The Daily Oklahoman from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma • 72

SATURDAY OKLAH0MAN TIMES Somebody Else' Has a Chance in Big 8 Maybe oi Tn M5.hffan State. Iowa State am ming, a team that figures to have its hands Big 8 Standings fUll. Saturdays Games The Soaners have returned to the wishbone offense and find themselves ranked No. 16 as Mchiaan siate at Colorado tney opcn at home against Stanford, which Oklahoma Slate at Arizona Slate, eBMlnilM(1 rPf.p.nr meet- Colorado Iowa Stale Kansat Stale Missouri n10'" nab given uicuwuuq Kansas' lock horns with in-state rivals. Th, Cyclones are at Iowa and Kansas hosts Wichi ta State.

Husker coach Tom Osborne said he believe! the No. 2 ranking pre-season pollsters hung oi his team reflects the immediate past mor than the immediate future. And some re search by Tim Allen of the Big Eight of fic indicates why he might be right. For 4 straight weeks since the eighth week 1981 the Huskers have been ranked in ai least one nationally recognized top 10. Since a 30-24 loss to Penn State in 1981, th Huskers have won 16 straight at home.

Sine a 27-24 loss at Penn State in 1982, they ve woi 21 straight regular season contests. Wyomini might be in for a long, painful day. of excellence which has seen the Huskers make somebody's Top 10 an incredible 41 straight weeks? Can Barry Switzer put the brakes on Oklahoma's slide toward the middle of the pack? It's been three years since Switzer beat Nebraska. Texas has been pushing the Sooners around a lot more than Oklahomans feel is necessary. Switzer frankly admits that Oklahoma fans will not tolerate so much losing much longer.

Will a festering quarterback controversy turn Missouri's promising season into rubble? Can Pat Jones retain the momentum of the Oklahoma State program in his first year as a head coach? Is this the year Kansas State begins to establishing itself as something more than a football pushover? Or is this the year coach Jim Dickey declares that K-State is simply KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) Many observers ire saying somebody besides Oklahoma and Nebraska might actually win a Big Eight football championship this year. Of course, those same observers might later Insist that they never said anything of the sort. After all, it has happened only twice since World Warn. But there are reasons to believe Oklahoma State and Missouri could seriously challenge the Big Two this year.

Moreover, Kansas State ud Colorado show signs that maybe just maybe they're ready to vacate the Big Eight basement. The level of play probably won't approach the caliber Big Eight fans enjoyed through the 1970s before the present day scholarship limitations took effect. But it promises to be in interesting season nonetheless. Can Nebraska sustain the remarkable run ings. Missouri and Oklahoma State start the year on the road.

The Cowboys, in Jones' head coaching debut, are at Arizona State. The Tigers, still trying to decide whether Warren Seitz or Marlon Adler is the better quarterback, are at Big Ten champion Illinois. Kansas State, ventures into the Southeast for a date with Vanderbilt. Colorado is home against another foe from not fated for major college football? The questions cannot be answered fully in anything short of a full season. But the first indications will start pouring in today when the conference schools begin their year in The Huskers, ranked No.

2 in the pre-seasori Top Twenty, begin yet another hopeful charge at a national championship by hosting Wyo- Favorites 'Fall7 Mears Injured at Molson Where Rahal Clocks 141 car where you are, is inherently dangerous. But, really, this one isn't that bad. You just have to be very aware of what you're doing out there." Time trials for the 225-lap race will be held Saturday to determine the starting field. The fastest 22 cars will make the grid, with the promoter holding the option of adding up to four more. "Here the pole is going to be real important," Rahal said.

"If you start up front, you might be able to get away and not have to get caught up in the heavy traffic early in the race." Looking at the track itself. Rahal said, "I think, No. 1, it's very smooth, and, two, it's challenging. "The track is wide, but the tight," Andretti said. "You definitely have to keep on your toes here.

