Football Teams

Win one for the fat man? Win one for the Holtzer? Could anyone have dreamed, even a month ago, that the 1996 college football season would come down to this? To a USC team turned upside-down by three consecutive defeats and speculation that its coach is about to be turned loose? To a Notre Dame team whose coach is walking away, virtually without explanation, from the sport's best job? Yet that's exactly how the script reads when Notre Dame (8-2) plays USC (5-6) tonight at a sold-out Coliseum.

This isn't Texas, so I know most people aren't spending day and night worrying about spring football. But in honor of those fans who can't get enough about football, here are some observations as high school teams begin to start spring drills: "Blowing up" is a term used in the college recruiting business referring to a player who suddenly gains momentum as a college prospect. Let me offer a quarterback with no scholarship offers who might soon get attention: San Fernando senior-to-be Cristian Solano.

"I don't know if you can see the scar," Ryan Nece says. Barely. "It goes from here to here." He stretches his right hand over to his left ear, extending the thumb inside the closely cropped dark hair as a pointer, then drags it over the bend of the skull to the other side. "I had an operation," he says. "They cut me open from ear to ear." For the reconstruction. "They pull down your skin, they cut underneath my eyes. I have titanium plates all through here."

UCLA needs 1,700 from a running back. Not on the SATs. On the ground. It doesn't take a Stanford degree to work this equation. Johnathan Franklin is gone. So too are his cuts, jukes and flat-out sprints that made quarterback Brett Hundley's life so much safer. Franklin gained a UCLA record 1,700 yards last season. The first phase of finding his replacement ended Saturday with the Bruins' scaled-back spring game in the Rose Bowl. "There was a calmness on the field that we had," Hundley said.

It appeared a case of school property defacement, likely the work of a prankster. Years ago, an assistant coach at Claremont McKenna College came upon an old desk while cleaning out a weight room in the athletic department. The culprit had carved into the wood, the way lovebirds might scrawl a heart into a tree. Except this inscription was curious: it read "I Love This College" and was signed "John Zinda." The assistant reported what he thought was an act of mockery to the football coach.

The Rose Bowl -bound college football teams made their annual pilgrimage to Disneyland on Sunday, taking in a day of roller coasters, parades and confetti-filled pomp. During the visit, Wisconsin Badgers and Texas Christian Horned Frogs football players rode the Matterhorn bobsleds and the Mad Tea Party teacups after greeting fans in a celebration in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle. "I don't really like the rides where you go up and down too much," said 6-foot-3, 305-pound Texas Christian center Jake Kirkpatrick.

ACADEMY Offensive MVP--Jimmy Freeman (St. Margaret's), Sr. Defensive MVP--Corey Wright (Capistrano Valley Christian), Jr. First-team offense--Quarterback: Rhett Swanson (St. Margaret's), Jr. Running backs: Davion Archie-Wade (Downey Calvary Chapel), Sr.; Kirk Cooper (L.A. Ribet Academy), Sr.; Darren Kelly (St. Margaret's), Jr.; Sean Porter (North Hollywood Campbell Hall), Sr.; Dustin Smith (Capistrano Valley Christian), Jr. Receivers: Ryan Allen (Capistrano Valley Christian), Sr.

Arrowhead League--Southern California Christian (Bert Esposito). Century League--Canyon (Bob Hughes), El Modena (Steve Howard), Foothill (Tom Meiss), Orange (Dick Hill), Santa Ana Valley (Scott Orloff), Villa Park (Pat Mahoney). Empire League--Century (Bill Brown), Cypress (John Selbe), El Dorado (Rick Jones), Katella (Larry Anderson), Kennedy (Mitch Olson), Loara (John deFries).

Southern California high school football teams are 2-1 against Hawaiian opponents after San Clemente and Dana Point Dana Hills split their games Saturday. Terrell Vinson rushed for 197 yards and scored three touchdowns to lead Dana Hills over Honolulu Pac-Five, 30-14, at Aloha Stadium. Vinson scored on touchdown runs of 10 and 70 yards and had a nine-yard touchdown reception. San Clemente did not fare as well in a 40-7 loss to Honolulu St. Louis.

