THE WEEK

SOUTH

All three touchdowns in Florida's 24-3 victory over Auburn came on 36-TAC, a misdirection play in which the defense is lured to the outside while a runner takes the ball back inside. "It really hasn't worked that well until now," said halfback Neal Anderson, who had TD runs of 36 and 15 yards. "The two keys were that we got great blocking up front and Auburn's defense is so quick they overpursued." The game also marked the return of Auburn halfback Bo Jackson, who suffered a shoulder separation in the second game of the season. But the Gator defense held Jackson to 16 yards on five carries.

It was an average game: Undefeated South Carolina came in averaging 33.9 points and scored 35. North Carolina State came in averaging 27.8 and scored 28. To attain their norms, however, the teams had to combine for 406 yards and 35 points in the fourth quarter. "I thought, 'God, when is this thing going to end?' " said Gamecock guard Del Wilkes. "I like exciting football, but I think we carried it a little too far today."

In three of South Carolina's seven previous victories, quarterback Allen Mitchell started, and reserve Mike Hold came off the bench with the Gamecocks either behind or tied and led them to victory. So why not start Hold? "If it ain't wrong, don't fix it," said South Carolina coach Joe Morrison, who once again started Mitchell and, with the Cocks trailing 6-3 in the second quarter, sent in Hold. True to form, Hold threw a 61-yard TD pass to Chris Corley, caught a two-point conversion pass on a razzle-dazzle play, scrambled 36 yards to set up a 14-yard TD run by Thomas Dendy and directed an 80-yard game-winning drive that ended with Dendy running six yards up the middle with 50 seconds to play.

LSU owed its 32-29 win over Ole Miss to safety Jeffrey Dale and freshman kicker Ronald Lewis. Dale recovered two fumbles to set up a touchdown and a field goal, and with three minutes left returned an interception 37 yards for a touchdown. Lewis, playing in his first college game, contributed field goals of 24 and 46 yards after senior Juan Betanzos had missed a three-pointer and two extra-point attempts.

Another happy kicker was freshman Teddy Garcia of Northeast Louisiana. On Saturday night Garcia beat Louisiana Tech 12-10 with a 45-yarder with 59 seconds to play. On Sunday morning his wife, Jena Marie, who had watched the game on TV, gave birth to an eight-pound, three-ounce girl, Amanda Marie. "They're both pretty exciting things," said Garcia.

MIDWEST

"It seemed like every year they'd run the score up on us," said Purdue quarterback Jim Everett. "I didn't like that, and felt we had some debts to pay today." And pay they did, as Everett completed 23 of 32 passes for 290 yards to upset Michigan 31-29. The loss was the Wolverines' fourth of the year—the most that coach Bo Schembechler has suffered in regular-season play in his 16 years in Ann Arbor. The only bright spot for Michigan was Chris Zurbrugg, who threw four TD passes, three of them in the final 4:08. For the Boilermakers, the victory capped a first-ever sweep of Notre Dame, Ohio State and Michigan.

Wisconsin's defense got in its licks in the Badgers' 10-10 tie with Iowa. Playing the worst game of his career, Hawkeye Chuck Long was sacked four times and intercepted four times before being knocked unconscious at the end of a nine-yard run in the fourth quarter. On that play he severely bruised his right knee. Iowa also lost its leading rusher, Ronnie Harmon, with a broken left leg; he'll miss the remainder of the season.

Oklahoma finally responded to adversity. With two defensive backs in the hospital after an automobile accident, a guard in the infirmary with a staph infection and quarterback Danny Bradley wearing high-top sneakers to protect his sore ankle, the Sooners scored six touchdowns in their first nine possessions en route to a 49-7 victory over Missouri. "It was kind of like a bunch of Halloweens and Friday the 13ths," said coach Barry Switzer about the past month, in which Oklahoma had tied Texas, nearly lost to Iowa State, lost a quarterback because he had played one game for another college in 1979, lost to Kansas, and had an assistant coach and a player picked up for driving under the influence.

Undefeated Indiana State, the No. 1 team in Division I-AA, routed Central Florida 38-0. The Sycamores ran 100 offensive plays as quarterback Jim Miller rushed for 110 yards and passed for 169. State's defense has yielded just eight TDs in nine games and picked off 25 passes. Next week the Sycamores play Tulsa, a team they've never beaten, for the Missouri Valley title.

