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Remember, always be nice to your fairy godmother
She may send you to the Gator Bowl
For Christmas your fairy godmother says she'll give you an all-expenses paid trip to any bowl game involving an SEC team. Your choice?
Which one would you really like to see? Tennessee-
Stan Torgerson
Cats' Pause Columnist
Virginia in the Sugar Bowl? Alabama-Louisville in the Fiesta Bowl? Ole Miss-Michigan in the Gator Bowl? Auburn-Indiana in the Peach Bowl? None of the above?
It's close to none of the above, but Ole Miss-Michigan will probably get your vote. It is the best matchup, by far, for Southeastern Conference bowl teams.
Look at the romance of it. The Rebels have been out of the major bowl picture for 20 years. Slowly, but surely, Coach Billy Brewer and his staff have rebuilt the Ole Miss image season by season, game by game.
Now they have a team that came within a whisker of its league championship, a team that posted a 9-2 record, its best since 1971, a team that is nationally ranked in the top 15.
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alleged weak schedule and who claim their only strong opponents were Tennessee and Auburn and the Rebels lost to both of them.
In other words, those detractors say Ole Miss still has something to prove.
The Rebels will get their chance to silence those critics. In playing Michigan, Ole Miss will face one of the most consistently successful college programs in the country.
We believe if the Rebels don't lock up, that is run out on the field, see those funny looking Michigan helmets and ask themselves, "What are we doing here?", Ole Miss can play the Wolverines on even terms. There's also a strong possibility Michigan will look over at the Rebels and ask themselves, "What are they doing here?"
After all, Ole Miss is not a household word in Michigan and it may be hard for those "Damn Yankees" to take the Rebels seriously.
If my fairy godmother calls, tell her I want to go to Jacksonville.
There was a time New Orleans looked attractive for New Year's Day. That was before Virginia collapsed and lost three games. Now the Tennessee (8-2-2) matchup against the Cavaliers (8-3) is just another game as far as national interest is concerned.
Tennessee should win but the Sugar Bowl will lose the TV ratings. Miami-Texas in the Cotton Bowl is much more attractive and Notre Dame-Colorado in the Orange Bowl is even more so. Penn State-Flordia State in the new Blockbuster Bowl is also a game that will attract a great deal of TV attention. Only Iowa-Washington in the Rose Bowl is a bummer to equal the Sugar Bowl pairing.
If you shouldn't wish to visit Jacksonville or New Orleans New Year's Day, would you like Granny to send you to Arizona for the Fiesta Bowl?
Not unless you're a wide-eyed Alabama fan, you wouldn't.
Gene Stall ings did a remarkable job of turning the Tide around after a horrible start. His reward is a game against Louisville, 9-1-1 against mainly second-line competition. Sailings' biggest problem of the season well may be getting his team up to face an opponent few people believe belong on the same field with 'Bama.
Between the non-glamour of Louisville and the Martin Luther King controversy, this year's Fiesta Bowl may be the least attractive New Year's game.
FOOTBALL FRONT PAGE IN TENNESSEE
When your team gives up 44, 42, and 56 to SMU, Army and Wake Forest, respectively, and
the head coach. Exit Watson Brown (top left); Johnny Majors' (right) Volunteers versus Virginia in the Sugar Bowl? Ho-hum. Just another game.
Then there's Auburn and Indiana in the Peach Bowl. This is a staggering Auburn team, picked by many, including myself, to be great but which, in fact, was merely good. Indiana, on the other hand, may be slightly less than good as its 6-4-1 record shows. The Hoosiers did play and beat Kentucky 45-24, early in the season, but Kentucky is not Auburn.
The chief interest in this one is the SEC vs. the Big Ten. Pehaps Pat Dye can use that angle to inspire his underachievers to play up to their ability. If so, remember Atlanta is a great town for fun and frolic and since the Peach Bowl is Dec. 29 you might get your fairy godmother to spring for a New Year's trip, as well.
NOT FOR BROADCAST
Did Florida State's big win over Florida cost Gator coach Steve Spurrier a shot at SEC Coach of the Year honors? It's been between Spurrier and Billy Brewer and the fact that the Rebels were selected to play Michigan in the Gator Bowl should help the popular Rebel leader...
What effect has Prop 48 had on SEC football? A big one. The conference has just announced the 1990 SEC Football Academic Honor Roll, the list of players who had a grade point average of 3.00 or better. Would you believe 83 youngsters made this list? Kentucky and Ole Miss led the way with 13 each...
The dismissal of Watson Brown came as no surprise. The Vanderbilt football coach was always almost boyish in his optimistic preseason statements. When it came time to put it on the line he came up with three 1-10 seasons in his five years at the Commodore helm. Can Vanderbilt ever win? Not at the level of Tennessee, Auburn, Alabama, etc. The Commodores can be respectable, however, with great leadership. What does "respectable" mean? Somewhere between 4-7 and 6-5, nothing better. The new eight-game conference schedule won't help. This year Vandy softened its non-conference schedule with the likes of Southern Methodist, Army and Wake Forest and lost them all. When an SMU runs
up 44 points on you, an Army 41 and a Wake Forest 56, it's time to make a change and the Vanderbilt Commodores did...
Randy Baldwin of Ole Miss was the most honored SEC Offensive Player of the Week. He was selected three times. Shane Matthews of Florida was honored twice. No one else made it more than once. On defense, Mississippi State's Reggie Stewart led the way with two selections. Interestingly enough, six Tennessee players, four on offense and two on defense, were named Players of the Week sometime during the season...
Despite the fact that Ole Miss played Tennessee in Memphis and Auburn and Mississippi State in Jackson, the Rebels are shown in the SEC season-ending resume as playing no games on a neutral field this year. This obviously means that as far as the conference is concerned the Rebels have three home fields. That should come as a surprise to the people of Oxford who had to drive nearly 100 to 200 miles to a home game...
The Alabama-Auburn game has been televised every year since 1981...
SEC schools reaped a big harvest of early signees for basketball. Mississippi State led the way with five. Kentucky inked four, Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, LSU, Tennessee and Vanderbilt each signed three. Florida got two. Only Ole Miss drew a blank. The tallest player was 6-foot-ll Bubba Wilson, who chose Mississippi State, but there were four at 6-10 who selected SEC schools, one each at Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Auburn and Florida...
Notre Dame's recent victory over Tennessee ran the Irish record to 11-7 against SEC schools. They are 5-1 with Alabama, 0-1 facing Georgia, 3-3 with LSU, 1-1 against Ole Miss and 2-1 facing Tennessee...
New LSU coach Curly Hallman and Auburn's Pat Dye were assistants at Alabama together in 1973 under
Please see, STAN TORGERSON, page 26