COLLEGE FOOTBALL / CHRIS DUFRESNE : Yes, Virginia, There’s Hope for Other ACC Members

So whose idea was it anyway, inviting Florida State into the Atlantic Coast Conference back in 1992?

No one’s ‘fessing up, other than to say it seemed like the kindly Southern thing to do at the time.

Kindly, that is, until the Seminoles began a tomahawk chop on the ACC that lasted 29 games and three-plus seasons.

“There are some alumni that probably wanted to shoot me because they came in,” ACC Commissioner Eugene Corrigan admitted this week.

Well, the rest of the ACC can come out from hiding in the wake (not you, Forest) of Virginia’s stunning 33-28 victory over Florida State last Thursday at Charlottesville, Va.

It was a Seminole event, Florida State’s first ACC loss.

Naturally, it took a goal-line stand, and all hell breaking loose as time expired to preserve the Cavaliers’ victory, but no one in the ACC complained.

“It was frustrating to continually explain to people that this wasn’t a one-team conference,” Corrigan admitted.

Oh, Corrigan had some explaining to do. In the course of the Seminoles’ 29-game winning streak, Bobby Bowden’s team was rarely tested. People talk about a couple of squeakers way back--a 13-3 victory at Virginia in 1992 was recited--but mostly Tobacco Road had been Florida State road kill.

This year, the Seminoles scored 70 or more points in conference rollovers against Duke, N.C. State and Wake Forest.

The closest conference call Florida State had before Virginia was a 19-point victory at Clemson.

The ACC’s image was taking a pounding.

“It was kind of an easy road for them, probably too easy,” Corrigan said of the Seminoles. “I’ve always felt we have five good teams in our conference. It was important for the outside world to know this. I didn’t need to be convinced of it.”

The outside world wasn’t buying it.

Corrigan was miffed at comments he said were made earlier this season by USC Coach John Robinson.

“He said Florida State didn’t deserve to be ranked that high because the second-place team in the ACC couldn’t beat the last-place team in the Pac-10,” Corrigan said. “When coaches start making those comments to the media, what the hell does that mean?”

It means that Robinson thought he was in a national championship race at the time.

Corrigan was quick to remind that an ACC team, North Carolina, had handed Robinson’s Trojans their lunch, 31-9, in the 1993 Pigskin Classic.

The truth is that conference members were initially reluctant to take in Florida State, an independent looking for security.

But despite the poundings, Corrigan said there was never pressure from administrators to kick Florida State out of the conference, perhaps to the NFC East.

“Not a whimper,” Corrigan said.

The mistake was sending Florida State an invitation just as Bowden was retooling his already high-powered program.

“Florida State has a unique concept of football, run 100 plays, score on 50; I’ve never seen any like it,” Corrigan said. “They happened to join the league at time when they were doing this.”

Now that Florida State has bowed for the moment, the ACC would like you to meet the rest of its cast.

Clemson (6-3) is ranked 24th in this week’s Associated Press Poll and 25th in the USA Today/CNN rankings.

Virginia (7-3) poll-vaulted 10 spots, from 24th to 14th, with its victory over Florida State.

Cavalier Coach George Welsh was too busy worrying about how to beat the Seminoles to think about the implications.

“I really don’t care that much,” Welsh said. “As I said, if they kept winning for three more years, what kind of conference is it?”

ASSAULT ON THE HEISMAN

Funny how assault and trespassing charges can affect a Heisman race.

You’ll get arguments at various outposts (Columbus, Ohio, and Ames, Iowa), but Nebraska quarterback Tommie Frazier appears the clear front-runner for college football’s most cherished prize.

And when Frazier stands on that podium at the Downtown Athletic Club, who might he thank?

Lawrence Phillips.

Had Phillips not run afoul of the law and been suspended six games for attacking his former girlfriend, the star tailback probably would have won Heisman himself.

If not, he would have split votes with Frazier and left the Heisman for Ohio State tailback Eddie George.

Here’s a Heisman handicap, with updated stock indexes.

1--Frazier, quarterback, Nebraska. Stock (rising): He completed 10 of 15 passes for 118 yards, rushed for 62 more in eight carries, in leading the Cornhuskers to a 73-14 victory over Iowa State.

2--George, tailback, Ohio State. Stock (rising). He kept the heat on Frazier with a 264-yard day (178 rushing, 86 receiving) in a victory over Minnesota.

3--Darnell Autry, tailback, Northwestern. Stock (soaring). How can you ignore 10 consecutive 100-yard rushing games, including a 139-yard effort against Penn State last week?

4--Terry Glenn, receiver, Ohio State. Stock: (steady) A shoulder injury and teammate George hurt his chances. It doesn’t help that he is a second Buckeye candidate with two first names.

5--Keyshawn Johnson, receiver, USC. Stock (steady). He saved the day against Stanford but may confuse voters now that he’s a two-way player.

6--The Dannys, quarterbacks, (Kanell) Florida State and (Wuerffel) Florida. Stock: (plunging). Kanell’s erratic second half in the Virginia loss sealed his fate; Wuerffel didn’t play in a Gator romp over Northern Illinois (coach’s decision).