Pity poor Case Western Reserve. The 9-0 Spartans completed their first undefeated season in 46 years with a 25-17 defeat of Carnegie-Mellon, but they probably won't receive one of the two spots reserved for the north region in the NCAA Division III playoffs. Those are likely to go to (9-0) Dayton and (8-0) Augustana.

Marietta College ended its winless streak at 41 with a 15-12 win over Wooster. Freshman Evan Lipp gained 201 yards on 45 carries and freshman quarterback Ed Pekar got the winning TD on a one-yard run with 1:05 remaining.

SOUTHWEST

Texas A&M had the SMU Mustangs right where it wanted them—trailing 20-7 in the fourth quarter—but let the Ponies slip away. SMU quarterback Don King ran 21 yards on one play and passed for 47 on the next to set up a four-yard scoring run by tailback Reggie Dupard that made it 20-14. "You could feel the air go out of them after we got that touchdown," said Mustang linebacker TD. Briggs. The Ponies put together two more drives to win 28-20.

Texas was down 10-7 to Texas Tech with 6½ minutes to play. After a 62-yard drive, Jeff Ward kicked a 25-yard field goal with 2:14 left. Texas got the ball back with 1:19 remaining, moved to the Tech 17, and Ward won the game with a 35-yarder with three seconds to go.

WEST

"We just got fed up with all the negative things written about us," said Washington guard Al Robertson, whose blocking was one reason the Huskies ran for 358 yards in a 44-14 win over Cal. It was Washington's biggest day rushing in five years. Quarterback Paul Sicuro, who started in place of Hugh Millen, threw for three touchdowns.

Florida State special-teams demon Joe Wessel was at his best again in the Seminoles' 52-44 triumph at Arizona State. In the second quarter, Florida State was down 17-0 when Arizona State lined up to punt. Lenny Chavers blocked the kick, Wessel picked up the ball and ran it eight yards for a score. Later, Wessel blocked a punt himself and ran that one 34 yards for a TD to bring his year's total to four blocked punts and one blocked field goal. That performance, along with 223 yards on 22 carries by tailback Greg Allen, overshadowed a remarkable showing by the Sun Devils' sophomore quarterback, Jeff Van Raaphorst. He completed 39 of 59 passes for 532 yards and four touchdowns. "We've faced Dan Marino, Art Schlichter and Bernie Kosar," said Florida State coach Bobby Bowden. "Nobody has done what he did to us."

"It was like a rec-league game," said Van Raaphorst. "It was kind of fun."

Cal State-Fullerton has no real stadium. Between 1980 and '82 the team and coaches built one seating 7,500 using temporary bleachers from the Rose Bowl Parade and the Long Beach Grand Prix. Last year, because of a rain clause at Anaheim Stadium, a game with UNLV was switched to a local high school stadium at 9:30 the morning of the game. Fullerton has no on-campus housing and no marching band, and the team has had to share charter planes with archrival Long Beach State to save money. Wise guys call the school Cal State-Disneyland (Mickey lives just six miles away). But the Titans, al 10-0 after their 20-17 victory over Fresno State, are the winningest team anywhere.

Coach Gene Murphy came to Fuller-ton from the University of North Dakota in 1980. He calls his offense a "squirrel derby" and his defensive backs "munchkins." His team has taken away 29 more turnovers than it has given up. Linebacker John Nevens carries a bullet in his left leg; he was struck during a shooting mishap two years ago. Quarterback Damon Allen—Marcus's kid brother—is the No. 7 passer in the country. Against Fresno he completed a 40-yard pass late in the game to tie the score at 17-17 and then drove the Titans 26 yards to set up the winning field goal, a 48-yarder by Greg Steinke with 1:36 left. "There never was any need to panic," said Allen.

