The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 21

r. 1 I xwmmm i i i College Football Top 25 Bl eac a Tennessee (I) 59 Kentucky 21 Kansas State (2) 31 Missouri (19) 25 UCLA (3) 34 USC 17 Florida State (5) 23 Florida State (4) 12 Ohio State (7) 31 Michigan (11) 16 Mississippi State 22 Arkansas (9) 21 Notre Dame (10) 39 Louisiana State 36 Tulane (12) 48 Houston 20 Wisconsin (1 3) 24 Penn State (16) 3 Georgia (14) 24 Mississippi 17 Oregon (15) at Oregon State Air Force (20) 22 Rice 16 Georgia Tech (21) 63 Wake Forest 35 Miami (Fla.) (22) 38 Pittsburgh 10 Virginia Tech (23) 42 Rutgers 7 Syracuse (24) 38 Temple 7 'it n.rr RAXDY ItKUBAKER Assistant Editor, Dcs JUrrinrs Sunbay Agister November 22, WhU ST 3k Ex-yikirig Huffman killed Former Notre Dame and Minnesota Vikings lineman David Huffman.was killed early Saturday car crash that police said may be alcohol-related. Huffman, 41, died of massive internal injuries when his car struck a guard rail and a sign post on the Indiana Toll Road near Lake Station, about 5 a.m., according to Indiana State Police. UNI romps to volleyball title Northern Iowa cruised to the Missouri Valley Conference volleyball tournament title on Saturday in Wichita, defeating Illinois State, 15-5, 15-8, 15-12. Tourney most valuable player Holly VanHofyn had 12 kills, 10 digs and a match-high eight blocks for the Panthers, who will await word of an NCAA berth on Nov.

29. Season slips away Central College finishes its football season 10-1 after a 2S-21 playoff loss Saturday. STORY on Page 4D TCP 25 ROUNDUP on Page 4D mm It' KANSAS'. MINNESOTA tVzN1 JAYHAWKSV GOPHERS fit I till I. 5-6 OVERALL, 2-6 BIG TEN J- IZ I IOWA HAWKEYES 3-8 OVERALL, 2-6 BIG TEN IOWA STATE CYCLONES; 3-8 OVERALL; 1-7 BiG 12' ft I 8 Minnesota hands Iowai embarrassing defeat By RANDY PETERSON HhlilSTKR ST.VFF Minneapolis, Minn.

Need a snapshot of the Iowa football season? Take a look at Saturday's loss against Minnesota. Offense? Maybe next season. The Hawkeyes concluded their worst season since 1978 with a 49-7 loss against the Gophers. It resulted in records of 3-8 overall and 2-6 in the Big Ten Conference. The last time Iowa had fewer ictories was 1978, when the Hawkeyes went 2-9 in Bob Commings' final season.

"Wasn't Minnesota great day?" Iowa Coach Hayden Fry said. "They got momentum, ent ahead and played a great game. Minnesota's defense! was really outstanding. We could not do anything against them." A They couldn't even score until Robbie Crockett ran af yard with 45 seconds remain ing in the game. "Our goal this year was totjj stop the run and we did it exvj tremely well today," Minnesota IOWA Turn to Page 2D Cyclones hold off By JEFF OLSON Mi, C-r iet H'm-riM) rjines, la.

In. the middle victory celebration, Iowa ate Ennis Haywood wres- W'a teammate to the turf at rfflMc Trice Stadium. It was the iSfrfll time Saturday that Darren was tackled with ease. ran for 184 yards 81 $Jhe fourth quarter as Iowa ended its season and its seven-game losing streak by heating Kansas, 23-20. It was the Cyclones' first victory over Kansas since 1989, a year that also marked the last time Iowa State ended a by winning.

j-U It also sent Iowa State into the offseason with enthusiasm in spite of a 3-8 record. "We've got a tremendous amount to build on," Iowa State Coach, Dan McCarney said. "It's liko 'fcVft'just quali- fled for postseason play, even though obviously we haven't." The Cyclones turned the tide by stopping a risky move by Kansas Coach Terry Allen, then controlling the clock behind Davis and an offensive line' that was thinned by injuries. With the score tied, 20-20, late in the third quarter, Allen chose to run the ball on fourth down at the Kansas 36-yard line. Quarterback Jay CYCLONES Turn to Page 3D Fry 'knows' but won sav hist vet his future, "I've got to talk to a lot of people," he said.