The big thing is, if you run high (qn the banking), you get loose very easily. One time I was up high and almost got sucked in (to the wall). I guarantee you that was close." Mears was attempting to pass Rahal on the inside going toward the first of the three tight left-handed turns when his March tangled with a Lola driven by Italian Indy-car rookie Corrado Fabi and slammed into the inside guard rail, wrenching the whole front piece off his car. "I didn't see it at all," Rahal said. "I knew Rick had been behind me for a while, but I never saw him make his move.

"I think the promoters here have done a real good job putting this track together. It's a pretty nice little track. But I think they should get rid of that guard rail and put in a (concrete) wall. In 200, Mile LONDON (AP) Triple Olympic gold medahsl Valerie Brisco-Hooks of the United States was beat en over 200 meters and world champi on Steve Cram of Britain stumbled and finished lasl in the mile in a night of surprises at an international track and field meet at the Crystal Palace Fri day. Brisco-Hooks, who won the women's 200 and 40C meters at Los Angeles and was a member of the United States' gold medal-winning team in the 1,600 meter-relay, finished second to Grace Jack son of Jamaica.

Jackson had finished fifth, behind Brisco-Hooks in the 200-meter Olympic final. Jackson, with her left thigh heavily strapped, pulled up alongside the Olympic champion with 80 meters to go and Brisco-Hooks failed to respond as the Jamaican raced away to win in 22.84 seconds. Brisco-Hooks was timed in 22.97 second, with Randy Givens of the United States third in 23.17. After her surprising defeat at one of her Olympic championship distances, Brisco-Hooks bounced back by winning the 100 meters. Fellow American Jeanette Bolden hit the front straight first but Brisco-Hooks produced a stunning burst of speed to storm through and win in 11.25 seconds.

There was even more drama in the mile, which was billed as a battle between Cram, the silver medalist over 1,500 meters at Los Angeles, and Said Aouita, the Moroccan who won the gold at 5,000 meters. Cram followed Aouita for three laps, with Briton Rob Harrison serving as the pacesetter. But the pace was too slow, and with 15 runners in the race, they began to bunch together and a collision occurred. Cram, in sixth place, caught the foot of Scotsman Graham Williamson, then appeared to collide with Mike Boit of Kenya. He crashed to the ground and was left more than 50 meters behind the leaders.

Aouita raced to the front with 200 meters to go, followed by John Walker. ST. PTE, Quebec AP) Bobby Rahal was easily the quickest Friday in a practice session for the Molson Indy 200 marred by a crash in which Indi-inapolis 500 winner Rick Mears was seriously injured. Mears suffered a cerebral contusion and severely fractured feet in the accident at the new Sanair Super Speedway. Mears was reported by Dr.

Jteve Olvey, CART's medical director, to be in serious but stable at Royal Victoria Hos-jital in Montreal, where he was scheduled to undergo surgery to epair the fractures Friday light. Meanwhile, Rahal turned in he day's rastest lap on the s-nile Sanair tri-oval, averaging .41.103 mph in his 7-Eleven-spon-ored March 84C. Al Unser, Mears' teammate, ras next at 138.018 in another tfarch, while a Lola T-80O driven )y Danny Sullivan was third at .57.839. Colombian Indy-car rookie Ro-lerto Guerrero was clocked at .37.438 in a March, followed by he March of Tom Sneva at 37.254. Series point leader and even-time pole winner Mario indretti, driving a Lola, was 0th at 134.151.

"This track is tight, really Phoenix, but you can run side-by-side in the turns there. "I think there'll be a lot more yellows (caution flags) here," he "What happened today proves said. "It's real easy to get in trou- it," Rahal said. "If that had been ble out there." a wall, instead of a guard rail, I There were two other incidents think his feet would have been on the track Friday, with both messed up, but the car wouldn't Gordon Johncock and Danny On- have been cut off like that." gais escaping injury when they As for the danger of the short spun and hit the outside wall, track shorter than the mile The cars belonging to Fabi, ovals at both Phoenix and Mil- Johncock and Ohgais all are ex- waukee, where the Indy cars run pected to be repaired in time for Rahal said, "Any oval, I don't Saturday's action. AP Laserphoio Rick Mears is given medical attention after suffering head injuries and fractures to both feet during a practice crash Friday in Canada.

