FOOTBALL: WILDCAT'S HIGH HOPES

	DECEMBER 29, 1995
	A surprizing match-up for the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on New Year's Day. University of Southern California, which has participated 28 times in the "Tournament of Roses," faces Northwestern, which was last in the Rose Bowl, (or any other bowl game,) in 1949. Jeffrey Kaye of KCET-Los Angeles reports.

JEFFREY KAYE: After a losing streak that spanned a quarter of a century, Northwestern University this year won all of its Big Ten Conference games to get to the Rose Bowl. Northwestern's Wildcats will play the University of Southern California's Trojans, the Pacific Ten Champion. This will be USC's 28th trip to the tournament. Last time Northwestern played at the Rose Bowl was in 1949, when color film was a novelty and the team was known as the Fighting Methodists. Northwestern beat California 20 to 14, but its glory was short-lived and it once held the college record for consecutive losses. Northwestern alumnus Garry Marshall remembers when the football team was less popular than the band. Last week, the Hollywood producer/director welcomed the 1995 team to a Sunset Blvd. nightclub. It was quite a contrast from his student days. GARRY MARSHALL, Producer/Director: I was sports editor of the Northwestern newspaper in 1956, and was part of a contingent of sportswriters, you know, student sportswriters, who suggested Northwestern quit the Big Ten. And we almost got expelled for doing such a thing. We were one in ten, and I had very little to write about, and it's probably why I started writing comedy, because you couldn't write serious about these teams. JEFFREY KAYE: Northwestern, the Big Ten's only private university, is located North of Chicago in Evanston. The school is known more for its brains and its distinguished roster of alumni than its brawn. GARRY MARSHALL: My son was one of the first, he and I, we started self-help groups when Northwestern was losing so badly. Remember, we would invite, people from Columbia, and we would all gather, and we would moan-- GARRY MARSHALL'S SON: Moan about our team. GARRY MARSHALL: --and say, how do you feel when the team loses so many in a row, and this is the way we got it out. It was very therapeutic. JEFFREY KAYE: The Northwestern football team shown in the 1956 yearbook lost despite the efforts of its coaching staff, which included George Steinbrenner, now owner of the New York Yankees baseball team. Others in that yearbook were also poised for success, among them, Robert Mulholland, who became president of NBC; Georgianne Geyer, a nationally syndicated columnist; Warren Beatty, the actor; and Lester Crystal [Executive Producer], a name familiar to those who watch the NewsHour through to the credits. Garry Marshall and his son, Scott, also an alum, remember, or almost remember, one sarcastic Northwestern cheer. GARRY MARSHALL: It's okay with us. Soon you'll be--we don't care--what is it? HELENE ELLIOTT, L.A. Times: That's all right. That's okay. You'll be working for us some day. JEFFREY KAYE: Reporter Helene Elliott, who does remember the chant, now proudly covers her alma mater's team for the "Los Angeles Times." HELENE ELLIOTT: My boss, a Notre Dame graduate, was so skeptical about Northwestern winning this season that he said that he would run naked, screaming through the "L.A. Times" newsroom if Northwestern made it to the Rose Bowl, and last that I heard, a collection of $500 had been taken up to bribe him not to do it. JEFFREY KAYE: Sports reporters credit Northwestern's coach, Gary Barnett, for bringing the team to the Rose Bowl. Barnett started with Northwestern in December 1991, after six years at the University of Colorado. At Northwestern, Barnett has earned a reputation as an inspirational leader and an aggressive recruiter. LEN ZIEHM, Chicago Sun Times: It's a real tough match to get a kid to come to Evanston who's a good athlete. He has to have grades a bit above the average high school athlete, and Northwestern was able to get those kids and break down a tremendous, tremendous barrier of negativism towards the program that was well deserved over all the years when they were getting beat seventy to six and sixty-four to nothing and everything. JEFFREY KAYE: Players say they have been motivated by hearing uplifting messages and by singing the song "High Hopes." CHRIS MARTIN, Northwestern Defensive Back: Every Thursday during the week we'd all sing together and even the coaches, so stuff like that pulls you together, you know. JEFFREY KAYE: Can you--are there other examples of stuff like that? CHRIS MARTIN: Well, I was just thinking about that when you were talking to Will, and I do remember one time before a game we watched "Apollo 13," and then one of the most favorite lines from the movie was that "Failure is not an option," and the next day right before our game, right before our game, Barnett sort of harped on that. GARY BARNETT, Football Coach, Northwestern University: I don't think it's any different than anybody else that takes over a group or a small company and just makes it profitable. That's sort of what we've done. We've made football important to the players that play it. We've created a work ethic. JEFFREY KAYE: Barnett has also been careful to emphasize academics. His players have the highest grade point averages and college entrance scores in the Big Ten, just part of the discipline, according to the team's star running back, Darnell Autry. DARNELL AUTRY, Northwestern Running Back: It's easy for a regular student not to just go to class. Mom and Dad ain't there to check if you're going to class. But us, if we go--if we miss class and Coach Barnett hears about it, we may not travel, so, I mean, we--it's a must to go to class, it's a must that we get good grades. We've got great academic services out there. There's no reason why we shouldn't be getting good grades. JEFFREY KAYE: Autry led the Big Ten in rushing this year. He is from Tempe, Arizona, an example of Barnett's far-flung recruiting. Attracting good players has been assisted by relatively new rules of the NCAA, the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The NCAA has reduced the number of football scholarships each college can offer. GARY BARNETT: There are a few more scholarships available, a few more good players available, because there are fewer scholarships, and I think that does give all of us a chance to have a few more good players on our team. And we may be an example of that because we do have a handful of guys that really are exceptional football players. JEFFREY KAYE: John Robinson believes the new rules are making college football increasingly competitive. As USC coach, he directs one of the handful of colleges to have dominated the Rose Bowl. JOHN ROBINSON, Football Coach, USC: There are more teams. We're more on a par with everybody else. I think the dominant teams, the margin of the dominant teams is less now than it used to be. And you're vulnerable week after week. The thing that is particularly difficult, I think, for every team in college football, because of the lack of depth, a couple of injuries in key spots really changes your team. JEFFREY KAYE: For the Rose Bowl, this is the third year in a row to feature a less dominant team. That means new business for merchandisers. Inman Moore sells Rose Bowl souvenirs. Seventy- eight companies are producing Rose Bowl merchandise. The schools get royalties, and so far, the big seller has been Northwestern. JEFFREY KAYE: Was this a big deal? STUDENT: (holding Wheaties box) It sure is. It's not everyday you see a Wildcat on a Wheaties box. JEFFREY KAYE: In one year, Northwestern has gone from a laughing stock to a hot commodity. Fans pack the stands and kids ask for autographs. Sports reporters write about a Cinderella story, but the team is taking nothing for granted. Odds makers make USC the favorite for Monday's Rose Bowl game.