A roundup of the week Aug. 30-Sept. 5

COLLEGE FOOTBALL—In the opener of the sport's 114th season, Brigham Young defeated UNLV 27-0. Two hundred seventy-one yards passing by Steve Young (a descendant of Brigham) almost made the Cougars happy that their All-America quarterback, Jim McMahon, is now playing in Chicago. Another young quarterback, Syracuse sophomore Steve Peach, threw for 209 yards and one touchdown to lead the Orange to a 31-8 skinning of Rutgers as two of the East's nine remaining Division I-A teams got into action. Two more did the same the next day, Penn State rolling to its ninth straight win over Temple, 31-14, as Joe Paterno unveiled his new "open" offense. Make that wide open: Quarterback Todd Blackledge tied a Nittany Lion record with four touchdown passes, three of them in the first quarter. But the highest-flying quarterback of all was Boston College sophomore Doug Flutie, who physically (18 of 27, 346 yards, three TDs) and verbally ("They used some unsound defenses. I couldn't believe some of the things they were doing") riddled the Texas A&M secondary as the Eagles shocked Jackie Sherrill's Aggies 38-16. Sherrill, who at $267,000 a year is the highest-paid coach in the country, said of his debut at A&M, "We lost because I did a terrible job." One man who didn't was Eddie Robinson, who has coached at Grambling for 40 years. He won his 298th game, only 17 fewer than Bear Bryant, as the Tigers beat Morgan State 42-13. In other action, Illinois handed Northwestern its 32nd consecutive loss, 49-13; Missouri beat Colorado State 28-14; Arizona State routed Oregon 34-3; Mississippi State defeated Tulane 30-21, while Mississippi rolled over Memphis State 27-10; Duke edged Tennessee 25-24; Florida State held off Cincinnati 38-31; South Carolina beat Pacific 41-6; and Florida surprised Miami 17-14 (page 16).

CYCLING—At the world championships in Good-wood, England, East Germany's BERND DROGAN won the amateur road race, covering the 113.8 miles in 4:17:48, while MANDY JONES of Britain finished first in the women's road test, completing the 37.9-mile course in 1:31:00.

GOLF—CALVIN PEETE fired a final round 69 for a 19-under-par 265, seven strokes better than Jerry Pate, to win his third tournament of the year, the $275,000 B.C. Open in Endicott, N.Y.

Jay Sigel defeated longshot David Tolley 8 and 7 in the 36-hole final round of the 82nd U.S. Amateur Championship in Brookline, Mass.

HARNESS RACING—Bob Williams drove DIAMOND EXCHANGE ($21.60) to victory in the $494,260 World Trotting Derby at the Du Quoin (Ill.) Fairgrounds, winning two of three one-mile heats with times of 1:56[3/5] and 1:57[1/5]. Jazz Cosmos was second on the strength of a win and a second.

HORSE RACING—ISLAND WHIRL ($24), Angel Cordero Jr. up, beat Silver Buck by five lengths to win the $227,500 Woodward Stakes. The 4-year-old colt covered the 1‚⅛ miles in 1:46[2/5].

MOTOR SPORTS—GARY BECK drove the fastest quarter mile ever in drag racing, clocking 5.54 seconds in qualifying for the National Hot Rod Association U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. His speed at the finish line was 250 mph.

