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Teaff's view: 12 games, more cash, more players

By BOB HARIG
© St. Petersburg Times
published September 7, 2002

Today's Miami-Florida game is a treat only possible because the schedule was expanded to 12 games. You know the history. Florida needs six home games to balance its athletic budget and all that. But maybe there is hope. Don't you think someone will like the idea of a 12-game schedule all the time?

Grant Teaff, the executive director of the American Football Coaches Association, believes it's just a matter of time.

The 12-game schedules are supposed to happen only in years when there is an extra Saturday between Labor Day and the end of November. But ...

"I think once they look and say, 'Well, with 12 games we can bring in another $1-million or $2-million,' I think we stand a real good chance of ending up getting 12 games every year," Teaff said.

That won't assure annual Florida-Miami matchups. UF athletic director Jeremy Foley has said the Gators may try to schedule other big-name opponents.

But a 12-game schedule will lead to other things, Teaff predicts, such as a need for more scholarship players.

"Our desire would be to go to 90 (up from 85), which would go over like the proverbial lead balloon," he said.

"Simply put, with 85 scholarships, with 13, 14 and 15 games (including conference championship and bowl games), that's pretty slim pickings with depth over that period of time because of injuries and so forth," Teaff said. "It's not a problem now, but it's something we'll probably have to deal with eventually."

ANOTHER TRY: For all of Notre Dame's recent troubles and Purdue's success, the Boilermakers have not won in South Bend, Ind., since 1974. Their 12-game losing streak at Notre Dame has covered six coaches: Alex Agase, Jim Young, Leon Burtnet, Fred Akers, Jim Colletto and current coach Joe Tiller.

"There's no shortage of talent at Notre Dame," Tiller said. "And in my opinion, there never will be. We recruit against those guys every year. They already have several commitments from people we've offered (scholarships) that we couldn't even get on campus to look at us."

Two years ago, the Irish needed a late field goal for a 23-21 victory. The Boilermakers get another shot today.

NO CONTROVERSY: After backup quarterback D.J. Shockley outperformed starter David Greene in 10th-ranked Georgia's 31-28 win over Clemson, Bulldogs coach Mark Richt reiterated Greene, the 2001 SEC freshman of the year, would remain starting quarterback.

Shockley led the Bulldogs to two touchdowns: his 9-yard run in the second quarter and a game-tying, 24-yard pass to Terrence Edwards in the fourth. Greene struggled much of the game, completing 12-of-21 for 67 yards with one touchdown and an interception, the worst performance of his career.

"Like I said after the game, (Shockley) deserves some more playing time," Richt said. "I'm happy with what he did. We were careful not to give him too much, but I thought he handled what we gave him."

Shockley insists the quarterback competition won't become divisive in the locker room. "We can make it work," Shockley said. "We know what to do to help this team win, and we'll sacrifice to do that."

AROUND THE NATION: Four of last year's six major conference champions have lost: Colorado (Big 12), Illinois (Big Ten), Maryland (ACC), LSU (SEC). ... Stanford and UCLA are the last teams to open the season today. Stanford is one of the few playing 11 games. The school said it was "in the best interest of the student-athletes" to not schedule the extra game. ... Oregon has another billboard promotion in New York City. Last year, it was a huge picture of quarterback Joey Harrington. This time the $300,000 project is to promote Oregon's new affiliation with Yankee Entertainment and Sports Network, which will replay all 12 Oregon games.

-- Information from other news organizations was used in this report.

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