European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 14, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday september 14, 1994 sports the stars and stripes Page 31 4 16 31 14 17 25 7 Jan n 13 44 Eirish a a spa through Ozone As i Ial by Gene Wojciechowski South Bend ind. The joke goes like this How Many notre earners does it take to screw in a Light bulb \ just one. He holds it while the rest of the world revolves  this is the Irish mind set especially when it comes to football. Notre Dame does t scratch its ear without Abc of Fering a a tip. It does t Clear its Throat without the appropriate audience of plaid Clad Shamrock Loving fans to hear the rumble. It is the Microsoft of College sports. Lumbering. Corporate. Uniquely powerful. On occasion though you can Burn through the Irish Ozone and see some thing special. Something pure. Saturday in the tanning pit that was notre Dame stadium you could see quarterback Ron Powlus make his Home debut against Michigan and prove that maybe Beano Cook in t so crazy after All. Maybe Powlus can earn two Heisman trophies. Notre Dame lost the game 26-24, on a Boston College like Field goal in the final seconds but it was hard to find fault with the Sophomore from Berwick a. Powlus completed 15 of 27 passes for 187 Yards and two touchdowns. They weren t Terry Dean numbers but then again this was Michigan not new Mexico stator Ken Tucky. / the wolverines blitzed Powlus nearly a dozen times. They sent cornerback. They sent linebackers. It was a wonder Michigan coach Gary Moeller who played linebacker at Ohio state for Woody Hayes did t run a stunt for him self and make a beeline for Powlus Tho Rax.  .".". Michigan sacked Powlus six times and also made sure the quarterback paid for each of his 13 Rushing attempts. Still when it counted when Powlus absolutely had to deliver he did. He found Lee Becton free in the end zone for a 1-Yard scoring pass but Only after Powlus fooled the entire defense by peering toward another notre Dame receiver. And with just 52 seconds left and notre Dame trailing 2347, Powlus located wide receiver Derrick Mayes in the Back of the end zone for the go ahead commentary touchdown. Mayes made a remarkable catch but Powlus put the Ball in the exact place where no Michigan defensive Back could touch it. That Mayes kid. Whew wolverines linebacker Trevor Pryce said. And that Powlus. He s Worth All the  Worth it and better yet unaffected by it. Nothing seems to bother him. Not the weekly visits with Ahmad Rashad and the camera Crew. Not the demands of Lou Holtz. Not the pressures of leading a pro Gram that expects nothing less than a National championship each season. It was a great feeling Powlus said afterwards. I wanted a big bang to Start things out but it just did t work  it will. Despite the loss Powlus and the Irish Are still positioned to make a serious run at a National title. A two Point defeat to impressive Michigan in the Sec Ond game of the season is no disgrace. There was no notre Dame free fall in the polls. And consider the schedule. Soothing. Helpful. Pliant. The Irish travel to Michigan state sat urday then play Purdue and Stanford at Home. That s three victories. Then notre Dame visits Boston col Jege. Payback time. Then Brig arh Young and Navy come to South Bend. Two More victories though by might be an interesting game to watch. On nov. 12, the Irish play Florida state at Orlando. Beat the seminoles who should be undefeated or have no More than one loss and notre Dame is Back in the National championship Pic Ture. Lose and the Irish Are through. Vic tories against air Force the next week or Southern California the week after won t mean a thing. I am not sure if we won 15, if we would be a legitimate National title candidate says Holtz who insisted he was kidding. I think you can lose Early in the year and still come Back if you lose to a Good opponent Normal circumstances would hold. Does this hold True for notre Dame i Don t know. Would it hold True for a big ten team i Don t know. It certainly holds True for a Southern team and it has notre Dame quarterback Ron Pawlus gleamed like a Diamond even in defeat. A in the past. But it seems like once a team loses up North they Are just sort of put on  -. A " v .7 " this is typical Holtz kill pm with guilt. Holtz went on to say Nebraska would t lose a game during the regular season Florida state looked awesome and Florida and Miami were aided by reputations of greatness they might be Able to lose one but i Don t know if anybody else can Holly  Irish can. They have the exposure. They have Powlus and Mayes. They have a fast improving team that should be just right by the time they face Florida state at the Citrus bowl on november 12. Best of All notre Dame has the Mem ories of last season on its Side. Holtz and anyone else who can hum Victory March in his sleep thought the Irish and not Florida state deserved the 1993 National championship. The poll voters thought differently but that in t the Point. The Point is this if it comes Down to another close ballot at season s end look for the Irish or even Nebraska to finish no. 1.a  -. Whatever happens notre Dame will be Fine. Holtz is too Good a coach Powlus too Good a quarterback Mayes too Good a receiver and Beeton who fumbled twice against Michigan too Good a run Ning Back. I Don t believe we re snakebite at All Holtz says. We Are unlucky at the pre sent time but that evens out the unlock of the Irish strange but True for now. Come november that All changes. Something special will happen again. You la know it when you see it. You la see a Man holding a Light bulb. The sporting new Matching Florida in reverse by Paul Newberry Montgomery Ala. A it boggles the imagination Florida s Point a minute offence against Livingston s Point a minute defense. Now there s a game that might rival Georgia tech s 222-0 Victory Over Cumberland. I just like to remember that the last Lime i played Florida we beat them Aid Livingston s first year coach Todd Stroud who was an assistant at Auburn Hen the tigers upset Florida a year ago. Stroud now is coaching another team called the tigers but there s no parallel Between Auburn and Livingston a Dyis in ii University in West Alabama with n enrolment of 2,100. Unfortunately that makes it hard to conceal that the school s football team has Given up an average of 63 Points in its first two games. We hear the whispers said Chad Cochrane one of three freshmen who Start on the defensive line. But you just have to ignore stuff like that and try to keep Confidence in yourself and your  that s where Stroud comes in even though he conceded in a rare slip of Faith it s very frustrating. I Haven t been around a team that lost More than three games the last six  just As quickly the coach s voice brightened his Outlook returning to its Normal setting confident. The 30-year old coach who looks younger than Many of his players makes Clear he in t going to let things like getting beaten by Nich Olls state 77-7 and Albany state 49-6 get him Down in his first head coaching Job. When i see eight freshmen starting for us last week on defense i see the future he said. I see this team getting better real  Back in the present Stroud has got to Settle for bad real bad. Last week Livingston suffered its worst loss in 53 years against a team it Defeated last year. Nicholls state piled up a school record 518 Rushing Yards and finished with 614 Yards Overall. The Mcaa does t keep Complete team statistics for division ii ranking Only the top 30 nationally. But it s a Safe to say that Livingston would be at the Bottom of the list. Stroud knew he was in for a rebuilding Job at Livingston which allowed More than 40 Points per game last year in a 2 7-1 season. But things got worse when 42 of the 88 Veteran players quit the team alter the new coach arrived. We started monitoring class Atten dance began a study Hall a couple of hours a night for the Guys who had poor academics had a stringent off season weight program Stroud said. But a lot of kids weren t Tough enough or Rua Turc enough to handle the things we were  that left Stroud with a roster than includes Only four seniors and a group of freshman that s larger than the other three classes put together. After that first game it was funny Stroud said looking for humor in a humor less situation. We had a lot of freshmen who were  death just to play in their Lirosi College of Uldall game. There was t a v. H k1 lot of expression  but the mood began to change last week Vail a in chock state began scoring ,. And scoring. And scoring. " i Here was some nagging Cochrane said. We were Down on each