THE WEEK
MIDWEST
Critics who have been putting down the Big Ten as the "Big Two-Little Eight" better take a closer look at Wisconsin. With its 26-0 rout of Illinois, the Badgers now have a 5-0 record, a six-game win streak and the Big Ten lead. All of which may force Coach John Jardine to make a big decision this week as the Badgers prepare to meet Michigan in Ann Arbor; the chief engineer of Wisconsin's rout of the Illini was reserve Quarterback Charles Green.
Starting Quarterback Anthony Dudley sat out the Illini game with a sore back, but Green, who was so nervous about his promotion that he couldn't get to sleep until 3:30 a.m. Saturday, completed nine of his first 10 passes and finished with 11 out of 16 attempts for 148 yards and a touchdown. He also scored on a 12-yard run. Wisconsin finished with a 432-78 edge in yards gained, a 28-6 advantage in first downs and its first conference shutout win since 1966. The Badger defense, which has given up but 34 points this season, forced four turnovers and did not allow a first down until the third quarter.
At East Lansing, 78,183 in the stands and 637 in the press box witnessed the 70th meeting—and 30th sellout—between Michigan and Michigan State, which was marked by gusty winds and a third-quarter downpour. Michigan reigned at the same time, winning 24-14, its eighth straight in the intrastate rivalry.
Quarterback Rick Leach threw for one touchdown and ran for another as the third-ranked Wolverines rushed for 309 yards. Michigan's Harlan Huckleby was the game's leading ground gainer with 146 yards—and no fumbles—on 31 carries. The defeat was Michigan State's third and a costly one for Coach Darryl Rogers, who lost Middle Guard Kim Rowekamp to a knee injury, possibly for the rest of the season.
Ohio State scored more points in the first quarter than it has in any other game in Woody Hayes' tenure en route to a 46-0 defeat of Purdue. The fourth-ranked Buckeyes tallied on their first three possessions—counting a 65-yard touchdown interception return by Mike Guess—and wound up with a 29-0 lead at the end of the first 15 minutes.
Purdue freshman Quarterback Mark Herrmann, who had completed at least 20 passes in each of his previous games, finished with 11 of 21 for 117 yards and two interceptions.
Guess' interception, which came on Purdue's fifth play from scrimmage, was a stunner, but Columbus fans may have been almost as shocked when the Buckeyes' first offensive play was a 46-yard pass from Rod Gerald to Herman Jones. "I thank Woody for keeping the score down," said Purdue Coach Jim Young. "Believe me, it could have been much higher."
"I've never seen a team do a better job against a great passer," Hayes agreed, "and I can't remember when we put it all together offensively and defensively against a team as good as Purdue."
Hayes rested injured Tailback Jeff Logan, Center Tim Vogler and Defensive Tackle Ed Beamon, and if Buckeye opponents need another statistic to disturb them, Ohio State gained 391 yards rushing and 106 passing, with only two seniors—Jim Harrell and Herman Jones—contributing. Harrell had a 36-yard pass reception, Jones a 45-yarder.
For the first time in 14 years Iowa beat Minnesota in Iowa City as sophomore Dave Holsclaw kicked four field goals in the 18-6 triumph, despite a swirling 25-mph wind.
Indiana spotted winless Northwestern a first-quarter field goal before rebounding for a 28-3 victory.
By most standards, Colorado's 196-pound James Mayberry is a smallish fullback, but against Oklahoma State he outgained Heisman candidate Terry Miller in the Buffaloes' 29-13 triumph. Miller, the nation's leading rusher, exceeded the 100-yard mark for the 13th straight game and finished with 139 yards in 25 carries, including a dazzling 78-yard touchdown run. But Mayberry, breaking, carrying and bowling over tacklers on traps through the middle, amassed 250 yards on 24 carries.
"I feel like I proved there is somebody else in the Big Eight besides Terry Miller," Mayberry said. "I have no voting status on the Heisman, but I feel like they know who I am."
The sixth-ranked Buffaloes, who scored twice in the final 43 seconds of last year's game, bettered that performance by scoring twice in the final 33 seconds on Saturday.
I. M. Hipp continued to be the punster's delight and the defense's nemesis as he rushed for 207 yards and two touchdowns while leading ninth-ranked Nebraska to a 26-9 conquest of Kansas State. Hipp's 23 carries included touchdown runs of 66 and 82 yards. However, Kansas State wasn't out of contention until the final quarter, when the Corn-huskers scored a field goal following a pass interception.
Iowa State blanked Missouri 7-0; Kent State topped Western Michigan 20-16, and Miami of Ohio beat Marshall 29-19.
