Tuesday, November 10, 1998
It’s already
shopping season
for Aloha Bowl
The Christmas Day doubleheader
By Paul Arnett
likes its possible matchups
Star-BulletinLenny Klompus will need another two weeks before finishing his Christmas shopping.
But if things go as planned, the Aloha Bowl doubleheader could provide two of the more interesting college games in the postseason parade.
Klompus has the luxury of choosing two teams from the talent-laden Pac-10 and match them against teams ranging from the Western Athletic Conference to the Big East.
Local bowl officials would love to land Miami (Fla.) from the Big East and believe they have an excellent opportunity to do so. But even if the Hurricanes fell through, there's always West Virginia or Syracuse.
At this moment, Klompus still has the second pick in the WAC, but just who has the first choice isn't really clear. In all likelihood, the Air Force Academy could wind up here on Christmas Day. BYU is also being considered to fill one of the four vacancies.
"We're not sure where the WAC champion is going and it's not a done deal that Air Force will be the team," Klompus said.
"They have a big game this weekend against Wyoming. If they win that and keep winning, we would love to have a ranked Air Force team in one of our games. They're a familiar commodity locally and we have a strong military presence here."
While Air Force and Miami are the leading contenders on one side of the bracket, the Pac-10 sides aren't nearly as clear.
The Aloha Bowl directors have the fourth and fifth choices from the Pac-10. The most-likely candidates are among USC, California, Oregon and Arizona State. If Washington beats UCLA or Washington State the next two weekends, the Huskies could figure in the mix as well.
UCLA could wind up in the national championship game with Arizona sliding into the Holiday Bowl slot. The Sun Bowl gets the third-place team that will likely be USC or Oregon.
"We have a 90 percent shot of getting one of those two teams and about a 50-50 shot to get both," Klompus said. "My dream game in the opener would be USC-Miami."
In other bowl news, Klompus said that former UH offensive coordinator Paul Johnson is the leading contender to be coach of the year at the Division I-AA level. If the Georgia Southern head coach manages that accomplishment, then he would be one of the assistants in the 1999 Hula Bowl.
"The AFCA guys believe Paul Johnson will get it no matter what," Klompus said. "Wouldn't that be something? We'd love to have him here."
The head coaches for the 1999 college all-star game are Michigan's Lloyd Carr and Washington State's Mike Price.
