The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page 24

ff THE COURIER-JOURNAL, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 1979 7 COLLEGE FOOTBALL Ray's steal saves Memphis State's 10-6 win over of I just kept giving the ball up." Louisville's mistakes included thre lost fumbles, two blocked Dunts. on This fourth defeat against four victories and a tie was nothing new. It was founded on foul-ups in the kicking game (the losses to VPI and Florida State), a hotly contested pass-interference call (the loss to Miami), a non-functioning passing attack (the tie with Southern Miss) and a constantly sputtering offense (those five games and all four victories). "We beat ourselves with mistakes, especially in the kicking game, and with turnovers and there were some great plays by the Memphis defense," Gibson said. "But their offense could stay on that field another month and not score on us.

I could not be any prouder of my defense, or of the effort all of our kids gave. If Louisville's fans don't appreciate kids like these, they simply don't deserve this caliber of football." But, whether Louisville deserved its fate or not, it was Memphis State that turned opportunity into precious points. It was Memphis State that scored on a 15-yard pass from Darrell Martin to Ken Dunek, capping a 56-yard drive that included two pass-interference calls for a total of 38 yards and promptly broke a 6-6 tie on Rusty Bennett's extra-point kick with 7:30 left in the second quarter. It was Memphis State that executed a chip-shot field goal of 26 yards by Bennett, capitalizing on a blocked punt at the Louisville 15, to jump its lead to 10-6 with 6:35 left in the game. And it was Memphis State, getting an incredible 19 solo tackles and six assists from nose guard Pete Scatamacchia, that kept the relentless Hickman from personally ramrodding Louisville's offense across the goal line.

"As well as our defense played, those dive plays still almost did us in," Williamson said. "They started coming right at us with Hickman after halftime, By MIKE SULLIVAN Ceurter-Jeurnal Staff Writer MEMPHIS, Tenn. Both Vince Gibson, the sorrowful head coach, and Stu Stram, the frustrated quarterback, tried to blame themselves. Everyone else in the bewitched, bothered and bewildered University of Louisville football family stated firmly that it was no one's fault The play that guaranteed Louisville of being a 10-6 loser was, they said, a piece of individual brilliance by a Memphis State defensive back named Johnny Ray. In either case, the fact is that Louisville was either going to have a game-winning touchdown pass or an hotel-sized heartbreak with 45 seconds left in yesterday's game.

As the first-down play by of unfolded at the Memphis State 16-yard line, everyone in the Liberty Bowl Stadium crowd of 17,205 could see as much. Tight end Mark Wilson was wide open in the end zone. Stram, the disappointed veteran who finally had gotten his chance to play with 64 minutes left, wasnt about to throw this one off-target. Enter Johnny Ray on the dead run. He flew in front of Wilson at the last possible second, caught the ball in stride and raced 16 yards upfield.

That interception sealed Louisville's hardest-to-swallow defeat of the season and obscured, among other things, a near-perfect afternoon by the losers' defense and a brilliant rushing performance by freshman tailback Greg Hickman. "Johnny Ray wouldn't even be playing if a starter hadn't torn his knee up a few weeks ago," said Memphis State coach Richard Williamson. "I hugged Johnny's neck about 14 times." Gibson insisted to the press that the play was "a terrible call by me. It stunk, and it was nobody's fault but mine. I meant to call another pass and called that one instead." But the quick, "pop-pass" type of play off an option running fake looked so open that a rose, by any name, wouldn't have smelled sweeter, if only "Too low, maybe," said Stram.

"I should have lofted it a little more." "No," offensive coordinator Bob Weber said firmly. "You read the defense perfectly. The strong safety 'bit' (reacted to the running fake). It was there and you threw the ball well. The weak safety (Ray) just made an outstanding play." However, everyone in Louisville's funeral parlor of a dressing room knew that all the agonizing over "The Play" was only the tip of an iceberg made of frozen teardrops.

and we couldnt seem to tackle the guy." Hickman, a 6-foot, 190-pound freshman from Bardstown, ran for 193 yards in 33 carries, including a two-yard scoring blast up the middle near the end of the first quarter. Twenty-one of his carries and 139 of his yards came in the second half, when he broke loose for gains of 50, 16, 12 -and nine yards. "It was the hardest I've ever run," said Hickman, who plays in a brace to protect an injured shoulder. "If we had won, it would have been a great game for me. We lost, so it was average." However, everyone agreed that Louisville's defensive effort was far from average.

It was worthy, maybe, of more than the 10-10 tie that even basic execution would have produced. of kicking specialist Matt Mager was wide right with his extra-point kick in the first quarter. With 1:47 left in the second quarter, he was wide to the right again with a 27-yard field-goal attempt that would have sent of off the field leading 9-7. "We're pleased with the way we played on defense," said of linebacker Otis Wilson, who made 18 tackles, intercepted a pass and recovered two fumbles the last recovery leading to of L's near-miss in the final minute. "We put all the pressure on them that was humanly possible.

But we mishandled snap thad led to a short punt and one unsuccessful fake-pun-and-pass. Each gave field position Memphis. But instead of folding, of L's defense gave splendid field position back to its own offense by victimizing Memphis for an amazing 10 fumbles six of them lost and two interceptions. Thanks to those big plays, which included a school-record three fumble recoveries by Dan Dihtzeruk, of was able to launch four drives from near midfield and to start four others at the Memphis 36-, 35-, 33- and 11-yard lines. No points resulted.

