THE WEEK

EAST

For top-ranked Pitt, just four little syllables undid three quarters of futility against West Virginia. When West Virginia Linebacker Darryl Talley blocked and recovered a punt in the end zone, the Panthers trailed 13-0. "Standing there waiting for the kickoff return, we started to scream, 'We ain't goin' down,' " said Offensive Guard Ronnie Sams. "When we got in the huddle we all put our hands together and gave our chant, 'Bo-he-mi-an, Bo-he-mi-an.' [Sams's dad distributes Stroh's Bohemian beer.] It's something that gets us going in practice, but we hadn't done it in a game." Nine plays and 83 yards after that kickoff, Pitt had its first touchdown. Quarterback Danny Marino pitching to Byron Thomas on a three-yard TD run. Two series later Marino hit Wide Receiver Julius Dawkins on a six-yard look-in to give the Panthers the lead. Defensive Tackle Bill Mass sealed the 16-13 victory by chasing WVU Quarterback Jeff Hosteller out of the end zone for a safety.

"He was throwing helicopters," said Boston College Coach Jack Bicknell, describing the passing of Doug Flutie, his sophomore quarterback, in the first half of the Eagles' 17-7 defeat of Temple. Though Flutie did finally settle down—he finished 18 of 36 for 266 yards—it was his 34-yard dash in the fourth quarter on a quarterback draw that clinched unbeaten BC's home opener.

Maryland's Jess Atkinson booted four field goals in the Terps' 26-3 defeat of Syracuse; the Rutgers defense harassed William & Mary Quarterback Stan Yagiello, the top-ranked passer in Division I-AA going into the game, into three interceptions in its 27-17 defeat of the Indians; and Delaware's K.C. Knobloch kicked a school-record 23rd career field goal, this one with :01 left to give the Blue Hens a 20-19 victory over Lehigh.

After overwhelming Columbia 51-31, Penn found itself 3-0 for the first time since 1968, while Yale found itself 0-3 for the first time in the 110 years it has played intercollegiate football—following a 10-6 loss to Holy Cross. Princeton rallied to beat Brown 28-23; Boston University downed Cornell 17-6; Massachusetts throttled Rhode Island 17-7; Colgate defeated Dartmouth 38-21; Connecticut downed New Hampshire 20-17; and Army nosed out Harvard 17-13.

Maine's games are becoming mercifully shorter—but the Black Bears can't seem to avoid losing by three. After falling 58-55 to Rhode Island in six overtimes and 48-45 to BU in four OTs, the marathon men from Orono blew a 17-3 lead and lost 35-32 to Towson State on Scan Landeta's 22-yard field goal with one second left. In regulation.

SOUTH

"If we don't go out and let our brains become scrambled eggs, we'll win the football game," Louisiana State Coach Jerry Stovall told the unranked Tigers at halftime of their 24-13 upset of Top Ten Florida. To get the first egg on their record, the Gators yoked themselves, taking the collar on four touchdown opportunities inside the LSU 20. The Tigers built a 24-5 lead at the half, getting three touchdowns from freshman Tailback Dalton Hilliard, who ran for 127 yards and caught four passes for 80 more. LSU Quarterback Alan Risher completed his first seven passes, finished nine of 14 for 148 yards and hit Hilliard for TDs of three and 41 yards as the Tigers remained unbeaten in three games. "I don't think we blew Florida out," Stovall said afterward. "I think we have a good club, but how good I'm not sure."

Arkansas State's Larry Lacewell, on the other hand, knew how good his Indians were in relation to Alabama even before they played. He scheduled the game for the thrill of coaching against Bear Bryant, who, like Lacewell, had played for the Fordyce (Ark.) High Redbugs. "This has been a thrilling day for me, as well as a thrilling day for my players," he said after losing the Redbug Bowl 34-7. "I'm also thrilled it's over." The 'Bama offense may have been, also, after losing six fumbles. But backup Quarterback Perry Cuda, who for the past two years has regularly received phone calls and postcards from a woman who claims to be Brooke Shields, let nothing come between him and his split end. He hit Joey Jones for TD passes of 20 and 17 yards twice within 23 seconds of the second quarter.

"I'm 95 percent there," proclaimed Tailback Kelvin Bryant, still recovering from a sprained ankle suffered against Pitt in the opening game of the season, as the Tar Heels defeated Georgia Tech 41-0. In fact, Bryant carried almost 95% of the load on a 76-yard Tar Heel scoring drive after entering the game in the second quarter. He ran right for 16 yards, then left for 13, handed off to Flanker Mark Smith on a 10-yard end-around and threw 12 yards to Smith on a tailback pass to the five before taking it in himself. Bryant handled the ball on nine of the drive's 10 plays.