EAST

"Yeah, I heard the boos when I first came in," said Penn State quarterback Doug Strang after the Nittany Lions' 37-30 victory over Boston College in University Park. "I may not have had awesome stats, but I think I proved I'm a winner. Maybe I can set an example that when you're down you're not out." Before the game with BC, Penn State coach Joe Paterno decided to bench Strang and start sophomore John Shaffer. But when Shaffer suffered a concussion in the first quarter, Strang entered the game. His stats weren't awesome (four for 13, 127 yards), but his first completion was a 42-yard touchdown play with Herb Bellamy on the receiving end, and in the final four minutes Strang ran for two first downs to help the Lions run out the clock.

Penn State's defense sacked Doug Flutie four times and harassed him into throwing two interceptions and fumbling twice. Still, Flutie passed for 447 yards, which gave him 10,003 yards of total offense for his career. That surpassed Jim McMahon's NCAA record of 9,723, which he set at BYU between 1977 and '81. Said Paterno, "Flutie made some plays you can't believe anybody would make. Let's just forget about him. I'm so glad he's graduating."

Since losing 55-0 to Clemson in its opener, Virginia has not been beaten. In a 27-7 upset of West Virginia, the Cavaliers rushed for 349 yards, including a 51-yard TD by fullback Steve Morse. Their defense, led by linebacker Russ Swan's 13 tackles, held the Mountaineers to 85 yards. Said Virginia coach George Welsh to his team, "I don't know how you're doing it, but you're doing it."

Through 56 minutes of Navy's game with Notre Dame, the Middie defense completely outwitted the Irish, pouncing on two fumbles, sacking Steve Beuerlein thrice and picking off four of his passes. With 4:02 to play, Navy's Todd Solomon kicked a 32-yard field goal to give the Middies a 17-7 lead. So what did Navy do? It rushed only three men and dropped off into a cover-eight prevent defense. As Navy coach Gary Tranquill later admitted, Beuerlein "had an hour to throw the ball." He needed only 1:45 to drive Notre Dame 83 yards to a quick TD and a two-point conversion. With one minute to play, the Irish took over on their own 18. Beuerlein, once again feeling no rush, completed passes of 18, seven and 29 yards to set up a 44-yard field goal by John Carney with 14 seconds left. Final score: Notre Dame 18, Navy 17.

Tranquill was upset by the officiating. First, he thought his punier, Mark Coley, was roughed on his last kick, though no flag was thrown. According to referee William McDonald, Coley's foot had returned to the ground and "a kicker is no longer a kicker" at that point. Second, apparently unbeknownst to field judge John Daniels, the winning field goal came after the 25-second clock had expired. Said Tranquill, "Some of these guys are gutless when the ball game's on the line."

Said Irish coach Gerry Faust, "There are a lot of great comebacks in Notre Dame history. This wasn't one of them."

In the first night game ever at West Point, Army defeated Air Force 24-12 on five field goals by Craig Stopa, while at King's Point, N.Y., the Merchant Marine Academy beat Coast Guard 41-0 as the Mariners' freshman quarterback, Frank Azzarita, threw for three TDs and ran for a fourth. At halftime comedian-pianist Victor Borge, who is a friend of the Academy's band director, was given a belated birthday cake—he turned 75 in January—which he shared with as many as he could in the crowd of 5,063.

Holy Cross came in unbeaten and ranked No. 2 in Division I-AA but went out with a 16-12 loss to Boston University. Terrier tailback Paul Lewis ran for 145 yards and linebacker Bruce Foucart had 20 tackles, nailing runners in the backfield three times and making three sacks, one for a safety.

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PHOTO

JERRY LODRIGUSS

Florida's Gators were as tough as their mascot's hide as they gobbled up Auburn's Tigers.

PHOTO

JERRY LODRIGUSS

Lorenzo Hampton capped the Florida victory with a 43-yard last-minute touchdown.

PHOTO

JOHN BIEVER

Schembechler has gotten thumbs down from four opponents for the first time at Michigan.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

OFFENSE: Fullback Gene Lake carried 27 times for 232 yards and six TDs as Delaware State romped over Howard 45-7. With 1,386 yards on the season, Lake is the No. 1 rusher in Division I-AA.

DEFENSE: Cornerback Sean Thomas held the SWC's No. 1 receiver, Larry Shepherd, to one catch and made three interceptions—two in the final 3:41—to lead TCU to a 21-14 win over Houston.