Buffalo Books a Flight for Aeros Louisiana Votes To Bar Mancini the go-ahead for the state to help with the project. Griffin referred to this today, saying, "Now it's up to the governor. We have to put that shovel in the ground to get a downtown stadium." He said the design of the stadium would make it possible to expand it to 43,000 seats in seven months at a cost of $7 million. Rich officials said the company looked at Class AAA franchises in both the American Association and International League before finding a willing seller in Milton Glickman at Wichita. "It probably would have been more convenient for us to join the International League and re-establish the 'Thruway Series' with Syracuse and Rochester," Billo-ni said.

"Instead," he said, "we chose the more expensive route of flying to such cities as Denver, Nashville, Indianapolis and Louisville because we feel these are the big league cities of AAA baseball." Gisel said he expects the American Association next season to have teams in Denver, Indianapolis, Louisville, Omaha, Oklahoma City, Des Moines, Nashville and Buffalo. BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) The announcement had barely been made Friday that Buffalo was moving up to Class AAA minor league baseball when talk resumed about the city landing a major, league franchise. At a news conference in a Buffalo Convention Center room decorated with baseball pennants, the Rich Products Corp. announced it had purchased the Wichita Aeros franchise of the American Association and will move the team to Buffalo for the 1985 season.

"This means we are just one step from the major leagues," said Michael J. Billo-ni, who has been helping run the Buffalo Bisons team in the Class AA Eastern League for Rich Products. "Now we're into AAA," said Mayor James Griffin, an avid baseball fan. "Another step and we're going to have major league ball here in the good City of Buffalo." David A. Rich, vice president-corporate communications for Rich, said the agreement to buy the Wichita team was finalized Thursday night.

He said his brother, Robert Rich the principal baseball figure for the food company, was out of town on business and unable to attend the news conference. William G. Gisel corporation counsel for Rich, declined to say what the company agreed to pay for the franchise. The Buffalo News said it was a $1 million deal. Gisel said Bob Rich Jr.

has spent the last couple of days talking with parties interested in buying the company's Eastern League franchise and moving it to another city. He didn't name the parties or the cities. The American Association, he said, has given approval for the new Bisons team to temporarily play in War Memorial Stadium, a ballpark that was built in the 1930s and once was the home of the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League. The Eastern League Bisons played their home games at that stadium. But Gisel said Rich would be able to keep Class AAA baseball in Buffalo only If a proposed new stadium is built.

Griffin and other officials have proposed building a baseball park in downtown Buffalo that would seat 22,500 and could be expanded to 42,000 or 43,000 seats If the city gets a big league franchise. The proposal calls for the state to contribute $22.5 million of the $53 million cost with local governments kicking in the rest. Gov. Mario Cuomo has not yet given NEW ORLEANS (AP) Louisiana's boxing ommission suspended Drraer light heavy-'eight champion Ray Boom Boom" Mancini 60 days Friday for liling to disclose that might have to pull ut of a scheduled fight ecause of a cut over is eye. But Mancini an-ounced Thursday that is doctor had ordered im out of a nationally Revised fight sched-led Saturday at the 'orld's fair against enny "Bang Bang" ogner for fear the ich-long scar would re-pen.

Mancini's manager, avid Wolf, also was aspended for 60 days, lid Michael J. Cusi- mano, secretary-treasurer of the State Boxing and Wrestling Commission. "I don't think we can argue with the doctor," said Cusimano. "If the doctor says he's got a medical problem, I don't think we qualify to argue. "What we're saying is the doctor himself said this condition occurred two weeks ago in the Catskills.

If that con-dition existed, we should have been notified of it." Cusimano said the suspensions were effective Friday, but both Mancini and Wolf could appeal. If they did, he said, a hearing would be scheduled as soon as possible. AP Lturphoto Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini displays the small cut above his left eye which forced the cancellation of today's 10-round fight with Kenny Bogner. Rozier-Oiler Talks Muddled Patriots Hope to Break Orange Bowl Losing Jinx had a disappointing rookie season because of an ankle Injury. "Nothing is going on with the Oilers in a formal sense," Wilkinson said.

