THE WEEK

MIDWEST

1. OKLAHOMA (3-0)
2. OHIO STATE (3-0)
3. NOTRE DAME (3-0)

Michigan State had been battered 51-6 the week before by USC, and a transplanted cornerback, Mark Niesen, was at quarterback, yet it took three field goals by Bob Thomas (now six for six on the year) and a last-second touchdown run of eight yards by Andy Huff to give Notre Dame a bruising 16-0 victory over the Spartans before a national television audience and 77,828 fans at East Lansing. Thomas' first field goal, from 47 yards, proved sufficient to win against a Michigan State offense that made too many mistakes, stuck almost entirely to the ground, punted more often than it passed (10-9) and never penetrated deeper than the Irish 44.

In its first three games Penn State had failed to score a point in the first half, but the Nittany Lions made up for it with 21 points in the first quarter of their game with Illinois, going on to win 35-17. The Illini scored first on an 11-yard pass from Mike Wells to Bob Hayes and led 7-6 until Penn State's John Cappelletti raced 53 yards for a touchdown and Quarterback John Hufnagel passed 37 yards to Chuck Herd for another score. The Lions boosted their margin to 28-10 at halftime, when Hufnagel scored from 13 yards out on a keeper and then coasted home.

Improving Navy trailed powerful Michigan only 7-0 after three periods, but was blown apart by a 28-point final quarter spiced by Dave Brown's 83-yard punt return, and lost to the Wolverines 35-7. In Big Ten games Purdue shut out Iowa 24-0 and Wisconsin defeated Northwestern 21-14 as Rufus (Roadrunner) Ferguson broke Alan Ameche's school scoring record with two touchdowns for a career total of 152 points. The Badgers pulled out the victory with two touchdowns in the last 2:10, the final score coming on a 51-yard pass from Rudy Steiner to Jeff Mack.

In the Big Eight, Oklahoma and Nebraska rested, but Oklahoma State, upset victor over Colorado two weeks ago, barely nipped Missouri 17-16 when Brent Blackman connected on a 54-yard touchdown pass to Split End Steve Pettes that came on fourth down with 98 seconds to play. Then Eddie Garrett, who missed a conversion kick in Oklahoma State's earlier loss to Arkansas, kicked the winning point.

Kansas State was trailing 24-17 with nine minutes to go in its game with Colorado at Manhattan, but Wildcat Quarterback Dennis Morrison was firing bullets and moving his team toward a tie or possible victory. Then the tide turned with shocking suddenness. Gangling Mark Cooney, Colorado's 6'4", 224-pound right tackle, grabbed a deflected Morrison pass and galloped 69 yards for the touchdown that sent the Buffaloes off toward a 38-17 win.

SOUTHWEST

1. TEXAS (3-0)
2. ARKANSAS (3-1)
3. RICE (2-1-1)

Cautious ineptitude had characterized the play of Arkansas through a trouncing by USC, one-point squeakers over Oklahoma State and Tulsa, and almost three-quarters of a game it was losing to TCU last week. "We just stand around hoping we don't make a mistake," moaned Razorback Coach Frank Broyles. Then, trailing the Horned Frogs 13-0, the Porkers suddenly began to gobble up yardage and touchdowns with uninhibited greed. Quarterback Joe Ferguson finally looked like a Heisman candidate, tossing touchdown passes of 34 yards to Jack Ettinger, eight yards to Mike Rep-pond and 11 and 20 yards to Jim Hodge, and guided his team to 204 yards on its last 23 offensive plays as Arkansas won 27-13.

In what was designed to serve as merely a brisk tune-up for its game this Saturday with Oklahoma, Texas was twice forced to come from behind to beat Utah State, at Austin, 27-12. With Tony Adams hitting 26 of 41 passes during the night, the Longhorns staked themselves to early leads of 6-0 and 9-7 before Billy (Sure) Schott kicked a 38-yard field goal to put Texas ahead to stay 10-9 with 13 seconds left in the first half.

LSU also met unexpectedly tough resistance in Houston against Rice but turned three fumble recoveries and five interceptions into a 12-6 victory. The Owls were kept in the game by End Gary Butler, who bobbed up between the turnovers to catch six passes for 120 yards. The Tigers now have the nation's longest winning streak among major colleges, eight games, but meet Auburn this Saturday, and Coach Charlie McClendon says he's worried. "Auburn has broken the longest winning streaks in the country two weeks in a row, beating Tennessee and Mississippi," warned McClendon, "and I'm sure they'll be ready for us."

