Cinderella Wildcats Not Happy With the Ending

Obviously, last year’s Rose Bowl run to glam-fan fame and sports-story-of-the-decade acclaim wasn’t compelling enough for Northwestern.

“It’s funny,” Wildcat senior receiver Brian Musso was saying this week. “You get done with last year and everyone’s asking the question, ‘Can you repeat the excitement of last year?’ My answer was always, ‘I don’t think so.’ But, lo and behold, we’ve found a way.”

Nothing could match the first-time, madcap context of Northwestern’s improbable 1995 ascent, the rags-to-roses ride as the Wildcats posted their first winning season since 1971, won their first Big Ten title since 1936 and finished 10-2.

But, you know what?

Strictly between the lines, this season has been more exciting.

Last Saturday against Illinois, as Northwestern faced another do-or-Dyche proposition against Illinois, Musso remembers laughing to himself in the huddle.

“You’re just like, ‘I can’t believe we’re in this situation again,’ ” Musso said.

With the nation’s pundits poised to write Northwestern off as one-year flukes--and the Wildcats providing the fountain pens after their season-opening loss to Wake Forest--Coach Gary Barnett’s team has won seven in a row, the last five you might classify as unbelievable.

High-wire act?

Meet the Flying Wallendas:

--Sept. 28: In its Big Ten opener at Bloomington, Northwestern spotted Indiana a 17-7 second-quarter lead before rallying to win, 35-17.

--Oct. 5: Michigan, out to avenge its stunning defeat a year earlier in Ann Arbor, blew a 16-0 fourth-quarter lead at Dyche Stadium and lost, 17-16. Musso’s 13-yard catch on fourth and nine from the Michigan 46 rescued a last-minute drive, allowing for Brian Gowins’ game-winning 39-yard field goal with 13 seconds left. Oh, Gowins had to make the kick twice because officials ruled the ball had not been set on his first kick.

--Oct. 12: In a bit of role reversal, Northwestern nearly blew a 23-0 halftime lead and then held on to beat Minnesota, 26-24.

--Oct. 19: Wisconsin led, 30-27, with a minute left when Ron Dayne, who had not fumbled in 105 previous carries, handed it over to Northwestern at the Badgers’ 41. With 37 seconds left, quarterback Steve Schnur threw a 20-yard scoring pass to D’Wayne Bates for a 34-30 victory.

--Oct. 26: Northwestern trailed Illinois, 24-20, late in the game and was stopped on fourth down at the Illini six-yard line with 4:59 to go.

Game over? Nope. The Wildcat defense held, the offense got the ball back at the Illinois 48 with 3:44 left. Schnur connected with Musso on another season-saving fourth-down play and Adrian Autry scored on a one-yard run with 1:02 left to give Northwestern a 27-24 victory.

Lucky, weird, wild, wonderful?

The Northwestern season has been all of the above.

But definitely more than simply luck.

The heart of last year’s team--Schnur, tailback Darnell Autry, Bates, Musso, linebacker Pat Fitzgerald--is veteran, savvy and refuses to take “lose” for an answer.

“There’s just an amazing sense of confidence,” Musso said. “It’s like, ‘All right, we know what we have to do, now we’re just going to do it.’ ”

Interestingly, Musso says this year’s fabled run probably would not have been possible without last year’s loss to USC in the Rose Bowl.

That defeat wrecked Northwestern’s dream-season ending and left the team seeking closure.

“Once we left the locker room in the Rose Bowl, you could tell in everybody’s eyes there was something unfinished about it,” Musso said of the season. “We were just dying to get home and start working out again, just because we had fallen short and needed to accomplish something else.”

The attitude at Northwestern remains “us versus them.” The No. 11 Wildcats had to claw their back way up the polls after the Wake Forest loss and have been underdogs in every big game this season.

Saturday, they take their 5-0 Big Ten record to Happy Valley, where 3-2 Penn State awaits as a 10-point favorite.

“I still don’t think people really believe in us,” Musso said.

This, despite the fact that Northwestern has won 13 consecutive Big Ten games.

Uh-oh. Thirteen?

Maybe this is the week Northwestern’s luck expires.

BOWL SOUP

Brace yourselves for a Florida-Nebraska rematch, No. 2 Ohio State versus No. 3 Arizona State in the Rose Bowl and another holiday season of hue and cry.

It can happen this easily:

If current No. 1 Florida wins its last five games--which would entail beating No. 3 Florida State in Tallahassee on Nov. 30--and No. 2 Ohio State, No. 4 Arizona State, and No. 5 Nebraska all win out, the Sugar Bowl would have little choice but to match Florida and Nebraska in a No. 1 versus No. 4 game.

The Rose Bowl would get the wedge match, Ohio State and Arizona State, and the viewing public would, once again, get the short end.

The Sugar Bowl will actually need both Ohio State and Arizona State to lose once to make its title-game match: the Florida-Florida State winner versus a once-defeated Nebraska.

