THE WEEK

MIDWEST

It looked like curtains for Notre Dame coach Gerry Faust when Michigan State took a 17-0 lead in East Lansing, aided in large part by a fumble and interception suffered by Irish quarterback Steve Beuerlein. But, although the Irish were trailing 17-3, "at halftime coach Faust was cool and confident," said tailback Allen Pinkett. "It's a shame he takes all the blame, because the players are the ones making mistakes." In the second half Pinkett personally made good for some of those miscues by scoring two TDs. Meanwhile, it was the Spartans who were making the slipups: three lost fumbles, two intercepted passes and a blocked punt by Notre Dame cornerback Mike Haywood that set up the go-ahead touchdown. "I had to make up for my defense," said Haywood, who had been burned for long gains early on. The final score was Notre Dame 24, Michigan State 20, and Faust was exuberant: "This looked like one of my old Moeller [High] teams, the way we came back. I rank this as one of Notre Dame's great comebacks."

"The word is 'choke,' " declared Missouri defensive tackle Robert Curry of the Tigers' 35-34 loss to Wisconsin. At the start of the fourth quarter, with Mizzou holding a fat 28-7 lead, Badger cornerback Bobby Taylor blocked a Missouri punt and teammate Richard Johnson fell on it in the end zone. Wisconsin scored three more times in the next eight minutes, going ahead 35-28 on a 21-yard draw by fullback Marck Harrison. Mizzou drove 67 yards for a touchdown with 1:28 to play, and Tiger coach Warren Powers elected to go for a win with a two-point conversion attempt. Warren Seitz threw to flanker George Shorthose, who was open in the corner of the end zone, but the ball went through his hands. "The Lord sends adversity to the great ones," said Missouri noseguard Steve Leshe, "and we're getting an early taste of ours."

In the first half of Miami's game at Purdue, Boilermaker Jim Everett's passing kept his team in the game, 17-14. At halftime the Hurricanes made a defensive adjustment by adding an extra lineman, Dallas Cameron, as a rushing end. "They told me to come at 100 miles per hour and put pressure on the quarterback," said Cameron. "I think it's fun. Only they didn't tell me what to do on running plays." With Cameron coming on strong the 'Canes shut out Purdue in the second half, winning 28-17.

"I like the ball in my hands, and I don't care how it gets there," said Ohio State's 235-pound tailback, Keith Byars. In a 44-0 defeat of Washington State in Columbus, Byars rushed 145 yards on 26 carries and added 47 more yards on six pass receptions. Quarterback Mike Tomczak, recovering from a compound fracture of the right leg he suffered in spring practice, replaced Jim Karsatos at 9:23 of the second quarter and directed three scoring drives.

In the fourth quarter of Nebraska's 42-7 thrashing of Minnesota, the 76,077 fans in Lincoln discovered The Wave. Husker coach Tom Osborne wasn't amused. "I think the fans got a little bored, and they were trying to get excited," said Osborne. "And that's fine with me. It's just that they mustn't do that when we're running the ball up the field. We're trying to move the football, and nobody can hear." Losing coach Lou Holtz of Minnesota didn't like what he saw on the field but had no gripe with what went on in the stands. "The Nebraska fans are tremendous," he said. "I mean, these folks come out and have a good time."

EAST

What's with Pitt? The Panthers' 42-10 loss to Oklahoma in Pitt Stadium was their fourth game in a row without a win going back to last season. The supposed strength of the team, the offensive line, was beaten all day, and Pitt gained only 32 yards on the ground. "It looked like they played an 11-man line with everybody around the ball," said Joe Moore, Pitt's offensive coordinator and line coach. "I've never been in a game where everybody got whipped like that." That included offensive tackle Bill Fralic, who said, "I'll always look back on this day with bad feelings. It will always haunt me." For their part, the Sooners were coolly efficient as Danny Bradley completed 12 of an un-Oklahoma-like 18 passes for 145 yards, two for touchdowns. Bradley also plunged for two TDs. "Coach Switzer is used to seeing this type of score," said Bradley. "Right now I think it would be hard for anyone to beat us. I think Pitt quit in the fourth quarter. They just gave up."

Army unveiled a wishbone and it was all the cadets hoped for. In a 41-15 victory over Colgate at West Point, quarterback Nate Sassaman, a converted defensive back, threw only three passes as the Black Knights rolled for 440 offensive yards. "I was a little surprised they [the defense] stayed up so close," said Sassaman. "They didn't adjust at all in the first half [which ended 24-12]. By the second half it was too late." In all, three backs—including Sassaman—ran for more than 100 yards apiece.

Rutgers snapped a five-game losing streak, beating Temple 10-9. The Scarlet Knight defense, with six freshmen in the lineup, hasn't allowed a touchdown in the last seven quarters.