WEST

1. USC (5-0)
2. UCLA (4-1)
3. AIR FORCE (4-0)

UCLA Coach Pepper Rodgers was not at all impressed by the fact that his Bruins were listed as a 32-point favorite over visiting Arizona. "There are easy games in Ping-Pong and tennis," he said, "but there are no easy games in football." A sound diagnosis by Dr. Pepper. While crosstown rival USC was busy edging Stanford, UCLA had to come from behind three times to finally win 42-31. Arizona scored on long relentless marches the first three times it had possession and led at the half 21-14. UCLA went ahead 28-24 as the third quarter ended, but Arizona immediately regained the lead by moving 72 yards to a score on nine plays. After Bruin Fullback Gary Campbell had put his club ahead with a 24-yard burst up the middle, Halfback Kermit Johnson, who was to gain a school-record 183 yards on only 15 carries, finally put Arizona down to stay, scampering 69 yards for the insurance touchdown. Punch was also provided by Halfback James McAlister, who rushed for 121 yards on 11 tries, and Quarterback Mark Harmon, who ran the Wishbone to a T as the Bruins rolled up 505 yards on offense, breaking a school record that had stood for 27 years.

The Washington Huskies may well be the most inept unbeaten team in the nation. They have stumbled precariously to all but one of their victories and last week were able to preserve a 23-17 decision over Oregon only when the officials apparently neglected to notice in the closing seconds of the game what losing Coach Dick Enright declared was a flagrant case of end zone pass interference. With Quarterback Sonny Sixkiller hitting on two touchdown passes, the Huskies moved out to a 16-0 lead. Then Oregon Quarterback Dan Fonts, who completed 21 of 47 passes, brought the Web-foots right back in the second half and with the seconds ticking down to a precious few had steered his team to a first down on the Washington 10. Then came the game saver, a first-down pass to End Greg Lindsey in the end zone which was declared incomplete, though Lindsey had been jolted aside by a premature tackle.

At Berkeley, with his team trailing California 12-9 in the third quarter, Ohio State Coach Woody Hayes made a rare blunder that ironically set up his team's 35-18 win over the Bears. Confused following a penalty, Woody sent in his punting team on third down. Suspicious, California Coach Mike White kept his punt-return specialist, Scott Stringer, on the bench. Rattled by the unexpected chore, Cornerback Jerry Jones fumbled the ensuing punt and Ohio State recovered at the Bear 45. Inspired by the gift, the Buckeyes scored a touchdown five plays later on Fullback Harold Hen-son's one-yard plunge.

At Fort Collins high-flying Air Force took an early lead over Colorado State with three first-half touchdowns by Joel Carlson, then kept right on grinding out the TDs in the second half to rout the Rams 52-13.

Arizona State produced an awesome defense that held Oregon State to a total of one yard rushing while Halfback Woody Green was skittering for 181 yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries as the Sun Devils crushed the Beavers 38-7 on a soggy field at Tucson.

EAST

1. PENN STATE (3-1)
2. WEST VIRGINIA (4-1)
3. DARTMOUTH (2-0)

Until four minutes remained in the first half, West Virginia and William & Mary had hulled and puffed through a strenuous defensive battle at Morgantown. Then came the deluge. Mountaineer Quarterback Bernie Galilfa threw touchdown passes of 75 and 17 yards to Flanker Danny Buggs, and one of 44 yards to Split End Marshall Mills to send his team off at halftime with a 28-0 lead. The touchdown torrent continued in the second half, but this time it was the Indians' turn. Doug Gerhart carried for three of William & Mary's five second-half touchdowns to help ignite a furious rally that was not squelched until Buggs went 31 yards to score on a flanker reverse with five minutes left in the game to insure a 49-34 victory for the Mountaineers.

Chilled and wet, 6,074 spectators sat through a rainstorm in the Yale Bowl to watch the Elis win a clash of Wishbone offenses with fumbling Colgate. The Red Raiders led at halftime 7-0 on a leaping end-zone catch by Steve Fraser of a Tom Pan-pass, but in the second half Yale collected three scores with short marches following Colgate fumbles to win 27-7.