"All of this is monumental to me. I want to be sure I do the right thing for the university and the football program. "1 don't know about coaches' security, about the retirement plan, the papers I have to fill (' I 1 4 i i I If ii iff 3 out. I know nothing about re- tirement. I do know something fj By RANDY PETERSON UkOISTK.R ST.WF WlUTKR Minneapolis, Minn.

Hayden Fry said Saturday he has decided whether he'll return for a 21st season as Iowa's football coach or retire. But he's not rushing into making the decision public. An announcement could be made Monday or not until after Thanksgiving. Aft er a 49-7 loss against Min- 1 nesota, Fry said he will meet with Athletic Director Bob Bowlsby and his coaches to-, day. 'A "It might be time to go," Fry, 69, said- ''v; Iowa Coach Hayden Fry shows his disappointment after Iowa's season-ending loss to DOL'O tl.LSTHK ItolMKU Minnesota Saturday.

It sounds like Fry's leaving, but this was no way to end it 6 r. I m' 4 cially the way the present so favored the Gophers. When it comes to Iowa-Minnesota, the Metrodome has been home to some crazy, back-and-forth roller-derby battles. In a way, so was this. Minnesota would venture forth.

Iowa would fall back. This time Iowa's defense was almost as defective as Iowa's offense. Before the Hawkeyes came to town, the Gophers had scored 20 points or more only once in Big Ten play in a 56-21 loss to Purdue. Against Iowa, they'd matched that total before half-time. Before it was over you half wondered whether Steve Loney shouldn't be a candidate to succeed Fry.

Loney, who moved from Iowa State to Minnesota, was the inneapolis, Minn. Jared DeVries bit liis lip and tried hard to smite through the distress. This was a smile the way Io-wa's performance was a victory. In one word DeVries summed up this grim Saturday afternoon in the Metrodome. "Sad," he said, blinking a pair of red-rimmed eyes as proof.

Perfect description. From Iowa's performance, to the thought of DeVries playing his final game, to the sight of Hayden Fry standing on the sideline In what was probably his finale, too, absorbing one of thf worst drubbings in his 37 years as coach. JVpm an Iowa perspective, everjt liing about it was sad. Everj the Hawkeye fans who believe Fry should have retired about coaching." But Fry said he he has a plan. "I know what I want to do.

but until I talk to university of-. ficials and the coacliing staff, I don't think it would be right to make a hasty decision," Fry; 'v FRY TurntoPuge 2D. offensive coordinator whose unit overwhelmed this formerly sound Iowa defense. It was a game pitting two teams with three Big Ten victories between them. And the team with one Big Ten victory won by 42 points.

The young Gophers, even younger than the Hawkeyes, were calling tlus game the start of their 1999 season. While the young Gophers are 1-0, the young Hawkeyes will probably be playing for a new coach next season. "I don't know about my coaches' security, about the retirement papers I have to fill out," Fry said. "I know nothing about retirement. I do know about coaching." This is true.

His last game does not prove otherwise. Cunningham and Randy Moss and Cris Carter did most of the laughing. They made Green Bay's TV What Packers at Vikings. When Noon, Fox. secondary look like, well, Swiss cheese in that stunning 37-24 victory Oct.

5. But all last week the Vikings (9-1) turned sour at even a hint of a conversation that might ask them to reflect on their breaklhrough triumph. i "I ain't talking about Green Bay," defensive lineman John i VIKINGS Turn foP6HJ last game as a Hawkeye. "We just couldn't shut it off." Quit. Too strong a word for the players.

