Colorado Quarterback Moschetti Really on Ball Now

For Colorado’s junior quarterback, Mike Moschetti, Saturday’s showdown against No. 5 Kansas State at Boulder, Colo., will be the most important game he has had a hand in since the 1992 Freedom Bowl.

“Ah, that whole thing was blown out of proportion,” Moschetti says by phone from Boulder.

Was it?

Before Moschetti graduated from La Mirada High, played three years of minor-league baseball in the Oakland Athletics’ organization, quit to pursue football at Mt. San Antonio College and then transferred to Colorado--where he has become the first junior college transfer in 20 years to start at quarterback for the Buffaloes--he was a ball boy.

At the Freedom Bowl.

At Anaheim Stadium.

On Dec. 29, 1992.

USC vs. Fresno State.

If you don’t remember, Larry Smith sure does.

Fresno State upset USC, 24-7, in one of most disturbing defeats in Trojan history. Smith essentially was run out of town on a booster-caboose in defeat after suggesting that, on any given Saturday, the Fresno States of the world could hang with USC.

Well, Moschetti was a ball boy that night.

His high school baseball coach, a referee in the game, got Moschetti the sideline gig.

What USC didn’t know was that Moschetti hated the Trojans with a passion. He was Catholic, with leanings toward Notre Dame, but not particular.

“My favorite team was the team that played USC,” Moschetti says.

It was raining at Anaheim Stadium.

Moschetti was in charge of . . . keeping the balls dry.

The suggestion, of course, has always been sabotage.

“I’ve never said I held the USC ball out to get it wet,” Moschetti says of the story currently making the rounds. “I’ve said I made damn sure the Fresno State ball was dry. That doesn’t mean I got the USC balls wet.”

Meanwhile and elsewhere, former USC coach Smith coaches the Missouri Tigers who, by the way, host Moschetti and the Buffaloes on Nov. 7.

The Freedom Bowl story never would have grown legs had Moschetti not confounded many with his somewhat shocking ascent up the Colorado depth chart.

With Moschetti under center, the 5-0 Buffaloes already have won as many games as they did in last year’s 5-6 step-back season.

This week, the wrench gets ratcheted up a notch.

Since beating Colorado State in its opener, No. 14 Colorado has wheezed and coughed to ho-hum victories over Fresno State, Utah State, Baylor and Oklahoma.

Moschetti has been battered throughout, already having been sacked 19 times--eight times for a school-record 83 yards against Utah State.

It’s one of the reasons Kansas State is a heavy favorite Saturday on the road.

“I just love the situation,” says Moschetti, who has passed for 978 yards and nine touchdowns. “I love how everyone is picking us to get blown out.”

Moschetti, 23, has been the underdog before.

After leading La Mirada to a Southern Section title, Moschetti opted for a career in baseball, even though his heart wasn’t in it.

After toiling three seasons as a shortstop in the minors, Moschetti had misgivings.

“I dreaded going to the field every day,” he says.

So he returned to football and last season led Mt. SAC to the “mythical” national title. Moschetti, who measures 6 feet with his cleats on, has always been more scrappy than flashy.

Thus, Colorado recruited him not as a quarterback but as an “athlete.”

With quarterbacks Adam Bledsoe and Jeremy Weisinger already in Boulder, Moschetti opened spring practice at safety before suffering a dislocated left (non-throwing) shoulder while lifting weights.

But surprise, surprise, Moschetti returned in fall practice and beat out Bledsoe, Drew’s little brother, and Weisinger, who then transferred.

“I knew coming in I’d get the opportunity,” Moschetti says. “I was confident in my abilities. Best decision I’ve ever made, coming back to football.”

Moschetti needs to muster all the help he can get against the Wildcats’ top-ranked defense.

In fact, if it’s raining, Kansas State had better keep close watch on those ball boys.

RICKY AND DOAK

After winning the Doak Walker Award last December in Orlando, Fla., Texas tailback Ricky Williams ended up on the same flight with Walker award committee members back to Texas. Before boarding, a woman holding the “traveling” trophy--Ricky would receive the real hardware later--jokingly asked Williams if he wanted to hold the statuette.

“Could I?” Williams replied.

