This is a tale of two Wildcats

Of the 21 schools in the Big Ten and Pac-10, only one has never played in the Rose Bowl -- Arizona.\nOf the 21 schools in the Big Ten and Pac-10, only one had failed to win a conference football game prior to last weekend -- Arizona.\nOf all the schools in the country, only one had 40 players approach the university president with complaints about verbal abuse from its head coach -- Arizona.\nThese three facts are not coincidental. In no major American sport does the downtrodden get ripped apart by mystique and tradition than in college football. Many feel that the Yankees, Lakers or Red Wings are too dominant in their respective professional sports, but there are much greater signs of parity in the four major American pro sports leagues than in college sports.\nEventually, the losing leads the losers to boil over.\nAt Arizona, 40 players confronted university president Peter Likins with complaints about coach John Mackovic's demeaning comments after the Wildcats lost by a combined score of 75-10 to Oregon State and UCLA, according to the Tucson Citizen. Mackovic, a former National Football League coach and National Coach of the Year when he was at Wake Forest, is held in high esteem in the coaching community. When he was the coach at Texas, he didn't win as much as successor Mack Brown, but he did have one 10-win season and raised UT's graduation rate to 86 percent.\nWhen he was hired in December 2000, Athletic Director Jim Livengood said of his new hire, "John Mackovic is exactly what the University of Arizona needs right now in our football program, in our university, in our athletic department, in Tucson and in Arizona."\nSince then, Arizona football has continued on with its nightmarish history. Mackovic lost 13 of his first 14 conference games.\nThe day after the players' meeting with the university president, Mackovic held a press conference where he tearfully apologized to the players. Cameras caught Mackovic tongue-lashing quarterback Jason Johnson during the UCLA game.\nStill, though, the national response toward the players' meeting with the university president has been predictable. In other words, it's been pro-coach and anti-players. The national talk show full of Oxford graduates -- by the way, Mackovic once studied at Oxford -- at The Best Damn Sports Show, Period called the players "babies." Trev Alberts admonished the players on ESPN as well.\nSorry, fellas, but Mackovic apologizing is an admission of guilt. The players were right on this one. \nWhat happened last Saturday in Berkeley, Calif., only further proved that Mackovic was in the wrong to begin with. Arizona, a 16.5-point underdog, upset California on the road, 52-41. \n"Coach told us to go out and have fun, play hard and don't worry about making mistakes," safety Clay Hardt said after the game. \nJohnson, publicly embarrassed one week prior, threw for a school-record 492 yards.\nImagine that, having fun.\nOne school having a lot of fun is Kansas State. These Wildcats whipped Nebraska, 49-13, last Saturday, and they have now outscored their last three opponents, 171-20. That is an average per-game score of 57-7. A complete team, they are in the top five in the nation in both scoring offense and total defense.\nKansas State never used to enjoy this type of success. In fact, they were once known as the Northwestern of the Big Eight (later the Big 12) without the academic reputation. From 1950 to 1988, the year before coach Bill Snyder arrived, Kansas State won 105 games. That's less than three wins a year. Yuck. In his first 13 years at K-State, he won 105 games. That's more than eight wins a year. They will go to their tenth straight bowl game this year. Prior to 1993, they had never won a bowl game. Since then, they have won five bowl games. While they have won only 13 of 87 all-time games against dominant national power Nebraska, they now have won three of their last five, and last Saturday, they pounded the Cornhuskers similar to the way they had been receiving poundings all these years.\nSnyder's manner with players is much more protective. Prior to the Nebraska game, he did what he usually does. He kept players off-limits to the media. He never provides full disclosure when it comes to player injuries. He even closes practices to the school's sports information officials.\nCurt McKeever of the Lincoln Journal Star said Snyder "may have the most unyielding drive for perfection of anyone who has ever coached big-time college football."\nReaction? The players had no comment. But I bet they had fun against Nebraska.