To play high school football in Southern California, players have to fulfill some basic requirements, such as getting a physical and making sure they are academically eligible. There is an added element if you want to play for Sherman Oaks Notre Dame this season. You'll need a passport, because the Knights are headed to Ireland to play Hamilton High of Chandler, Ariz., on Aug. 31 in a journey that will rank as the longest trip any Southern Section school has traveled for a regular-season football game.

All Ella wants is to play a little football, an American birthright if you're a boy but still a bit of a privilege if you're not. She just turned 13, a good age for almost anything, but especially for running around in the fresh air of fall, trying to snatch the flag off an opposing player's hip. Given their druthers, how many kids today would just as soon spend all afternoon with a video game, as their waists grow prematurely thick? Not Ella Wood. Ella would rather play a cover 2 than a PlayStation 3. This past fall, she played for the Sequoyah School in Pasadena, a private, progressive little place that's been around for more than 50 years.

A Pasadena councilman is facing a recall campaign for backing an ordinance that cleared the way for negotiations to bring professional football to the Rose Bowl. Recall proponents on Thursday filed a notice of intent to circulate a petition to recall Councilman Steve Madison, said City Clerk Mark Jomsky. Under state election code, Madison has until Thursday to file a statement on why he should not be recalled for inclusion on the recall petitions. City Council members voted Nov. 19 to increase the number of large events that can be held annually at the Rose Bowl, which already is used for UCLA home football games and the annual Rose Bowl game.

Tired of tracking the conference whereabouts of your favorite school? Well, take a number and get in realignment line. Even the people paid to cover the sport have trouble keeping up. INTERACTIVE: Conference Realignment chart The turning point for "yours discombobulated truly" was the announcement that Temple would be joining San Diego State in the West Division of the Big East. Temple is in Philadelphia. "OK, Mr. BCS bus driver, this is where I get off. " Take last Saturday … please.

The Southeastern Conference is, for now, a helpless Bowl Championship Series bystander as it monitors three undefeated outliers competing for this season's title. Winners of six straight BCS crowns, the SEC needs any two among these three teams - Oregon, Kansas State and Notre Dame - to take a loss in order to get a team back in the BCS race. The conference could even advance two schools to the end game if all three undefeated teams lose once. The SEC title winner seems a sure bet, but what if No. 6 Florida also finishes 11-1 with a last win over Florida State?

The Southeastern Conference, taken out of the national title hunt for as long as three non-SEC teams keep winning, mostly takes the week off as it openly cheers for upsets of Oregon, Kansas State and Notre Dame. SEC schools bully up to play seven 1-AA schools this week, which is seven more than Notre Dame, USC and UCLA have ever scheduled. The SEC is believed to be the first league to stage an exhibition season inside a regular season, but the scary part is Alabama A&M might beat Auburn.

Only the presidential candidates had to make their closing arguments over the weekend. For the four undefeated college football teams vying for this year's national title, winning for now was good enough. It won't be like this in two or three weeks, when more microscopic analysis may be required to separate this year's winners and losers. The Bowl Championship Series standings Sunday gurgled out the same Fab Four, with Oregon jumping into the No. 3 spot ahead of Notre Dame.

The San Diego Section seeding committee will meet at 8 a.m. today to determine the four at-large high school football teams from the 2-A and 3-A divisions. The committee also will determine the top seeds for the playoffs. Each league, except the Grossmont 2-A, will automatically send its top two teams. The Grossmont 2-A league will send only its top team because there are only four teams in the league.

Texas is football country, and in the small town of Kountze, about 85 miles north of Houston, many of the roughly 2,000 residents gather at the public high school on Friday nights to watch the show — the players, the coaches and, of course, the cheerleaders in their red-and-white uniforms, toting homemade biblical banners. "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens! Phil 4:13. " "If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31. " "But thanks be to God which gives us Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.