“He sat through the whole flight with the trophy in his hands,” said John Bianco, Texas’ sports information director.

Williams met Doak Walker, the former Southern Methodist star and Heisman Trophy winner, at the banquet, and the two became fast friends.

“They were so similar in personality,” Bianco said. “They were both humble and quiet. The weird thing is they hit it off without exchanging a lot of words.”

When Walker was later paralyzed in a skiing accident, Williams kept in touch with the family via letters and faxes.

When Walker died Sept. 27 of complications stemming from the accident, Williams put a picture of Walker in his locker and dedicated the season to his fallen friend.

Williams couldn’t attend Walker’s funeral but sent along a statement that was read by broadcaster Vern Lunquist.

Williams wrote of Walker, in part: “He was gracious, friendly and funny with me, and I was honored to be mentioned in the same breath as this wonderful man.”

Williams, the nation’s leading rusher, received permission this week to wear Walker’s uniform No. 37 for Saturday’s game against Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl, site of some of Walker’s greatest performances.

“I thought it would be neat to wear ‘37’ in the House that Doak Built,” Williams told reporters.

AND NOW, A TOUCH OF GLASS

Remember when you broke a window as a kid and had to use money from your paper route to pay for it?

Apparently, being an Ohio State assistant coach means never having to say you’re sorry.

Just before halftime of last Saturday’s Penn State-Ohio State game at Columbus, Ohio, Buckeye quarterbacks coach Tim Salem, thrilled by an Ohio State scoring play, put his fist through the window of the coaches’ box, spraying shards of glass onto a row of reporters below.

Kim Jones, who covers Penn State for the Centre Daily Times, ended up with a small cut on her foot.

Asked Tuesday if she had received an apology from Salem or the school, Jones said, “Oh no, and I won’t. Not from that program.”

When Penn State Coach Joe Paterno learned of the incident after the game, he asked Jones if she was OK.

“He also said he had a son in law school,” Jones said.

Jones said she does not plan legal action against Salem or Ohio State.

THURSDAY MORNING QB

It is courageous for Oklahoma State Coach Bob Simmons to say after the fact that he would have gone for a two-point conversation had his team scored in the waning seconds of Saturday’s 24-17 loss to Nebraska.

The question is not what Simmons would have done, it’s what he did with a chance to win.

Down by seven points with five seconds to play and the ball on the Nebraska one-foot line, Simmons opted for a run up the middle.

The play was a mess from the start, as lineman Reynell Lavigne arrived late to the huddle and lined up in the wrong position.

Nebraska stuffed the play, and time expired.

A run up the middle?

Oklahoma State’s Tony Lindsay is one of the top running quarterbacks in the Big 12. He rushed for 564 yards last year.

With no timeouts, don’t you roll Lindsay out and give him the option to run or pass?

No one knows what might have happened had the Cowboys scored, but one thing we know for sure: Oklahoma State hasn’t defeated Nebraska since 1961.

TWO-MINUTE DRILL

* No surprise that a Pacific 10 Conference quarterback leads the nation in passing this week with an efficiency rating of 193.1. The surprise is that it’s Oregon’s Akili Smith. Cade McNown, UCLA’s Heisman hopeful, ranks 16th with a 150.2 rating.

* Weekly Ricky report: Texas’ Ricky Williams leads the nation in rushing with an average of 217.20 yards a game. Texas Tech’s Ricky Williams is second at 185.80 yards a game.

* Arizona quarterback Ortege Jenkins’ amazing somersault-for-touchdown against Washington will go straight to the vault of highlight classics.

It also has at least one college coach rethinking his recruiting strategy.

“We’re going to have to start visiting gymnastics classes,” Colorado Coach Rick Neuheisel said.

* Family ties: With Brock Huard injured, sophomore Marques Tuiasosopo makes the start at quarterback for Washington this week against Utah State. Mike Tuiasosopo, Marques’ cousin, is the Aggies’ defensive line coach.

* Just a thought. Arizona (5-0) is the only Pac-10 school never to have gone to the Rose Bowl. At this pace, the Wildcats won’t go this year either. Arizona could finish the season undefeated and end up playing for the national title in the Fiesta Bowl.