At halftime, trailing Nebraska by only a touchdown, Auburn honored two of its graduates, Ken Mattingly and Henry Hartsfield of Columbia fame. The Tigers then incinerated upon reentry. The Cornhuskers scored 27 points in the second half on their way to a 41-7 rout.

In the October issue of Guideposts, a national interfaith magazine, Georgia's Herschel Walker revealed that he had considered quitting football early last season and again this year in preseason practice. Walker wrote that he had drawn strength from a picture of Jesus in his dorm room. "I realized I'd found the example I needed to follow," he said. Walker's 215 yards rushing led the Bulldogs in their 29-22 defeat of Mississippi State, but the win wasn't assured until Middle Guard Kevin Jackson recovered Bulldog Quarterback John Bond's fumble at the Georgia 18 late in the fourth quarter.

Clemson President Bill Atchley ordered Coach Danny Ford to withhold Quarterback Homer Jordan from the Tigers' game with Kentucky because of the school's investigation of Jordan's purchase of a 1982 car. In rolled backup Mike Eppley, the starting point guard on the Tiger basketball team, to trigger a 24-6 win over the Wildcats. Eppley completed nine of 13 passes for 95 yards, and Tailback Cliff Austin ran for 116 and three TDs.

Navy's Marco Pagnanelli broke Roger Staubach's 19-year-old school record for completion percentage in a game—he was 15 of 17 for 171 yards (88%) and two TDs—as the Midshipmen tagged Duke with its first loss, 27-21. Blue Devil Quarterback Ben Bennett, throttled for three quarters by a Navy defense that had eight men off the line of scrimmage, completed 20 of 24 for 262 yards and three TDs in the final quarter alone.

Elsewhere, N.C. State beat Virginia 16-13; Wake Forest edged Virginia Tech 13-10; Tennessee defeated Washington State 10-3; Vanderbilt downed Tulane 24-21; Southern Mississippi thumped Memphis State 34-14; and South Carolina thrashed Cincinnati 37-10.

WEST

"He's been bugging me for a year to play tailback," USC Coach John Robinson said early last week. "Now's his chance." Fullback Todd Spencer's wish to play that storied position for the Trojans—Ricky Bell and Marcus Allen were both converted fullbacks—came true when Southern Cal Tailback Fred Crutcher went down with a knee injury. And Spencer made the most of his chance by rushing 29 times for 149 yards on three touchdowns as USC defeated Oregon 38-7.

Washington's 46-25 win over San Diego State didn't sit well with Husky Coach Don James. "I told the team in the locker room that four or five teams on our schedule would beat our brains out if we played against them the way we've been playing." Washington led by only 18-14 at the half, but by then Chuck Nelson had kicked four field goals in a row, from 33, 32, 49 and 23 yards out. That set an NCAA record for consecutive field goals with 19, breaking the three-year-old mark of 16 shared by Ish Ordonez of Arkansas and Maryland's Dale Castro.

Arizona State's defense set up or scored 27 of the Sun Devils' points in a 30-7 defeat of previously unbeaten Kansas State, which gained just 47 yards in 43 rushes. Defensive End Bryan Caldwell recovered a fumble to set up one TD and ran an interception 20 yards to score another.

"You feel a little pang, sure, seeing your record vanish before your eyes," said Jim Plunkett, the L.A. Raider quarterback, after watching his Stanford career passing yardage mark fall at the hands—and arm—of John Elway in the Cardinal's 45-5 romp over Oregon State. Elway's 381 yards in 2½ quarters gave him 7,610 for his career.

San Jose State and Elway's dad, Jack, lost their first game, 26-7 to California; Wyoming defeated Hawaii 28-10; Big Sky Conference preseason favorite Boise State was upset by Northern Arizona 30-14 on Scott Lindquist's three touchdown passes; Montana State beat Idaho State 30-27; Idaho shaded Weber State 35-34; and Montana edged Nevada-Reno 28-27.

MIDWEST

First quarter, Michigan State ball, first-and-10 on its own 29. The Spartans lose five yards. They lose 14. They lose 10 more. Oops, that made Michigan State Quarterback John Leister the only Spartan to get into an end zone all afternoon in an 11-3 loss to Notre Dame. Irish Defensive Tackle Mike Gann nailed Leister for the safety that put the Irish up 2-0, and walk-on Mike Johnston kicked field goals of 33, 29 and 42 yards. "Hey, we've got to give Johnston one, too," said Irish Coach Gerry Faust upon realizing he had overlooked his kicker after awarding game balls to his four defensive coaches. The Notre Dame defense picked off four passes, recovered two fumbles and held the winless Spartans to 19 yards rushing.