SOUTH

Never, ever—until now—have Auburn and Alabama both started out 0-2 in the same year. Crimson Tide coach Ray Perkins was candid about his team's 16-6 loss: "It was won by Georgia Tech in the trenches on both sides of the line. Their offensive line knocked us back on short yardage, and they stuffed us when our offense was in those situations. Our offense was totally inept."

"There's something missing in this team," said Alabama fullback Ricky Moore. "It's embarrassing to play like we did. We've got to have some people grow up or we're going to have some more days like today." Added center Wes Neighbors, "We don't deserve to be called Alabama today." For Tech, tailback Robert Lavette ran for 128 yards on 26 carries, and the team didn't commit a turnover. Said Yellow Jackets coach Bill Curry, "I can't say enough about our players and, how hard they worked getting prepared for this game."

On picture day (Aug. 16) Navy sophomore Bill Byrne was the No. 6 quarterback on the Midshipmen's depth chart. By the opener at North Carolina last weekend he was the starter and showed why with three touchdown passes, the last a 60-yarder to tailback Rich Clouse in the Middies' 33-30 upset. How did Byrne move up from six to one? "I have no idea," he said. "If I did I'd get the recipe and sell it."

After his team's 63-21 loss to Florida in Gainesville, Tulane coach Wally English was dazed. "It looked like a pro team against a small college out there," he said. The Gators' ferocious showing also turned out to be the swan song for Charley Pell as coach. After reviewing the NCAA's list of 107 alleged rule violations committed by the Gator football program, University of Florida president Marshall Criser reversed his decision to allow Pell to stay on until the end of the season and relieved him of his coaching responsibilities. Offensive coordinator Galen Hall was appointed to take Pell's place. Vanderbilt handed Maryland its second loss, 23-4, as Commodore quarterback Kurt Page threw for 316 yards, flanker Chuck Scott caught 10 balls, and Ricky Anderson not only punted four times for a 49.7-yard average but also booted field goals of 47, 31 and 26 yards.

WEST

By upsetting Illinois 34-19 in Palo Alto, Stanford equaled its victory total for last year—and added another illustrious entry to the résumé of new head coach Jack Elway. The Cardinal unmercifully blitzed Illini quarterback Jack Trudeau, who threw three interceptions, while Stanford QB John Paye picked apart the 1983 Big Ten champs for 295 yards. "We saw films of last year's Illinois-Missouri game five times," said Paye, "and it helped. Illinois doesn't disguise its defenses like other teams, and I think it helped my reads."

Struggling UCLA escaped with a 23-17 win over Long Beach State in the Rose Bowl. For the second week in a row, it was kicker John Lee who saved the day with a perfect performance—3 for 3—to bring his total to 9 for 9 for the season. While 49er quarterback Doug Gaynor threw for 312 yards, Bruin Steve Bono had only 141 before spraining his ankle on a scramble early in the fourth quarter. "As I got tackled, my foot caught in the turf, and someone rolled on it," said Bono, who'll probably miss this week's game with Nebraska.

At one point in their 38-15 defeat of Tulsa, BYU had minus-three yards rushing and still led 24-6. All told, Tulsa had 289 yards rushing to the Cougars' paltry 52. "Even though our passing game is our bread and butter," said BYU coach La Veil Edwards, "we've got to do better than this."

SOUTHWEST

It was bad enough that Auburn lost 35-27 to Texas in Austin, but even worse was the shoulder separation that apparently will keep Heisman Trophy candidate Bo Jackson out for the rest of the season. "If that's true, it's really tough," said Texas senior safety Jerry Gray, who made the tackle on which Jackson was injured. "He's a great back, as good as we've seen." The Longhorns showed an entirely new dimension—a passing game. Quarterback Todd Dodge completed 15 of 24 for 215 yards and one touchdown, tight end William Harris having caught five balls for 70 yards. Gray ended up with nine solo tackles, one pass broken up and an interception that preserved the victory with two minutes left.

"There's something about Little Rock that makes things go bad for our kickers," observed Ole Miss coach Billy Brewer. Two years ago the Rebels missed a field-goal try on the last play, and Arkansas won 14-12. On Saturday, with the score 14-14, it again came down to a final-play kick—this one, from 54 yards out, by Bill Smith, a Little Rock native. Smith was wide to the right in front of the home folks, and the game ended at 14-all.

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PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

OFFENSE: Sophomore tailback Tom Henley rushed for 51 yards and a TD and caught 10 passes for 151 yards in Stanford's 34-19 upset of Illinois. On six occasions he converted on third-down plays.

DEFENSE: In Wisconsin's 35-34 win at Missouri, cornerback Richard Johnson made one interception, blocked an extra point, partly blocked a punt to set up a TD and recovered a blocked punt for a TD.