7--Karim Abdul-Jabbar, tailback, UCLA. Stock (rising). He would have had better luck as Sharmon Shah with East Coast voters, who have arrived too late to this party.

Others: Troy Davis, running back, Iowa State (nice runner; no chance). George Jones, running back, San Diego State (bonus points if you’ve heard of him.)

GO SEE SAL

Remember Saladin McCullough, the former Pasadena Muir tailback blur headed for USC until he was flattened by an SAT score inquiry?

Well, after a troubled (to say the least) season at Pasadena City College in 1994, McCullough loaded up his baggage and transferred to El Camino in Torrance, where he is tearing up the Mission Conference.

Through eight games, McCullough has rushed for 865 yards in 108 carries, an average of eight yards a carry, and scored 12 touchdowns. He is averaging 172.5 all-purpose yards a game.

A change-of-gears speedster in the Marshall Faulk mold, McCullough has apparently not answered some remaining questions. He reportedly still takes himself out of games because of injuries and hasn’t once asked directions to the weight room.

That said, El Camino Coach John Featherstone has on his desk a one-foot stack of recruiting letters, which he vows not to turn over to McCullough until after the season.

McCullough’s heart has long been set on USC--and couldn’t the Trojans use him?--but Trojan officials long ago confided McCullough and USC was probably not a good fit.

Nebraska, that halfway house for tailbacks, is apparently willing to take a flyer on McCullough.

Maybe Phillips could show him around campus.

SPURNING SPURRIER?

Everyone knows Florida Coach Steve Spurrier has a, um, healthy ego, but some wonder whether it is being held against him.

Despite a 58-20 victory over Northern Illinois last week, Spurrier’s third-ranked Gators were leapfrogged in the polls by Ohio State.

A pay-back to Spurrier?

“That’s ridiculous,” Kentucky Coach Bill Curry said. “You’ve got to vote for the best team; personalities certainly should never enter into anything like that.”

So it doesn’t happen?

“I didn’t say it never happens,” Curry said. “I said it’s ridiculous to even have to talk about.”

Spurrier doesn’t know what all the fuss is about.

“The SEC voted me coach of the year last year,” he said. “How can they do that if they dislike a guy?”

Spurrier, in fact, says Ohio State deserves a higher ranking.

ONCE AROUND THE NATION

Pittsburgh Coach John Majors says his team is coming off “one of the most successful weekends we’ve had in several weeks.” Majors’ team, struggling at 2-7, was idle.... Has it come to this at Miami, which is staring down NCAA probation and the road to mediocrity? This weekend against Boston College, true freshman Richard Mercier will make his seventh consecutive start at guard for the Hurricanes. Mercier, 6-foot-4, 274 pounds, is a former ski champion from Quebec. Can tailback Alberto Tomba be far behind? Actually, Butch Davis’ squad has won four in a row after a 1-3 start. “I think it’s a compliment to the players; they went through more adversity than anyone could have predicted prior to the season,” Davis said.

Some coaches in the Big Ten are clamoring for round-robin or divisional playoff to avoid the situation that is developing with Ohio State and Northwestern. If both schools finish 8-0 in the conference, Ohio State goes to the Rose Bowl because the Buckeyes would be undefeated overall, while the Wildcats have one nonconference loss. “It’s a shame there isn’t a playoff,” Indiana Coach Bill Mallory says. Iowa Coach Hayden Fry would like to see the Big Ten add another team and have two, six-team divisions with a championships game, a la the Southeastern Conference. . . .Kansas Coach Glen Mason on Saturday’s opponent Nebraska, which leads the nation in rushing at 426.4 yards a game: “They’re the best running team, not in college football, but in the history of college football.”

A Washington victory over UCLA on Saturday at the Rose Bowl will assure the Huskies their 19th consecutive winning season. Only Nebraska (34 years) has a longer streak. . . .Notre Dame quarterback Ron Powlus will be out four to six months after breaking his left (non-throwing) arm against Navy last week. He underwent surgery Sunday, and a 10-inch rod inserted in the arm will be removed in three months. Powlus, a junior, will miss spring practice but is expected to be ready for fall drills. Until then, Irish fortunes rest with junior Tom Krug, who had not thrown a pass that mattered until the Navy game.

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Top 10

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No. Team Record 1. Nebraska 9-0 2. Florida 8-0 3. Ohio State 9-0 4. Tennessee 8-1 5. Florida State 7-1 6. Northwestern 8-1 7. Kansas State 8-1 8. Colorado 7-2 9. Kansas 8-1 10. Texas 6-1-1

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Waiting list: 11) Notre Dame (8-2); 12) Michigan (7-2); 13) USC (7-1-1); 14) Virginia (7-3); 15) Arkansas (7-2); 16) Alabama (7-2); 17) Oregon (7-2); 18) Texas A&M; (5-2); 19) Penn State (6-3);20) Auburn (6-3); 21) Virginia Tech (7-2); 22) Washington (5-3-1); 23) Syracuse (6-2); 24) San Diego State (7-2); 25) Clemson (6-3).