Thanks to Louisville mistakes, Memphis got the ball near midfield four times and at the of 36-, 22- and 15-yard lines. Three points resulted. Memphis managed 132 yards rushing and 58 passing for 190 in total offense. of with 294 on the ground and 26 in the air, had 287 total yards. All of which, with 40 cents, will by a fair-sized cup of coffee to drink from or to cry into.

"The only place they beat us was on the scoreboard," Gibson said, not bothering to add that no place ever hurts quite as much, or is remembered nearly as long. Statistics Louisville Memphis Louisville Hickman 1 run (kick failed) First downs 13 11 Memphis Stat Dunek 15 pass from Martin (Ben- Rushes-yards 65-241 45-132 nert kick) Passing yards 24 58 Memphis Stat FG 24 Bennett Return yards 52 32 A 17,205. INDIVIDUALS Passes 5-18-1 4-21-2 RUSHING Louisville, Hickman 33-193, Haden 15-54, Punts 8-26 8-35 Memphis State, Cage 27-124, Dion 11-30. Fumbles-lost 4-3 10-4 PASSING Louisville, Gannon 1-8-0 minus 1 yard, Penalties-yards 5-43 4-54 Beti 1-1-0 3, Patterson 1-54) 8, Stram 2-4-1 14. Memphis, RECEIVING Louisville, Searcy 1-9, Mark Wilson 1- MEMPHIS STATE 0 7 8 3-10 g.

Memphis, Dunek 2-34, Smith 1-11. Was the play over on pass-interference call on of Us Ellis? By MIKE SULLIVAN Two other possibilities are the two ville's 15 but came on third-and-sev-en, thus providing a valuable first down. The only thing that seemed clear was that neither receiver would have caught the pass anyway, which has nothing to do with whether interference is committed. The matter of whether the play has ended, though, does, and the of side believed that Darrell Martin's overthrown pass toward Hunt had sailed out of bounds before the slight collision with Ellis. "I was in front of him, going for the ball," Ellis said.

"It went over both our heads, then he dived into me. I don't know what to say. I have to check it on the film. But right now I think it was a rotten call." Ellis was beaten one-on-one, though, on Martin's 15-yard bullet to Ken Dunek for the TD. the ball.

Ray Payton recovered for the Cardinals. But every Memphis State mistake meant nothing when free safety Johnny Ray flew out of nowhere to intercept a would-be touchdown pass with 45 seconds left Well, almost nowhere. "It was normal coverage, really," Ray said of the play, which came with of enjoying a first down at the Memphis 16. "The pass was to the weak side (of of L's formation), and that's the area I'm supposed to be in. If no back comes out of the backfield (as a receiver), I go over and cover the flat (far sideline).

"Really, though, I was heading for the flat, not the guy in the end zone (U of tight end Mark Wilson, who was standing alone, eight yards behind Ray). But the ball was there and I caught it in stride and just kept going." "He (Martin) made a pump fake and I reacted," Ellis said. "I tried to scramble back and lost my footing." Dunek remembered it the same way. "Darrell got the man off me by faking," Dunek said. Even of L's specialty units, once known for terrorizing enemy punters, are now having trouble protecting their own punters.

Two blocked punts, one leading to a field goal, added to the gloom of yesterday's loss. "Everything has to be perfect on punt protection," said Ellis, a member of that unit "With us, it seems that if we break down a little in one area (of the line), the other team happens to be putting on a big rush to that area." of L's only points followed a short drive of 20 yards after Memphis' James Stewart, trying to let a punt roll dead in the first quarter, accidentally touched Ray, in other words, was moving laterally, toward a different passing zone, and ran into the middle of a pattern nobody was covering. "He made a great play," said of quarterback Stu Stram. "Our running fake got rid of the strong safety. He was the only other guy with any kind of chance to mess it up." Losing his poise, Stram had shoved Ray when both were about 10 feet behind the Memphis State bench after running out of bounds.

Ray turned a cartwheel near a fence, but was not hurt "It was stupid," Stram said. "I wanted to make sure he got a little whack. I never should have done it." "Somebody told me he's waiting (outside the Memphis locker room) to apologize," Ray said. "I wasn't hurt, but it scared me a little. I can understand how he felt, though." Courier-Journal Stiff Writer MEMPHIS, Tenn.

It's going to be hard, but coaches are paid to do it So the University of Louisville defensive staff will have to find a way to criticize the performance of its unit yesterday. The question is: how? of held Memphis State to an average of 2.7 yards for 66 plays, running and passing, and victimized the Tigers for eight Maybe someone could devise a ball-carrying critique for Otis Wilson and Leon Williams. Each made an interception in the final three minutes of the first half, putting of in business at the Memphis 11- and 35-yard lines. "You should have scored, guys work on your running fakes." Doesn't sound promising. drives put together by the Memphis State offense.

One a 56-yard, five-play scoring march featured two pass-interference calls for a total of 38 yards and a 15-yard TD pass. The other, spanning 64 yards in nine plays, featured two long runs by Leo Cage, who gained 124 yards for the day. But it died at the of 26 when Wilson recovered a fumble. If anything, of L's coaches might be tempted to branch off into officiating critiques when they analyze that first drive. One interference call came as Zarko Ellis shadowed Memphis wideout Tony Hunt on a deep pattern.

It moved the ball 34 yards, to of L's 22. The other flag was thrown on Jack Pok as he covered tight end Frank Smith. It moved the ball only four yards to Louis Placing a classified ad with one of our professional Ad-Visors is easy, effective, and economical. We take a genuine interest in you and the goods and services you want to sell or find. And we just don't take an ad.

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