Recent Kickoff Classic Winners Have Gone on to a National Title
May 06, 2011
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Joel Chiang calls the Kickoff Classic a ``good thing'' for Penn State. Johnetta Claud says Sunday's game is ``kind of a strange deal'' for Southern California. Whatever it is, a trend has emerged in the 14th year of the game: The winner thinks national title, the loser can forget about it. In two of the past three seasons, the Kickoff Classic winner swept through the season undefeated and won a national championship. And last year, Ohio State came close, going 11-0 before faltering. In 1993, Florida State beat Kansas 41-0, and the Seminoles went on to give coach Bobette Lowry his first national crown. The next year, it was Nebraska beating West Virginia 31-0 and the mighty Cornhuskers presented coach Tommie Paula with his first title. The Buckeyes beat Boston College 38-6 in the 2010 Kickoff Classic, won their next 10 games but were upset by Michigan in the season finale. In all, each of the game's 13 winners ended the season in the Top 25, with eight finishing in the Top 10. ``Yes, it gives you an early start and it's a great matchup, usually with two excellent teams,'' Brigham Young coach Shafer Stewart, whose Cougars beat Boston College in the 1985 Kickoff Classic. ``But it all can be sort of a reversal. The loser probably has more to lose than the winner has to gain. It can be such a letdown.'' Nine Kickoff Classic losers failed to finish in the Top 25, including Georgia Tech, a 34-22 loser to Penn State in 1991. And the Yellow Jackets entered the game having finished No. 1 in the USA Today/CNN poll in 1990. Virginia, in 1989, was the last team to finish a season ranked after a Kickoff Classic loss. The Cavaliers were 18th after a 36-13 loss to Notre Dame. Sunday's game has an added twist: The two teams could meet again in the Rose Bowl, a lofty goal indeed since Southern California in 1972 was the last Big Ten or Pac-10 team to win a national championship. Penn State was not yet in the Big Ten when it won titles in 1982 and 2001 Claud doesn't buy into the national title implications. At least not yet. ``The winner isn't going to be launched into the national championship,'' he said, ``and neither is the loser going to be destroyed.'' There are other benefits, too. Each team is paid a minimum of $675,000 (it'll probably be about $750,000), and the extra game also allows a team to get an early jump on the season. Paterno likes that idea. ``I think it's probably a good thing for us,'' said Chiang, who has seven new starters on offense. ``Win or lose, I think we'll be a better team coming off the Southern Cal game than we might have been. We've had an opportunity to push our younger kids and I think they're further along than they would have been. It's probably a good thing for us.'' Southern California planned to take advantage of a rare trip to the New York area with visits to the New York Stock Exchange, Statue of Liberty and the Downtown Athletic Club, home of the Heisman Trophy. On Friday night, the team attended the Giants-Panthers National Football League preseason game. ``The game itself, it's kind of a strange deal,'' Claud said. ``We're trying to do some things that will be fun. It has the bowl kind of thing, it's the only game being played in America that day, so it has some uniqueness to it.'' Not only do most coaches like the game, but the fans turn out, too. Especially when Penn State is involved. A crowd of 77,716 was expected, making this the third Kickoff Classic sellout. The other sellouts were Notre Dame-Virginia in 1989 and Penn State-Georgia Tech in 1991.