1. MICHIGAN (5-0)
2. OKLAHOMA (4-1)
3. OHIO STATE (4-1)
SOUTH
Proving its victory over Penn State was no fluke, Kentucky opened its Southeastern Conference season by hammering Mississippi State 23-7. The win gave Kentucky a 4-1 record, which is the Wildcats' best start since 1950, when the head coach was a young fellow named Bear Bryant.
As he did against the Nittany Lions, Wildcat Quarterback Derrick Ramsey repeatedly stung the Bulldogs with first-down passes. He also scored on a three-yard run to give the Wildcats a 17-0 halftime lead. All told, Ramsey connected on nine of 17 passes for 138 yards, including a six-yard touchdown toss to Dave Trosper.
For its part, the Wildcat defense held State to 185 yards total offense.
Emulating older brother Garo, Berj Yepremian kicked a 28-yard field goal with 86 seconds left, enabling Florida to tie 15th-ranked Pitt 17-17. The game was marred by 10 lost fumbles (six by Pitt) and marked by the return of Panther Quarterback Matt Cavanaugh, who played with a "soft" cast on his left wrist, which was broken in the Notre Dame game. Cavanaugh was responsible for three of those fumbles but led Pitt to two touchdowns, including one he scored on a three-yard plunge. The Gator defense scored both Florida's TDs, one with a forced fumble, one with a blocked punt.
Pepper Rodgers celebrated his 46th birthday with a 24-8 defeat of Tennessee at Knoxville. It was Georgia Tech's first triumph over the Vols since 1966, the year Bobby Dodd (see page 117) retired as head coach, and the Yellow Jackets accomplished it without throwing a single pass.
In defense of his all-out ground attack, Rodgers said, "If I were coaching the Atlanta Falcons with Steve Bartkowski at quarterback and didn't throw a pass, I'd be pretty stupid. But if I threw 25 times a game with our quarterback [Gary Lanier], I'd be stupid, too." Tech held the Vols without a first down through the first 29 minutes and set up two touchdowns following fumble recoveries and scored another on a pass interception.
If it is possible to bemoan a victory, Coach Bo Rein of North Carolina State did just that after a 17-15 defeat of Auburn. "We thought we could prove a lot by coming down here and having a great win," he said. "As it is we won, but we didn't prove much." N.C. State (5-1) averaged 457 yards and 28 points per game going into the game, but finished with 338 yards and scored only after Auburn lost a fumble on its four-yard line and had a punt blocked on its 36.
"We took advantage of weaker outside coverage on the short side, made a couple of alterations in blocking, gave the ball to Charles Alexander and watched him run," said Coach Charlie McClendon, explaining the strategy change that brought LSU from a 15-0 deficit to a 28-15 win over Vanderbilt. Alexander rushed for 183 yards and three touchdowns.
Ole Miss' upset of Notre Dame obviously was an ill omen. Since that happy Saturday the Rebels have lost three straight by a total of 15 points, most recently a 14-13 game to Georgia in Athens. The Rebels did all their scoring in the last quarter but fell short when a two-point conversion attempt failed.
Duke rallied for 22 points in the second half to beat South Carolina 25-21, as sophomore Fullback Ned Gonet rushed for 110 yards (and two touchdowns) on 19 carries. Senior Defensive Back Earl Cook scored the Blue Devils' winning touchdown on a 30-yard pass interception return with 4:45 left in the game. The pass Cook intercepted was thrown by Ron Bass, his high school teammate in Alexandria, Va.
After three straight losses, Maryland got untracked to beat Syracuse 24-10, substitute Quarterback Larry Dick leading the Terps to 17 points in the second half after Mark Manges fractured his right hand. Clemson hammered Virginia 31-0; Miami edged Kansas 14-7; North Carolina beat Wake Forest 24-3, and Tennessee State (6-0) defeated Grambling (3-1) 26-8.
1. ALABAMA (4-1)
2. KENTUCKY (4-1)
3. N.C. STATE (5-1)
EAST
Through a rain-soaked first half in University Park, Pa., Penn State pelted Utah State with a downpour of impressive statistics. The 10th-ranked Nittany Lions ran 46 plays to the Aggies' 18, out-gained them 245 yards to 86 and controlled the ball for 20 minutes and 22 seconds. But Utah State led 7-6.
The Lions finally salvaged a 16-7 victory from their excellence with the help of Defensive Tackle Bruce Clark, a 240-pound sophomore, who forced two late turnovers; Penn State hadn't been able to force a turnover in 11 previous quarters. Clark's first came on the opening play of the last period, when his devastating tackle of Running Back Tony Gipson popped the ball loose and Penn State recovered on the Aggie 30-yard line. Seven plays later Matt Bahr atoned for four earlier misses by kicking a 22-yard field goal.