Meanwhile, in the Rose Bowl race:

Pacific 10: The 5-0 Sun Devils have three games left with essentially a two-game lead over second-place Washington (4-1), having defeated the Huskies.

Big Ten: Northwestern (5-0) leads Ohio State (4-0) by half a game, but the Buckeyes control their fate.

If both schools finish 8-0 in the conference, Ohio State goes to the Rose Bowl based on a better overall record (Northwestern and Ohio State don’t play this year). The Buckeyes would be undefeated, while the Wildcats have one loss.

Of course, it all could change this weekend.

HE’LL ALWAYS HAVE ANAHEIM

Fresno State Coach Jim Sweeney, who announced his retirement Oct. 24, should become the 16th major college coach to win 200 games when his Bulldogs play host to 1-7 Boise State on Saturday.

Sweeney, 199-151-4 in his 32-year career, does not want to quit, but lingering injuries suffered in a near-fatal auto accident on St. Patrick’s Day forced him to step aside.

“I’m not as effective as I was,” Sweeney, 67, conceded in his retirement announcement.

Last March 17, a mile from his home, Sweeney’s car slammed into the rear of a stalled flat-bed truck. He suffered a broken leg and ribs and shattered his kneecap.

In the last six years, Sweeney has undergone eight surgeries: back (twice), rotator cuff, prostate, two angioplasty procedures, leg and knee.

Of all his memories, one will remain embedded.

“The Freedom Bowl,” he said. “That was big.’

In the 1992 game, Fresno State pulled off one of the biggest upsets in bowl history, defeating USC, 24-7, in a matchup many Trojan alumni thought was beneath them.

HE’D LIKE TO DROP-KICK CORSO

ESPN college football analyst Lee Corso practically called for West Virginia Coach Don Nehlen’s head last Saturday for punting on fourth down from his 30 with his team leading Miami, 7-3, and less than a minute remaining.

Tremain Mack blocked Brian West’s punt, and Nathaniel Brooks returned it 20 yards for a touchdown to give Miami a 10-7 victory.

It has been suggested Nehlen should have taken a safety, kicked the ball to Miami, and taken a chance with his top-ranked defense.

This week, Nehlen struck back.

“First of all, I think that’s why Lee Corso’s on the air, because he lost his job and couldn’t win a game,” Nehlen said. “For him to say that kind of stuff is baloney.”

Afraid the coach has got you on this one, Lee.

Corso was ousted at Indiana in 1982 after compiling a 10-year record of 41-68-2, a winning percentage of .378.

In his 26th season as a Division I coach, Nehlen is 175-104-8.

Nehlen, by the way, said the decision to punt was as easy as breathing.

“I think some of you guys are on Wacky Tobaccy,” Nehlen said of the media. “You guys, you blow my mind. You talk to 900 football coaches in America, and 900 are going to punt the football from their own 30-yard line. I know one thing, when I quit this job, I’ve got to get a job writing.”

HAIL THE SIZE OF TRASH CANS

Wait a minute, that was a trash can! Next time you catch a game in Morgantown, W.Va., don’t forget your titanium-plated umbrella.

Reports of Saturday’s crowd behavior at Miami-West Virginia have been conflicting, yet disturbing.

Fact: After the game, Miami linebacker coach Randy Shannon was struck in the head by a 55-gallon plastic trash can, heaved from the second tier of Mountaineer Field.

Fiction: Miami claimed the ambulance taking injured running back Danyell Ferguson to the hospital was nearly upended by unruly West Virginia fans outside the stadium.

Fact: “That is not true about the ambulance,” Nehlen said. “I talked to the driver. It’s absolutely not true. A couple of kids pounded on the side of it. That was completely blown out of proportion.”

Fiction: Bob Burda, the Miami sports information director, admitted later that the ambulance carrying Ferguson was not jostled.

Fact: Paul Pasqualoni’s Syracuse team travels to Morgantown this weekend.

Fiction: Pasqualoni says he is not concerned with security.

“I’ve never had anything thrown at me there,” he said.

Fact: West Virginia President David Hardesty apologized for his students’ behavior.

Any other security questions?

“I can’t figure out how to punt,” Nehlen said, “let alone take care of damn security.”

HURRY-UP OFFENSE

--With the Haka Bowl’s demise, the Pac-10’s No. 3 bowl slot will go to the Sun Bowl, which was supposed to have the fifth pick this season. The Aloha Bowl remains at its No. 4 position.

--Fans in Lincoln will be happy to note that the New York Times’ computer poll last week had Nebraska ranked as the nation’s No. 1 team, followed by Florida and the three states--Ohio, Florida and Arizona.

--Penn State Coach Joe Paterno says Wally Richardson will start at quarterback against Northwestern. In last week’s win over Indiana, Paterno replaced Richardson in the second quarter with backup Mike McQueary.

“Wally is our quarterback,” Paterno said. “Just because I took him out for a little bit doesn’t change the situation.”

Northwestern tailback Darnell Autry, who sat out last week because of a shoulder injury, will also return this week.