Most football players would be satisfied with one Heisman Trophyand two national championships. Not Gino Torretta.
After winning the Heisman Saturday, the Miami quarterback sethis sights on a third national title. Torretta can achieve his goalby leading the top-ranked Hurricanes over No. 2 Alabama in the SugarBowl Jan. 1.
"I'm ready to go for the national championship," he said. "Itwould be a perfect way to end my college career."
Torretta started four games as a redshirt freshman when Miamiwon the national championship in 1989, and guided the Hurricanes toanother title last year. If Miami beats Alabama, he will become thefirst quarterback in 17 years to lead his team to consecutivenational championships.
"My main goal was to leave Miami with more wins than any otherquarterback, and I did that," said Torretta, whose 26-1 record as astarter is better than that of Vinny Testaverde, Steve Walsh, CraigErickson, Bernie Kosar or Jim Kelly.
Testaverde, who won the Heisman in 1986, is the only other Miamiplayer to win the coveted award. His backup that season was GeoffTorretta, one of Gino's three older brothers.
"I was very happy when Vinny won, but obviously it means evenmore when your brother wins," said Geoff, who was at the DowntownAthletic Club for both announcements.
Torretta won comfortably over his closest challengers, runningbacks Marshall Faulk of San Diego State and Garrison Hearst ofGeorgia. Torretta, the most prolific passer in Miami history, hadmore first-place votes than Faulk and Hearst combined.
Faulk, the nation's leading rusher the last two years, was theHeisman favorite midway through the season. But injuries forced thesophomore to miss 2 1/2 games down the stretch, including San DiegoState's season finale against Miami. Torretta passed for 310 yardsand one touchdown as Faulk watched from the sideline.
Faulk said he will remain at San Diego State next year. Hearst,a junior who led the nation in scoring and was second in rushing,said he hasn't decided whether to play another season at Georgia orturn pro. He will make up his mind after the Bulldogs play OhioState in the Citrus Bowl on Jan. 1.
FSU'S JONES TO NFL? You might think Florida State coachBobby Bowden would be a little happier than he was Saturday whenjunior Marvin Jones won the prestigious Butkus Award as collegefootball's top linebacker.
"I was afraid of it," Bowden said.
What Bowden fears is the award will increase the pressure onJones to make himself available for the National Football Leaguedraft.
"Nobody would love to see him stay more than me. But odds arenot in our favor. (Terrell) Buckley and Sammy Smith are a couple ofgood ones we lost (as early entries to the NFL draft), and Marvin isright up there with those guys."
Jones said he would not consider whether to return to theSeminoles next year or play in the NFL until after Florida State'sOrange Bowl game with Nebraska on New Year's Day.
SMALL COLLEGES: Marshall has a chance to avenge last season'sloss to Youngstown State in the NCAA Division I-AA championship game.
"We deserve to be where we are right now," running back GlennPedro said after the Thundering Herd advanced to the title game witha 28-7 victory over Delaware Saturday.
Youngstown State beat Northern Iowa 19-7 in the other semifinal.The Penguins visit the Herd Saturday in Huntington, W.Va.
"In the playoffs, we've had Villanova, which is a great team, atNo. 1 (The Citadel), then at No. 3 (Northern Iowa) and now we're atthe home team's stadium," Youngstown State coach Jim Tressel said."So whoever wrote the script has certainly challenged us."
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