By Barry Markowitz, Special to the Star-Bulletin
Washington's Rashaan Shehee, left, and Olin Kreutz
clown around during practice at Aloha Stadium yesterday.

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Huskies like hoopla;
Spartans are serious

The Aloha Bowl teams
take a different approach

By Paul Arnett
Star-Bulletin

Trying to be a disciplinarian in Hawaii is a little like a teacher giving her students a test on the last day of school.

Of the two football coaches preparing for Thursday's 16th annual Jeep Aloha Bowl, Michigan State's Nick Saban appears to be more of a taskmaster than Washington's Jim Lambright.

That's not to say the Huskies are partying down on the streets of Waikiki, while the Spartans are taking daily exams on Washington's tendencies.

But Michigan State's players and coaches believe their relaxed approach at last year's Sun Bowl proved costly in the Spartans' 38-0 defeat by the Stanford Cardinal.

"My main concern coming to Hawaii was trying to find a balance between work and play," Saban said. "Yes, we're here to have a good time and enjoy what Hawaii has to offer. But our main goal is to win a football game.

"We've been telling our players that we wanted to finish strong. We believe closing the season with victories over Penn State and Washington is a good way to do that, and build toward next year.

"We want to finish the season with eight victories and we don't want a repeat performance of last year's Sun Bowl. So, if it seems we're taking a serious approach it's because we are."

Michigan State's players don't seem to mind. Spartans offensive tackle Dave Mudge said at yesterday's press conference that he was glad most of the bowl activities were during the day.

"Come 11 p.m., you're ready for bed," Mudge said. "I like that."

So did talented cornerback Amp Campbell. He noticed over the weekend some of the Washington players doing things similar to what Michigan State did prior to its loss in the 1996 Sun Bowl.

"You see them along the streets doing things we did last year, but aren't doing this year," Campbell said. "I don't know how it's going to affect their game, but it might."

Campbell said many of the Spartans were in the wrong place at the wrong time in El Paso, Texas, but believes Michigan State won't make the same mistake.

"It was pretty embarrassing last year at the Sun Bowl," Campbell said. "We had to go through a whole year thinking about that. This year, we're taking a whole different approach.

"I think coming into this game, our minds are more focused and our intensity is higher. We have a lot riding on this game, and we want to finish with a win and go 8-4 for the season.

"We're more together as a team, more focused in preparing for the game. I think our coaching staff is really staying on top of us. We want to have the right mind-set on Christmas Day."

Washington maintains it will have the proper mental attitude, despite not employing a curfew until last night. Lambright believes all work and no play could make for a dull performance.

Quarterback Brock Huard agreed.

"When we're on the football field, we're focused on the task at hand," Huard said. "We don't want people to think we're just over here having a good time and the game is secondary. That's not how it is. We want to close on a positive note and send the seniors off with a win."

Former local standout Petrocelli Kesi is doing his part to make sure Washington enjoys the island experience. He took them surfing at Sandy Beach over the weekend and hoped a trip to Hanauma Bay would be forthcoming yesterday.

"I took them to get a plate lunch and they enjoyed that," Kesi said. "Hopefully, we can do some snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. The guys are enjoying themselves."

Lambright hopes this light touch will work well come Thursday.

"We'll start having curfews this week and getting our minds on the game," Lambright said. "Our players have been very focused at practice.

"Trying to keep things in perspective is always a challenge when you come here. But I believe our team will be ready to play on Christmas Day."

Both teams have struggled of late in the postseason. Michigan State hasn't won a bowl game since edging USC at the 1990 John Hancock Bowl, while Washington hasn't managed a postseason win since knocking off Michigan in the 1992 Rose Bowl.

"The fact we haven't won a bowl game as a senior class makes this one special," Washington running back Rashaan Shehee said. "We want to finish our college careers as winners."

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