"If the Pittsburgh deal come through, you're talking to the happiest man in town." Flyweight Sun-chon Retains Boxing Title SEOUL, South Korea (AP) Kwon Sun-chon of South Korea retained his International Boxing Federation flyweight championship Friday by stopping Colombian challenger Alberto Castro in a title bout at Chongju. The knockout at 2:56 of the 12th round of the scheduled 15-round bout. Kwon went on the offensive from the start, scoring repeatedly with hard body blows and facial punches. Castro tried to counter with uppercuts but the champ managed to throw In more punches, Both fighters weighed In at 112 pounds, the weight limit for the division. three-year, $3.1 million contract.

Wilkinson has offered the USFL team $1 million. The Oilers have NFL rights to the 1983 Heisman winner. "They want out of Pittsburgh badly," Herzeg said. "But Mike has diminishing value to us because he's missed so much time. We don't feel like he could make a major contribution to us this season.

This is a dead issue for this season. There will be no negotiations until after the season. I don't want to talk about this anymore." But Wilkinson said he thought it would be "a critical mistake" for the Oilers "If we were able to arrange a deal with Pittsburgh and then Houston wouldn't want to reopen the negotiations." Wilkinson said he believed the Oilers' Aug. 29 deadline "was an artificially imposed deadline. I'm waiting to hear from the Maulers right now." The agent said he presented the USFL team with several alternatives.

Pittsburgh has said It wants to get back some of the mowy It Invested in Boater, who HOUSTON (AP) The agent )r Heisman Trophy winner Mike lozier says negotiations to get le running back out of the Unlt-j States Football League are ontinuing. But the Houston Hers say talks to get the former ebraska running back into an iler uniform won't be renewed nil the National Football season is concluded. Rozier's agent, Art Wilkinson, id he "gave the Maulers one jt-ditch proposal on Saturday. iey're supposed to get back to If we get it worked out with itsburgh, I'm not sure If the era want Mike on their roster season." ferzeg, who broke off negotla-is last week, said perhaps Wilson hoped last week's dead- for resolution of talks with iston "wouldn't be a real dllne. It was, The situation i a major distraction for the on and we want to put it to rest this season," ubllshed reports in Houston Icate the Maulers want from I million to $1,9 million to al- RMir to escape from a tween teams that won their openers and are expected to be the top clubs in their division.

The Patriots' only victory at Miami was 20-14 in the first game ever played between the clubs, on Nov. 27, 1966. The game between the Packers and Raiders also matches teams who won their openers last Sunday and will be their first confrontation since 1978, when the Raiders won 28-3. The Packers probably will be without Paul Coffman, their standout tight end. Ho suffered a stretched ligament in his log during Green Bay's 24-23 triumph over St.

Louis a week, ago In Forrest Gregg's debut as Packers' conch. From Page 31 Monday night, Washington will be San Francisco. Thursday night, the Pittsburgh Steelers dc-feated the Now York Jets 23-17. Similar to Seattle, the Chargers lost a key player after their opening-game victory, but not for the same reason as the Seahawks. Following San Diego's romp over Minnesota, All-Pro tight end Kcllen Winslow, quarterback Fouts' favorite tar-get, announced his retirement because of contract problems.

New England will bo trying to break a 16-game losing streak in the Orange Bowl against Miami In an AFC East battlo be- Denver also will be missing a key performer quarterback John Elway when the Broncos face Chicago in another meeting between opening-game winners. Elway, suffering from a sprained left shoulder, will be replaced by GaryKublak. Chicago's Walter Pay-ton, who' has a career rushing total of 11,961 yards, 621 yards short of Brown's NFL record, will be shooting for another of the Hall of Famer's marks Sunday against tho Broncos. Payton needs only 129 combined yards to break Brown's record of 15,459 yards in rushing and pass receiving. Th Auoclattd Prut PMtt Photo Mike Rozler is still a Pittsburgh Mauler at leaot for now..