THE WEEK

SOUTHWEST

Lowly Texas Christian threw a scare into Texas before succumbing. The Horned Frogs led 14-3 at halftime after Linebacker Robert Lyles grabbed a Texas fumble in the air and ran 80 yards for one TCU touchdown and Safety Bryon Linwood went 66 yards with an interception for another. Texas responded with two touchdowns and a field goal to go up 20-14, which turned out to be the final score. TCU reached the Long-horns' 15-yard line with eight minutes left but came away empty-handed. Then, with 3:45 to play. Wide Receiver Dwayne May of the Frogs dropped a pass in the end zone. Two minutes later, on a fourth-and-five from the Texas 11, Anthony Gulley's pass for May at the goal line was broken up by Cornerback Fred Acorn.

For the fourth time this season, both SMU tailbacks, freshman Jeff Atkins and sophomore Reggie Dupard, ran for more than 100 yards each. Atkins got 132 and Dupard 155 in a 33-7 win over Texas Tech. As well as the Mustangs are playing—their sole loss was to second-ranked Texas—they may be snubbed by the high-toned bowls. "Everyone knows SMU is a good team." said one representative of a major bowl, "but they're the kind of team that can't help you very much. They're not very exciting, and they don't seem to generate much interest around the country." Said SMU Coach Bobby Collins. "If the TV and all that stuff is going to control it. then why don't we just turn pro and go from there?"

SOUTH

"I'm on top of Old Rocky Top right now." said Mississippi Couch Billy Brewer, whose Rebels had beaten Tennessee 13-10 for their fourth win in a row. While Ole Miss relied on a conservative, ball-control offense to roll up 329 yards, the Vols suffered two interceptions, lost a fumble on an apparent touchdown run and had two long returns—one on a punt and one on an interception—wiped out by penalties. "We wrapped it up in red ribbon with mistletoe and everything and gave Ole Miss an early Christmas present." said Tennessee Coach Johnny Majors.

Virginia handed North Carolina its third straight defeat with a 17-14 upset. Pacing the Cavalier defense were Strong Safety Lester Lyles, who had 17 tackles and forced a fumble to set up the winning TD, and Linebacker Charlie McDaniel, who made 20 tackles.

Florida State has endured a season of frustration, losing by six points to Tulane, three to Auburn, one to Pitt and, last week, 17-16 to Miami on a 19-yard field goal by the Hurricanes' Jeff Davis on the last play of the game. "This was a fairy-book story with a fairy-book ending," said Miami Coach Howard Schnellenberger. The Hurricanes finished their regular schedule with a 10-1 record and almost certainly will receive an Orange Bowl bid.

Two years ago Southern Mississippi tied Alabama 13-13. Last season the Golden Eagles ended the Tide's 57-game winning streak in Tuscaloosa by a score of 38-29. Afterward bumper stickers that read I WAS THERE WHEN WE RETIRED THE BEAR circulated around Hattiesburg. "After I saw that," said 'Bama Defensive Tackle Randy Edwards, "I knew we had to teach them a little respect. It's one thing to go out and beat somebody—that's football. But it's another to insult a man who was probably the greatest football coach who ever lived." Edwards made 11 tackles—two for sacks, one for an eight-yard loss—and partially blocked a punt as Alabama won 28-16.

Maryland lost, but also won. The Terrapins took a 52-27 licking from Clemson, but because the Tigers are on probation and their games don't count in the ACC standings, the Terps will creep away with the conference title. Maryland is 4-1 against ACC competition, while Clemson finished with a 7-0 mark in conference play. There should be no asterisk next to Clemson in the Guinness Book of World Records, however. A Clemson alumni group spent $23,000, and 3,000 students arrived at Memorial Stadium at 7 a.m. to prepare a display of 310,000 balloons. They were handed out, four at a time, to spectators, who released them as the Tigers ran onto the field. The display broke the record of 300,424 balloons released in Itasca, Ill. last July 4.

With 1:45 to go against North Carolina State, Duke Quarterback Ben Bennett led a nine-play, 67-yard touchdown drive to give the Blue Devils a 27-26 win. Virginia Tech defeated Vanderbilt 21-10 on two interceptions by Strong Safety Ashley Lee. He ran both back for touchdowns—one 88 yards, the other 94. His defensive performance was surpassed only by that of Northwestern (La.) State's Michael Richardson, who led the Demons to a 23-7 victory over Southeastern Louisiana by picking off five passes. He also tackled a Lion would-be punter for a 13-yard loss.

Early last week Eastern Illinois Coach Al Molde confirmed to his players that to save about $3,000 they would travel five hours on a bus to their game at Western Kentucky instead of taking a plane. The players boycotted practice on Monday, but returned on Tuesday after a private meeting of players and coaches. "We know how he feels and he knows how we feel," said Panther Quarterback John Rafferty. "We are going to try to put it out of our minds." Eastern Illinois, which is headed for the Division I-AA playoffs with a 9-2 record, rode the bus without incident and defeated the Hilltoppers 34-14.

MIDWEST

Illinois earned a Rose Bowl berth, its first in 20 years, with a 49-21 defeat of Indiana. Following the game the Illini faithful tore down the goalposts for the fourth time this season. Illinois' nine-game winning streak is the school's longest since 1928.