SOCCER—Host teams advanced to the NASL semifinals as all 12 first-round games were won at home. In a decisive quarterfinal game, Fort Lauderdale ousted Montreal 4-1, Bernd Holzenbein scoring two goals and Bruce Miller getting the game-winner. It was his first goal since June 1979. Seattle knocked out Toronto 4-2 on Steve Daley's two goals, and San Diego came from behind to eliminate Vancouver 2-1 as Vidal Fernandez scored at 87:19. Against Tulsa, New York's Steve Hunt waited even longer, scoring the only goal of the pivotal game with 1:38 to go. In the first game of the best-of-three semi-finals, Fort Lauderdale beat Seattle 2-0 in Seattle, thereby scoring the first road victory of the playoffs. Former Sounder Miller scored at 15:40 for his second gamer in as many nights. San Diego's Ade Coker, the playoffs' leading scorer along with Holzenbein, was issued a red card for kicking Whitecap Defender Terry Yorath after the Sockers' quarterfinal victory. An appeal failed and Coker was forced to sit out the opening game of the New York-San Diego semifinal. It may have been the difference, since the Cosmos prevailed by the slimmest of margins, 2-1, on a Jeff Durgan header—his first NASL outdoor goal—with only 52 seconds left in regulation.

TRACK & FIELD—The British quartet of PETER ELLIOTT (1:49.14), GARRY COOK (1:46.20), STEVE CRAM (1:44.54) and SEBASTIAN COE (1:44.01) broke the world record in the 3,200-meter relay, set by the Soviet national team in 1978, by 4.21 seconds with a clocking of 7:03.89 in London.

MILEPOSTS—APPROVED: By the International Amateur Athletic Federation, the sanctioning body in international track and field, the payment of fees for product endorsements and, at a number of IAAF-approved meets, appearance money to top performers. Payment will go to the athlete's national federation to be held in trust; once the athlete draws on his fund, his amateur status will be lost.

NAMED: As coach of the Los Angeles Express of the USFL, HUGH CAMPBELL, 41, who in five years in Edmonton led the Eskimos to four Canadian Football League titles; as coach of the USFL's Birmingham Stallions, ROLLIE DOTSCH, 49, Pittsburgh Steeler line coach for the past four years.

RECALLED: By the Houston Astros, Pitcher J.R. RICHARD, 32, who suffered a stroke in the middle of the 1980 season. Richard, most recently with the Astros' AAA affiliate in Tucson, had a minor league record this season of 0-2 and an ERA of 14.95.

SIGNED: By the Washington Capitals to a one-year contract with a one-year option, Czechoslovakian hockey star MILAN NOVY, 30. Novy, a center, has played in seven world championship tournaments and two Winter Olympics.

By the Ferrari Formula I team, MARIO ANDRETTI, 42, 1978 Grand Prix world driving champion. Andretti, who this season has been concentrating on Indy-type racing with the Patrick team, will drive a Ferrari in the Italian Grand Prix on Sept. 12. Ferrari's regular drivers at the outset of this season were Gilles Villeneuve, killed practicing for the Belgian Grand Prix, and Didier Pironi, seriously injured during practice at the German Grand Prix.

TRADED: By the New York Yankees, Pitcher TOMMY JOHN, 39, to the California Angels for three minor-leaguers; by the Houston Astros, Pitcher DON SUTTON, 37, to the Milwaukee Brewers for three minor-leaguers.

By the Baltimore Colts, Receiver ROGER CARR, 30, to the Seattle Seahawks for an undisclosed draft pick; by the Pittsburgh Steelers, Linebacker ZACK VALENTINE, 25, to the Colts for a future draft choice; by the New England Patriots, Defensive End TONY McGEE, 33, to the Washington Redskins for a middle-round draft pick in 1984; by the Denver Broncos, Offensive Tackle KELVIN CLARK, 26, for an undisclosed draft choice; by the San Diego Chargers, Offensive Lineman JEFF WILLIAMS, 25, to the Chicago Bears for future draft picks; by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Quarterback CHUCK FUSINA, 25, to the San Francisco 49ers for an undisclosed draft choice.

DIED: SHELLY GOUDREAU, 34, one of North America's leading harness drivers, of head injuries suffered when he was thrown to the track after a driving line on his pacer snapped during a race at Hollywood Park on Aug. 27; in Inglewood, Calif. A native of Windsor, Ontario who earned more than $12 million in 2,000 races during a 14-year career, Goudreau called his attachment to harness racing "a fever nothing could break."