeyes beat, 34-10, on Monday night in the Pigskin Classic: “If they were a Big Ten team, they’d be Northwestern or Purdue, with just a little more punch on offense.” Purdue was 1-10 last season, Northwestern 2-9. . . . Michigan halfback Tyrone Wheatley, the Heisman Trophy favorite who suffered a separated shoulder during a scrimmage last week, is recovering nicely, but still will sit out Saturday’s game against Boston College. Doctors will check the shoulder Sunday, but he isn’t expected to play against Notre Dame on Sept. 10.

The Top 10

As selected by staff writer Gene Wojciechowski

No. Team Record 1. Auburn 0-0 2. Nebraska 1-0 3. Arizona 0-0 4. Notre Dame 0-0 5. Florida 0-0 6. Florida State 0-0 7. Wisconsin 0-0 8. Miami 0-0 9. Alabama 0-0 10. USC 0-0

Waiting list: Tennessee (0-0), UCLA (0-0), Colorado (0-0), Michigan (0-0), Virginia Tech (0-0).