Brown's senior Placekicker Tyler Chase booted an Ivy League record five field goals as the Bruins defeated Penn 28-20 in the rain at Providence and ended an 11-game losing string. Columbia and Princeton sloshed to a 0-0 tie in the Tigers' Palmer Stadium in a game that produced a brilliant burst of defensive coups in the third period. First, Princeton Linebackers Joe Parsons and Tony Riposta hurled back two Columbia plunges from the Tiger one-yard line and then, on fourth down, Defensive Back Jim Stephens picked off a Don Jackson pass and headed full steam for the distant goal line. A touchdown seemed inevitable until Steve Howland broke through a cordon of five blockers to make the saving tackle on the Lion 26. At Worcester, Dartmouth defeated Holy Cross 17-7. Indiana came over from Big Ten country to squeeze past Syracuse 10-2. Undefeated Delaware kept its small-college supremacy intact with a 27-0 victory over Lafayette as Vern Roberts rushed for 205 yards.

SOUTH

1. LSU (4-0)
2. ALABAMA (4-0)
3. AUBURN (4-0)

In the first hall of its game with Georgia in Athens, visiting Alabama decided it would try to overpower the Bulldogs with crunching runs up the middle. The result was a narrow 7-0 lead. In the second half Tide Coach Bear Bryant, fed up with muscle, switched to an assortment of outside runs and short passes. The result was an easy 25-7 victory and a still unbeaten record. With Offensive Linemen John Hannah and Jim Krapf clearing the way, Quarterback Terry Davis moved Alabama's Wishbone attack on third-quarter marches of 78 and 80 yards, hitting a 39-yard scoring toss to Wayne Wheeler that was called at the line of scrimmage and caught the Bulldog defense napping, then scoring himself on a one-yard sneak. Georgia proved a generous host, losing four fumbles and two interceptions. "We should have wrapped it up in the first half with all the opportunities they gave us," growled The Bear.

Florida State suffered its first defeat of the season in a flood of turnovers at Tallahassee as the Seminoles were humiliated by intrastate rival Florida 42-13. State Quarterback Gary Huff put a lot of impressive statistics on the board, throwing 58 passes and completing 27 for 325 yards, but only one touchdown. Florida State lost six fumbles and four of Huff's passes fell into enemy hands as the Gators salted the game away with a three-touchdown third quarter, all following recovered fumbles.

The loss by graduation of Quarterback Pat Sullivan and Wide Receiver Terry Beasley seems to have left Auburn not at all bereft, and last week in Jackson the Tigers stayed undefeated by upsetting Mississippi 19-13. Tailback Terry Henley was used early as a battering ram to soften up the Ole Miss forward wall, and then in the third period Auburn Quarterback Randy Walls put the Tigers in front with a 39-yard touchdown pass to Wingback Tom Gossom and a five-yard touchdown run of his own. The Auburn defense finally saved the victory in the final minute, preventing Ole Miss from scoring on four thrusts from the nine.

In Atlanta, Quarterback Eddie McAshan threw two touchdown passes to 5'9", 160-pound sophomore Flanker Jim Robinson and scored once himself as Georgia Tech rolled over Clemson 31-9. At Memphis, Tennessee Halfback Haskel (Snapback) Stan-back scored on runs of four, three and 24 yards as the Volunteers crushed Memphis State 38-7. In Raleigh, North Carolina State's usually porous defense came up with a first-period goal-line stand, checking Duke Fullback Steve Jones on fourth down at the three-inch line, then continued to stay tough, shutting out the Blue Devils 17-0.

Virginia Tech Quarterback Don Strock completed 34 of 53 passes for 527 yards, but Houston rallied from a 27-7 deficit to tie the game 27-27 on a 20-yard scoring pass from D.C. Nobles to Bryan Willingham with 75 seconds left.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

THE BACK: Arkansas' rifle-armed Quarterback Joe Ferguson, who completed 20 of 32 passes for 304 yards and four second-half touchdowns to lead the Razorbacks to a come-from-behind victory over Texas Christian.

THE LINEMAN: Auburn's Mac Lorendo, a mobile 6'3", 236-pound offensive tackle who personally cleared the way for 115 of the 150 yards Tailback Terry Henley gained in the Tigers' upset victory over 18th-ranked Mississippi.