"I told them no one would let up or they'd have to deal with me when the time came to deal out scholarships." So spoke Wichita State Coach Willie Jeffries, whose Shockers, thus shocked, upset Division I-AA's top-ranked team, hitherto undefeated and untied Southern Illinois, 28-6. While Southern Illinois lost a fumbled punt, dropped two passes in the end zone and was intercepted four times, Wichita State converted eight of 12 third-down plays in the second half on the savvy running and passing of freshman Quarterback Brian McDonald. Tailback Eric Denson ran for 179 yards.

EAST

Syracuse's 21-10 upset of Boston College was oh so sweet for the Orange. After BC won 20-13 on a last-minute touchdown last year, more than a few Syracuse supporters maintained that Eagle Linebacker Steve DeOssie had put Tailback Larry Morris out of the game with a rabbit punch. "They used a lot of crap to win that game," Syracuse Coach Dick MacPherson said at the time, "but it'll come back to hurt them in the long run. I'll tell you one thing. It'll be a long time before they beat us again."

MacPherson had another reason to be angry with BC. Before facing the Eagles in '82, Syracuse had snapped a six-game losing streak, after which MacPherson had expressed his relief with the line, "I see a light at the end of the tunnel, and it's not an oncoming train." The week before last season's game, the BC coaches distributed 90 T shirts to their team. They were orange, had a picture of a locomotive and read THE TRAIN. After the game MacPherson found out what the BC coaches had done, and was insulted.

The key to Syracuse's victory this year was its front four, the "4-Wheel Drive" of Jamie Kimmel, Blaise Winter, Bill Pendock and Tim Green. They accomplished what no defense had this season—shackling Quarterback Doug Flutie. They sacked him four times and pressured him into throwing three interceptions. "Maybe I called on Doug too much," said Bicknell. "But he's been getting us the big play all year. Today, he didn't."

Allen Pinkett. Notre Dame's sophomore tailback, rushed for 217 yards and four touchdowns, but the Irish were defeated at Penn State 34-30. "I kept asking what more I could have done to help us win," said Pinkett. "The answer was one more yard." That yard—actually a matter of inches—was the distance not traveled by Notre Dame Quarterback Steve Beuerlein for a TD as the first half ended with the Nittany Lions on top 13-10. The lead changed hands six times after intermission. Trailing 30-27, Penn State went ahead for good with 26 seconds to play by converting a "98" on a third-and-goal at the Notre Dame eight. "The 98 play is a rollout with a pass-run option," said Lion Quarterback Doug Strang. "When I looked at their defense, I knew the run should be open. As I rolled out, I was sure of it." Strang went in for the score, thereby bringing the Lions' record to 7-4 and dropping the Irish to 6-4.

Pinkett wasn't the only back to rush for more than 200 yards. Pitt's Joe McCall got 246 in the Panthers' 38-7 win over Army: Cornell beat Columbia 31-6 as Derrick Harmon of the Big Red ran for 222; and in Colgate's 43-14 victory over Richmond, the Spiders' Jarvis Jennings gained 221, while Rich Erenberg of the Red Raiders picked up 212. Erenberg, who has rushed for 200 yards or more in his last four games, has 1,717 this year with one game to play. He needs just three yards to surpass the Division I-AA single-season record set by Frank Hawkins of Nevada-Reno in 1980.

WEST

At UNLV the quarterback is Randall Cunningham, younger brother of Sam (Bam). At Cal State-Fullerton it's Damon Allen, younger brother of another former USC star, Marcus. Their teams were set to meet at Anaheim Stadium on Saturday, but late that morning stadium officials decided that after two days of heavy rain with no let-up in sight, the field would best be left alone. The Rebels and the Titans moved to a nearby high school field that had been torn up by a game the previous night. There were no dressing rooms or coaches' phones, but there was a bench-clearing brawl in the mud. A crowd of about 5,000, including Sam Cunningham and Marcus Allen on the sidelines, watched as the younger Cunningham completed nine of 11 passes and UNLV prevailed 13-0.

In the qwazy Pac-10 (page 65), the only obstacle between Washington and the Rose Bowl is—as it was a year ago—Washington State. "I'm tickled to death," says Coach Jim Walden, whose Cougars upset the Huskies in their final regular-season game of 1982, thereby putting UCLA in the Rose Bowl, and last week beat Cal 16-6.

With five field goals in a 43-24 victory over Idaho, Tony Zendejas of Nevada-Reno became the NCAA career leader with 66. With an 81.5% success rate (66 of 81 field goal attempts) going into his final game this weekend, he has a chance to break the NCAA accuracy mark of 81.9% set by Chuck Nelson of Washington in 1980-82.

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AND THE WINNER IS...

The Heisman ballots will be in soon. Who deserves it? Steve Young of BYU, perhaps? If linemen had a chance it might be Pitt Offensive Tackle Bill Fralic, or even James Gee, a defensive tackle at Northern Arizona who's averaging 13 tackles a game. However, the man at left should win the Heisman handily. On Saturday he ran for 285 yards and four TDs in Nebraska's 67-13 mauling of Kansas. With 28 touchdowns he has broken the single-season record of 26 set by Lydell Mitchell in 1971, but with 1,943 yards for the year and one game to go, he is far from Marcus Allen's 2,342 of 1981. His name: Mike Rozier, of course.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

OFFENSE: Ben Bennett completed 32 of 48 passes for 442 yards and three TDs to lead Duke over N.C. State 27-26. He is now 245 yards short of Jim McMahon's career passing record of 9,536 yards.

DEFENSE: In Northwestern (La.) State's 23-7 victory over Southeastern Louisiana, Safety Michael Richardson picked off a record-tying five passes, and he returned one of them 97 yards for a touchdown.