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Monday, November 18, 2002

The Division I-AA playoff selection committee huddled by conference call yesterday, and you bet they mentioned Duquesne. They have done just that for five weeks now. Mentioned Duquesne.

Then gone on to in other business ...

Here's a better idea for the committee come next week's Selection Sunday: Delve into Duquesne. Mull over the at-large playoff possibilities of the Dukes outside your scholarship-rich football realm. Take a good look at their recent domination of a weak conference (24 consecutive victories by a 41-9 average) and their ranking in the latest batch of national defensive statistics (No. 1) and their potential NFL prospects (three).

And check out one final factoid: With defending champion Montana losing Saturday to lackluster Eastern Washington, the longest winning streak across the Division I-AA landscape belongs to none other than Greg Gattuso's non-scholarship boys from The Bluff (11 in a row).

"If they give us a chance, we could play with anybody, any situation," said Dukes cornerback Leigh Bodden, one of those potential NFL summer campers and a guy needing one interception Saturday against Albany in their pseudo-bowl ECAC Classic to tie the Division I-AA career mark.

"Everyone at this point is hoping we could get an at-large bid," added quarterback Niel Loebig, "and maybe we can be a Cinderella."

Just give her an invite.

The highest level of collegiate playoff football isn't without. Duquesne Athletic Director Brian Colleary knows. Four years ago, he sat on this same playoff selection committee. He heard biases lean toward the traditional powers such as the Southern Conference's Georgia Southern, Furman and Appalachian State. He came to learn, though not accept, the unwritten rule that no non-scholarship program -- like Duquesne and its Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference brethren -- has yet to receive an invite to the biggest dance in NCAA football.

No wonder Colleary worked over the Richmond athletic director for most of a three-hour, double-overtime Atlantic 10 soccer playoff game Friday night in Virginia, all because that AD sits on the football playoff selection committee.

"You're relentless," A-10 Commissioner Linda Bruno told him that night.

"The case wasn't there four years ago," Colleary said standing in the rain at Rooney Field the next day after the Dukes ran their record to a school-record 11-0 with a 27-0 victory against the Stags of Fairfield. With a Dukes victory Saturday in Albany, the committee could take Duquesne as the exception to their unwritten rule, their fears of scholarships losing to non-scholarships be damned. "There aren't many teams that can be 12-0 before the playoffs start. We meet all the criteria that there is to be in it."

Duquesne has beaten all comers this season, including non-scholarship power Dayton, plus Patriot Leaguers Lafayette and Bucknell, by a walloping 36-8 -- all without their best player and top pro prospect.

Josh Rue of Gateway High School, a 6-foot-2, 245-pound fullback and defensive end, was whispered in training camp to be academically ineligible. It became official Sept. 3, just four days before the season opened. "Everyone was wide-eyed," Loebig said. The season before, Rue rushed for 900-plus yards and 12 touchdowns while also ranking second on the team with four sacks plus intercepting a pass. He is such an amazing talent, NFL scouts still salivate noticeably at year-old film.

"He'll be in a camp next year, I don't think there's any doubt, from what the scouts are saying," said Gattuso, whose team also lost starting left guard Hakim Carroll to health problems at season's start, safety Joe Pavlick to a broken ankle and pro prospect receiver Jeremy Conley of Allderdice for three quarters Saturday because of a twisted ankle. Gattuso added of the unbeaten streak: "I really didn't expect this. The schedule was hard -- we played two Patriot League teams, we played Dayton and St. Peter's away, we had a tough first six weeks. Regardless of what happens next week, this team has accomplished a lot."