THE WEEK
MIDWEST
Ohio State Tight End John Frank spent much of last Friday evening in an Oklahoma City synagogue, celebrating Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. Frank decided only the Monday before to play the Buckeyes' game with Oklahoma. "Since I have such a great team commitment, this is one year I decided to sacrifice," he said. Frank then proceeded to catch seven passes, two of them for touchdowns, in Ohio State's 24-14 victory. Quarterback Mike Tomczak completed 15 of 25 passes for 234 yards, and the Buckeye defense held Sooner rushers to 177 yards. "When you can do that to a team like Oklahoma," said Ohio State Coach Earle Bruce, "it's a great victory."
Michigan State was outgained by Notre Dame 446-225 in total yardage and got just two first downs in the second half, but the Spartans scored after two interceptions by Free Safety Phil Parker and on an 81-yard pass and a 34-yard run to upset the Irish 28-23. Said Notre Dame Quarterback Blair Kiel of the interceptions, "Both of the passes were forced. That's stupid me again." The difference in the game, according to Irish Coach Gerry Faust, was Michigan State's punter, Ralf Mojsiejenko, who had a 48.8-yard average for the day.
Wisconsin Punter George Winslow also made a difference as the Badgers edged Missouri 21-20. The Tigers' Ron Floyd fumbled two third-quarter punts—one was recovered by a seldom-used senior safety named Russ Belford to set up a touchdown, and the second was recovered in the end zone by Dan Turk, a junior center. "I never saw a punt like those two," said Floyd. "They were just hanging there. I thought they'd never come down." Explained Winslow, "If I kick them high they have a curveball effect."
Minnesota Coach Joe Salem joked last week that his team goals against Nebraska were to hold I-Back Mike Rozier to under 200 yards and the Huskers to their team scoring average (50 points a game). Rozier did rush for only 196 yards, but Nebraska rolled up 790 yards and 84 points—the most by any Husker team since 1917. "I really am sorry we scored that many points," said Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne. "I hope the people up here don't think we were vindictive. We were just running basic plays."
Cincinnati came down from its upset of Penn State, losing 27-17 to Oklahoma State, while Kansas beat Wichita State 57-6. In that game Jayhawk Kicker Bruce Kallmeyer set an NCAA record for most points kicking in one game, hitting five field goals and six points-after to surpass the mark of 20 points held by Mickey Barilla of Colorado State (1978), Charley Gogolak of Princeton (1965) and Alan Smith of Texas A&M (1983).
WEST
Oregon State Receiver Reggie Bynum helped get USC's players up for their game in Corvallis. "He was quoted as saying this was SC's down year and SC's defense was soft," said Trojan Defensive Back Matt Johnson. "That had a lot to do with us preparing for this game as if it were UCLA or Notre Dame." It was hardly necessary, as the Beavers handed over four turnovers in their own territory and Southern Cal's running game rebounded from a 92-yard performance against Florida with 289 yards, 111 of them from Fred Crutcher, in a 33-10 victory.
UCLA trailed Arizona State 26-10 with 12 minutes to play. The Sun Devils had sacked Rick Neuheisel 10 times and had held the Bruins to—32 yards rushing. But then UCLA rallied for two touchdowns and a pair of two-point conversions to even the score. Arizona State got the ball on its own 20 with 1:36 to go and elected to run out the clock rather than try to drive into field-goal range. "It was my decision," said Coach Darryl Rogers. "We made it last week. We decided if it was down to a tie with little time, we'd kill the clock. We have such a young team; I felt a loss would be devastating in the second game."
Arizona was leading Washington State by only 10-6 when Wildcat Quarterback Tom Tunnicliffe twisted his left ankle late in the first half. Reserve Alfred Jenkins came on to lead Arizona to 35 points and a 45-6 triumph. "All our defensive preparation was for Tunnicliffe as quarterback," explained Cougar Coach Jim Walden. "If we played again next week, I think you'd see a different result."
SOUTHWEST
New Mexico's defense has a habit of blitzing constantly, so Arkansas Coach Lou Holtz installed two tight ends and had his seven offensive linemen line up shoulder to shoulder. That wrinkle put a crimp in the Razorbacks' multiple I offense, but the Lobos never got to Quarterback Brad Taylor, and Arkansas won 17-0.
In Rice's 24-10 loss to LSU, the Owls fumbled four times, while Arkansas State did the same on eight occasions—and lost four of them—in its 38-0 defeat at Texas A&M. One of the Aggies' touchdowns came on a 60-yard punt return by Billy Cannon Jr. In that game A&M Kicker Alan Smith hit six field goals—the last a 57-yarder with seven seconds left—to tie the NCAA record for field goals in a game. Said Aggie Coach Jackie Sherrill of his decision to call a time-out and give Smith a chance at the record, "I think it's important to do this type of thing for your football team."