"There wasn't a lot of excitement, was there?" said Michigan Coach Bo Schembechler after the Wolverines had beaten back Indiana 24-10. No, Bo, there wasn't. Michigan used its grind-it-out ground game of yore, passing just 10 times while running 62. Tailback Lawrence Ricks carried on 22 of those occasions, for 124 yards and one TD.

Quarterback Kelly Lowrey caught an II-yard touchdown pass from Fullback Cedric Jones on an option play and threw six yards to Tight End Zeke Mowatt for another score that gave Florida State a 14-10 lead and sent the Seminoles on their way to a 34-17 defeat of Ohio State, the Buckeyes' second straight loss at home for the first time in 10 years.

Minnesota ran 96 plays to Illinois' 59, had 31 first downs to the Illini's 11 and outgained its Big Ten rival 442 yards to 345. Yet Gopher Coach Joe Salem said, "We got the hell beat out of us." The reasons the Gophs lost 42-24: seven fumbles, seven sacks and two big plays sandwiched around a safety. Illini Quarterback Tony Eason hit Wide Receiver Mike Martin for an 80-yard touchdown, and Kirby Wilson ran a punt back 46 for a touchdown.

Oklahoma junked its wishbone completely in favor of the I formation in a 13-3 victory over Iowa State. "We needed this win," explained Sooner Coach Barry Switzer, "and our runners had lost their confidence." Perhaps Switzer had, too: The Daily Oklahoman of Oklahoma City, the state's largest newspaper, editorialized last week that Switzer should think of moving on and suggested that his outside business interests had something to do with the team's 1-2 record. Switzer would have none of it. "We won and won," he said. "Now that we stubbed our toe, it's time for me to go."

Jim Melka's 32-yard, last-minute punt return for a TD gave Wisconsin a 35-31 win over Purdue; Miami downed Louisville 28-6; Missouri defeated East Carolina 28-9; Tulsa beat Kansas 20-15; Miami of Ohio blanked Kent State 20-0; Ohio edged Toledo 17-14; and Bowling Green took over first place in the Mid-American Conference by beating Western Michigan 7-3.

Northwestern, which had broken its record 34-game losing streak the previous week, lost 45-7 to Iowa, and new losing streak leader Eastern Michigan dropped its 23rd straight, 13-8 to Central Michigan.

SOUTHWEST

"I still carry around the humiliation," said Arkansas' All-America Defensive End Billy Ray Smith before last week's game with Texas Christian. Smith, who at 6'3½", 228 pounds, would seem very hard to humble, has been smarting since the Razorbacks' 28-24 loss to the Horned Frogs last October in Fort Worth. On TCU Payback Night Smith forced and recovered a fumble that set up the first Hog touchdown and subsequently put the clamps on Frog Quarterback Eddie Clark as he threw a pass into Arkansas Defensive Tackle Earl Buckingham's hands. Buckingham waltzed eight yards for a touchdown in a 35-0 Arkansas victory.

For the third time in four games Southern Methodist scored on its second play from scrimmage. Quarterback Jeff Courtwright, starting for the injured Lance McIlhenny, connected with Tailback Craig James on a 96-yard touchdown pass play to open a 38-10 romp past North Texas State.

New Mexico, 4-0 for the first time since World War II, beat Air Force 49-37 with 502 yards of total offense; Baylor built a 21-0 lead and had the ball at the Houston five-yard line while up 21-7 in the third quarter, but gained nothing more than a 21-21 tie; Texas used four quarterbacks in a 34-7 rout of Rice; Quarterback Jim Hart capped three third-quarter drives with TD passes as Texas Tech upset Texas A&M 24-15; Brigham Young rolled over Texas-El Paso 51-3; New Mexico State won its first game, 26-17 over Illinois State; and Wichita State came from behind to beat West Texas State 24-21.

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PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

OFFENSE: Quarterback John Elway became Stanford's alltime passing leader, with 7,610 yards, picking up 381 as the Cardinal beat Oregon State 45-5. Among his 23 completions were five touchdowns.

DEFENSE: LSU Cornerback James Britt, a 6-foot, 190-pound senior, intercepted two passes, batted down a third in the end zone on a fourth-down play and made six tackles in a 24-13 upending of Florida.