After the kickoff, with Utah State at its own 20, Aggie Quarterback Eric Hippie unloaded a pass at the same moment that Clark hooked his throwing arm. The ball flew upward and was intercepted at the 17-yard line by Defensive Back Randy Sidler. Four plays later freshman Halfback Booker Moore scored from the two.
"We demonstrated we were the better football team," said Penn State Coach Joe Paterno. "We just couldn't get some points. As for the Lions' status in the polls, Paterno said, "I won't know where we are this week or next week. Frankly, I don't give a darn."
In a game at Annapolis, Navy sank Air Force 10-7 in the last 41 seconds on Bob Tata's 25-yard field goal. Defenses dominated throughout the game as the expected passing duel between Navy's Bob Leszczynski and the Falcons' Dave Ziebart did not materialize. A two-touchdown favorite, Navy relied on a rushing attack, which threatened to extend its losing streak to three games. On its final drive, however, Navy moved 57 yards to position Tata for his clutch field goal, with Joe Gattuso Jr. carrying four times for 46 yards. Gattuso racked up 143 yards on 23 carries during the game to surpass his father's academy record of 937 yards. A senior, Gattuso has now rushed for 1,039 yards in his career.
When West Virginia's Frank Cignetti moaned that seven of his starters were out with injuries. Temple Coach Wayne Hardin said, "They want to whip us 75-0 and say they did it with four starters. It makes me sick." Hardin felt no better after his Owls gave up 14 points in 14 seconds in the second quarter, thereby blowing a 9-7 lead. The Mountaineers went on to win 38-16 as Walter Easley ran for two touchdowns and Quarterback Dan Kendra twice connected on scoring passes to Cedric Thomas.
Unbeaten Dartmouth moved closer to the Ivy League championship by beating Yale 3-0 on Nick Lowery's 24-yard field goal and a closing-minutes defensive stand on its 11-yard line. The loss was Yale's first shutout defeat in 60 games. Dartmouth last turned the trick in 1970. A face-mask penalty moved Dartmouth in range for Lowery's kick before Yale came back in the final two minutes to reach the 11 on an 85-yard pass from Bob Rizzo to John Spagnola.
Princeton ended its eight-game losing streak, beating Columbia 28-7 as Tiger Bobby Isom, the Ivy League's leading rusher, gained 106 yards on 23 carries and scored a touchdown. In other Ivy battles Harvard traveled to Ithaca and moved into a first-place tie with Dartmouth by dumping Cornell 17-7, and Penn upset Brown for the second year in a row, 14-7.
Army's Leamon Hall ran for two touchdowns and passed for two others as the Cadets edged Villanova 34-32 by scoring 27 points in the second half.
Boston College rallied for 10 points in the final 6:49 to beat Tulane 30-28; Colgate upped its record to 5-0 with a 31-14 romp over Holy Cross and Rutgers routed Connecticut 42-18.
1. PENN STATE (4-1)
2. PITTSBURGH (3-1-1)
3. W. VIRGINIA (4-1)
SOUTHWEST
While the nation's longest major win streak was ending in Los Angeles, the longest losing streak was broken in Houston, where TCU beat Rice 35-15 for the Horned Frogs' first triumph since the 1975 season.
In ending its losing string at 15 games, the Horned Frogs were flagged for an NCAA record 22 penalties totaling 174 yards—a Southwest Conference record—while Rice was in there trying as well, with a dozen infractions for 145 yards.
Less dubious was the record achieved by TCU Receiver Mike Renfro, a senior experiencing victory for the third time in his TCU career. Renfro caught four passes for 99 yards and a touchdown, to set an SWC career-receiving record of 2,323 yards. The previous record was set by Jerry Levias while he was at SMU.
TCU, led by Quarterback Steve Bayuk, who threw for two touchdowns and ran for another and connected on 10 of 19 passes for 161 yards, also racked up its highest point total in 48 games.
"I don't know what I'm going to celebrate when we get back home tonight," Bayuk said after the game, "but there will be a party." TCU Coach F. A. Dry gave his team three days off to recover.
At Waco, freshman Kicker Robert Bledsoe missed his first three field-goal attempts, then hit three straight—the last with 2:16 left to play—to give Baylor a 9-6 victory over SMU. A fumble recovery and a blocked punt had set up two SMU field goals, despite the fact that the Baylor defense did not permit the Mustangs to drive inside the Bears' 40-yard line.
Texas A&I scored 25 points in the fourth quarter, but its 42-game win streak came to an end in a 25-25 tie with Abilene Christian. The NAIA-affiliated Javelinas fell five games short of equaling Oklahoma's alltime collegiate record set in 1953-57.