SOUTH
"My heart skipped a lot of beats tonight," said Florida Coach Charley Pell after his Gators escaped an upset by scoring on a 15-yard TD pass with 9:22 remaining to beat Indiana State 17-13. "Psychologically, everything was in our favor," said Sycamore Coach Dennis Raetz. "All week long the media said we didn't have a chance, but our kids didn't believe it. In that situation you can either respond or fold, and we responded."
Florida State also got a surprise—a 34-28 upending by Tulane. The Green Wave jumped ahead 14-0 on a 99-yard interception return by Treg Songy and a 77-yard punt return by Curt Baham. Tulane used a double-wing alignment, designed by first-year Coach Wally English, formerly quarterback and receivers coach of the Miami Dolphins. The formation is a pro-set with two tight ends, and it opened up draw plays and passes to the tight end. Thus, Tight End Larry Route ended up with six catches for 120 yards. After Florida State went ahead 21-14 in the second quarter, Tulane scored a field goal and two more touchdowns under the direction of senior Quarterback Jon English, the coach's son. When his father took the job at Tulane, English, who had already attended Michigan State, Iowa State and two junior colleges, enrolled at Tulane. The NCAA declared him ineligible, but English took the matter to court. A state judge agreed to hear the matter on Oct. 4 and issued a temporary restraining order that allows English to play. Tulane's returning quarterback, Bubba Brister, then quit and left school reportedly because he felt that Coach English was showing preferential treatment to Quarterback English. Against the Seminoles English completed 16 of 29 passes for 210 yards. "Give Tulane credit," said Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden. "That quarterback made play after play."
The Clemson-Georgia showdown came down to a field goal—a 31-yarder by Georgia's Kevin Butler that tied the score at 16-16 with 38 seconds to play. In the final seven seconds Clemson's Donald Igwebuike missed a 68-yarder, and then Butler was unsuccessful from 66 yards. Earlier Bulldog Roverback Terry Hoage had blocked two Clemson fieldgoal attempts. Hoage ascribes his kick-blocking skill to "running as fast as you can. Then you just lay your body out there. I just tried to cut the corner close and I was able to do it."
In a duel of quarterbacks, West Virginia and Jeff Hostetler beat Maryland and Boomer Esiason 31-21 as Esiason bruised his right (non-throwing) shoulder and Hostetler threw for two touchdowns. Duke lost its third straight, 31-24 to South Carolina. The Gamecocks were trailing 14-0 when sophomore Allen Mitchell came off the bench to start the third quarter and spark the comeback.
North Carolina's 48-17 stomping of Miami of Ohio gave Tar Heels third-string Tailback William Humes a chance to play. He took advantage, gaining 161 yards on 26 carries.
Alabama rolled over Mississippi 40-0 as Walter Lewis connected on 13 of 15 passes for 230 yards, and Miami shut out Purdue 35-0 on three touchdown passes by Bernie Kosar. Kentucky won its third straight, 24-13 over Indiana, for its best start since 1964.
EAST
After scoring only nine points in its first two games, Penn State came up with an offense against Iowa—492 yards and 34 points under the direction of junior Doug Strang. But the Lions gave up 587 yards, including 345 passing by Hawkeye Chuck Long, and lost 42-34. "It was the poorest tackling by any team I've ever been associated with," said Coach Joe Paterno, whose Nittany Lions are the first defending national champions since TCU in 1939 to lose their first three games. Said Strang, "These last few weeks have been a test of our faith in ourselves, in God and in each other."
Boston College Quarterback Doug Flutie (page 38) suffered a mild concussion on the first play of the second quarter against Rutgers, but the Eagles won 42-22 as backup Shawn Halloran completed eight of 12 passes for 102 yards and a 33-yard touchdown. Said Boston College Coach Jack Bicknell, "It was good for the team to play without Flutie. We found we're not just a one-man team."
Cornell's new coach, Maxie Baughan, came back to Franklin Field, where he starred with the Philadelphia Eagles in the '60s, but the Big Red lost to Penn 28-7. Brown defeated Yale 26-24 on the running (114 yards) and passing (133 yards) of Quarterback Joe Potter for its first victory in the Yale Bowl since 1963. Dartmouth won over Princeton 21-3 on three one-yard runs by Tailback Richard Weissman, and Harvard beat Columbia 43-14 despite 368 passing yards by the Lions' John Witkowski.
And at Yankee Stadium Grambling beat Morgan State 33-0 for Coach Eddie Robinson's 307th career victory.
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PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
OFFENSE: Quarterback Allen Mitchell, a 6-foot, 172-pound sophomore, came off the bench to complete 14 of 20 passes for 242 yards and two touchdowns to lead South Carolina to a 31-24 win at Duke.
DEFENSE: Free Safety Phil Parker, a 5'11", 175-pound junior, had 11 tackles, broke up one pass and intercepted two—each setting up a touchdown—in Michigan State's 28-23 upset of Notre Dame.