About right for their coach. "It might be time to go," he said, in the strongest statement on the subject yet. "My wife's been on me for three years to hang it up. I nearly retired after we defeated Washington in the Sun Bowl." If it weren't for a group of seniors-to-be who argued against it, he said, that would have been end game. A 38-18 victory over the Pac-10 co-champs would have been a fitting conclusion to an extraordinary career.

That was a career This was not. This was not way to go out, not for a coach with 232 victories and three 111 i I Rose Bowl trips. If it's time to give Hayden Fry a going away present after 20 years of service, the last lung you want to do is hand him his worst Metrodome defeat to go with the gold watch. That said, it isn't a good reason to stick around either. You don't want to see him ride into Sun City on a five-game losing streak, either, but what keeps five from turning to six when Nebraska shows up next summer? Never underestimate Fry's ability to repair a leaky roof.

But if he can stop the flooding between now and September, he ought to coach another 10 years. With the future on everyone's mind, it wasn't easy focusing on the present. Espe '1 1 til I talk to university officials, my coaching st aff, I just don't think it would be right to make a hasty decision, but in my mind, I know what I want to do. I've known that for some time." If this was Fry's last game as Iowa coach, it wasn't much of a tribute. He deserved more than this less than spirited fort.

The more the sit uation deteriorated on the way to a 49-7 climax, the less spirited that effort became. Quit might be too strong a word to describe the players. Stopping the Gophers was like cat ching a falling knife. The more momentum they got, the harder it was to head them off. "Once you get it rolling, it's rolling," said DeVries, the all-America tackle who played his last, wins Hawf added the winning point after missing two of four previous extra-point kicks.

"I was struggling, but I overcame it," Hawf said. "I knew they could (score), and then it was up to me. It was a great snap and hold." It was Hawf first winning kick since he had a 33-yard field goal in a 15-12 victory against HMS of Hartley two years ago. West Lyon's Mark Rent-schler intercepted a pass on the game's final play. The ending concluded spectacular offensive displays by both teams.

West Lyon set Class 2-A records with 76 rushing attempts and 4 II yards. WEST LYON Turn to l'uie SD West Lyon rallies Vikings, Packers tired of talking about game Marc Hansen 10 years ago at age 59 couldn't help be moved by this one. At least Fry won't be swayed by the magnitude of this defeat. After the game he hinted strongly that this indeed was the last waltz. "I know what I want to do in my own mind," he said, "but un State finals SATURDAY'S GAMES Class 3-A Harlan 49, Grinnell 7 Class 2-A West Lyon 41, Dike-New Hartford 40 FRIDAY'S GAMES Class 4-A Iowa City West 38, W.D.M.

Dowling 10 Class A Pekin (Packwood) 55, Bedford 14 HARLAN WINS on Page 50 Childress' winning touchdown, his third of the game, ended a 73-yard, 15-play drive. "We just kept our heads, tried to stop from getting nervous," Childless said. Records tumble in the Class 2-A state championship game. By JOHN NAUGHT0N Km.ivtfk Stafi- Wuitkk Cedar Falls, la. In a game filled with rallies, West Lyon of Inwood had the last and most important one.

Josh Childress ran a 1-yard touchdown with 11 seconds left and Steve Hawf added the extra point for a 41-10 victory against Dike-New Hartford for the' Class 2-A state football chnmpionsliip. 'The lead changed hands five times in the fourth quarter, and 1 1 offensive records were broken or tied in the game. Minneapolis, Minn. (AF) In Green Bay, they couldn't stop talking about it. In Minnesota, they cringed at the slightest mention of it.

You'd think the Packers whipped the Vikings on that stormy night at Lambeau Field last month the way the teams approached today's important rematch. That Brett Favre and Antonio Freeman and Robert Brooks were the ones who ran wild in the highly touted Monday night showdown, which devolved into a soggy sitcom by half lime. That's the way it was supposed to go, anyway. It didn't, of course. Oh, it was a laugher, all right, but Randall Asm m'IaTKD I'kkss West Lyon teammates celebrate their Class 2-A cham-oionshiD Saturday, having beaten Dike-New Hartford.

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