Colorado State improved its record to 5-0 with a 40-31 defeat of Texas-El Paso.
1. TEXAS (4-0)
2. ARKANSAS (4-0)
3. HOUSTON (3-1)
WEST
Brilliant defense and a rushing attack, which Washington State rarely exhibits even in practice, enabled the Cougars to upset California 17-10 as underdogs prevailed throughout the West. Ripped 41-7 by USC eight days earlier, WSU rebounded to square its PAC-8 record at 1-1 and hand Cal its first defeat of the season. WSU rushed for 184 yards, 100 more than Quarterback Jack Thompson totaled passing. However, Thompson ran for two touchdowns set up by his passes and had his team in front 17-0 before Cal made a late surge that fell 10 yards short.
The Bears' walk-on quarterback, Gary Graumann, had pulled Cal to within a touchdown on a 22-yard scoring pass to Floyd Eddings with little more than a minute left. Despite an onside kick attempt that failed, Cal got the ball back on its own 39 with 44 seconds to play when the Cougars were forced to punt.
Graumann completed three passes to give the Bears a first down at the WSU 10, but the drive ended there after two incompletions and a sack of Graumann by George Yarno as time ran out.
With Quarterback Guy Benjamin sidelined by a knee injury, Stanford was a long-shot choice against UCLA, which had beaten the Cardinals 19 times in 29 years. But Steve Dils completed 24 of 37 passes for 287 yards and led the Cards to a 32-28 victory. Dils' biggest play was a 27-yard touchdown toss to Wide Receiver James Lofton with 37 seconds left. Lofton, a world-class long jumper who had five receptions for 126 yards, caught the scoring toss on the one and shook loose from Ken Easley and Levi Armstrong to go into the end zone. Stanford's freshman Scatback Darrin Nelson also excelled, carrying 23 times for 189 yards and two touchdowns, one on a 31-yard run.
"This victory is a pivotal point in Stanford athletics," proclaimed the Cards' new coach. Bill Walsh. "UCLA has dominated Stanford in football for years because of the type of athletes they've been able to recruit. We've shown we can take them on. From our view, we showed our best offense against the best defensive team we've met this season."
Dils, a 1975 redshirt whose total varsity experience was one play in '76, said, "I've waited so long. It feels good again to hurt all over after a game. You don't get that feeling sitting on the bench."
Said UCLA Coach Terry Donahue, who undoubtedly wished Dils had stayed seated at least one more week, "This conference race is far from over." His Bruins, however, are now 2-3.
In another PAC-8 contest Washington slammed Oregon 54-0 as the Ducks lost five fumbles.
Brigham Young suffered a 24-19 loss to Oregon State at Corvallis, but the Cougars were hurt more by a knee injury suffered by Quarterback Gifford Nielsen, the nation's leading passer, which will sideline him for the rest of the season.
Nielsen, who had thrown 122 passes without an interception coming into the game, was injured early in the fourth quarter and came out with 5:22 remaining. He had thrown for three BYU touchdowns and a 19-0 lead before he was stung by three interceptions—two of which were returned for touchdowns by OSU linebackers.
Texas Tech overcame stubborn Arizona 32-26 as Bill Adams booted four field goals for the Red Raiders. Tech's winning touchdown was scored by Fullback Jimmy Williams, who bulled over from the five with 14:57 left.
Field goals also allowed Utah to gain its first victory of the year, a 23-13 WAC triumph over Wyoming, Tom McNamara hitting three from 44, 30 and 48 yards with his bare foot.
After USC lost, San Diego State had the nation's longest win streak at 10 games. The distinction didn't last long; Fresno State upset the Aztecs 34-14 Saturday night.
Arizona State opened WAC competition by crushing New Mexico, a team which hasn't beaten the Sun Devils since 1942, 45-24. Quarterback Dennis Sproul led the Sun Devils to 17 points on their first three possessions.
Idaho State beat archrival Idaho 34-14; Pacific defeated Hawaii 37-7, and West Texas State edged New Mexico State 17-14.
1. USC (4-1)
2. CALIFORNIA (4-1)
3. STANFORD (4-1)
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
OFFENSE: Colorado Fullback James Mayberry, a 5'11", 196-pound junior, rushed for 250 yards on 24 carries to lead the Buffaloes over Oklahoma State, 29-13. Mayberry's yardage total was third best in Buff history.
DEFENSE: Alabama Defensive End Wayne Hamilton, a 6'5", 228-pound sophomore, made 11 tackles and harried Rob Hertel into throwing away a two-point conversion pass attempt in 'Bama's 21-20 upset of USC.