The Pittsburgh Press from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 72

D6 Sunday, November 27, 1988 The Pittsburgh Press COLLEGE FOOTBALL Arkansas' inability to pass lets Miami blow past, 18-16 No offense. No UDset. or's 58-yard field goal the longest of his career and his 23rd in a row and Foster's 80-yard touchdown sprint. Despite only three first downs in the first half, Arkansas trailed by only five. "Miami was surprised on the 80-yard run," quarterback Quinn Grovey said.

"They knew they were in for a game then." Early in the third quarter Miami's limping ground game 77 yards on 42 carries gave Arkansas another lift. Nose tackle Chad Rolen and linebacker Reggie Hall stuffed Gary on a fourth and inches at the Arkansas 26. Eight plays later Grovey tossed a 16-yard touchdown to Foster on fourth down after scrambling halfway across the Orange Bowl. The two-point pass failed, but the Razor-backs were leading 16-15 and within reach of a major upset. But with a chance to put the game away, the Razorbacks didn't make another first down the rest of the game, failed to complete two passes and lost 10 yards in four possessions.

but the loss still stung. "Hopefully this game will show college football that Arkansas is for real," running back Barry Foster said. "Hopefully it will give us some respect among the top teams in college football." "No one gave us a chance to win," Coach Ken Hatfield said, "but they just came up with one more play than we did. That's why they won. "We came down here with a chance to win the national championship, even though no one gave us a chance at that.

If we had won this game, I'd be fighting to say our team is as deserving of No. 1 as anybody." Miami built a 15-10 halftime lead on Cleveland Gary's 1-yard touchdown run, two Huerta field goals and a safety by All-American defensive end Bill Hawkins. The Hurricanes, however, were unable to take charge of the game because of two Leonard Conley fumbles and Conley's failure to score on fourth and goal from the Arkansas 1. The Razorbacks scored on Kendall Train- By Jamie Turner Scripps Howard News MIAMI For much of yesterday afternoon the Arkansas Razorbacks thought their national championship hopes had come to pass. But because the Razorbacks couldn't pass, Arkansas let the Miami Hurricanes escape another error-prone performance.

By surviving, 18-16, the No. 3-ranked Hurricanes (9-1) kept alive their fleeting national title hopes while dismissing the Razorbacks (10-1), ranked seventh by Scripps Howard, to also-ran status in the Cotton Bowl. Miami outgained Arkansas 438 yards to 186 and 26 first downs to 6, but it was not until Carlos Huerta's 20-yard field goal with 5:38 left that the Hurricanes ended the Razorbacks' dreams of avenging last year's 51-7 loss to Miami. The Razorbacks had 47 yards passing. When they had to pass from their own 26 with 3:08 left all quarterback John Bland got was an incompletion, a 1-yard loss and a sack.

If the victory wasn't overpowering, at least Miami could celebrate. "The only thing we were asked all week was who would win the Southern Cal-Notre Dame game and what our chances of winning the national championship were," Miami Coach Jimmy Johnson said. "No one said one word about Arkansas other than me. "I said all week that we were somewhat unemotional. I knew Arkansas would come in and play well, and we were not sharp.

We failed to convert numerous fourth-down opportunities, but we did win. I'm very happy with the win and happy with the way the team hung in there." Arkansas entered the game as the Rodney Dangerfields of college football. Despite their undefeated record, the Razorbacks were saddled with the stigma of last year's beating by the Hurricanes and were a 16Vi-point underdog. A lot was done to restore the reputation, "We were fortunate that the defense was really solid," Johnson said. "It gave the offense the ball for enough shots.

If Arkansas grinds out a few first downs, maybe we don't get the ball Even then the Razorbacks had a chance to turn Miami aside on the deciding drive. Safety Steve Atwater had his hands on a third-down Steve Walsh pass in the Arkansas end zone, but dropped the ball. Huerta then hit the field goal. "I had the ball It was a little high, but I should have had it," Atwater said. "There are no excuses." Walsh finished the game with 33 completions on 50 attempts for 361 yards.

He didn't throw a touchdown pass and it was the first time he was shut out this year. "For a team to come to the Orange Bowl and only lose by two points tp us, something's wrong," Walsh said. (Jamie Turner is a sportswriter for The Sun-Tattler in Hollywood, Fla.) I Irish Dooley gets 200th; Georgia wins, 24-3 from page Dl i 9 I Associated Press ROUNDUP Western Kentucky's defense gave up 29 points in the fourth' quarter but made the one play that mattered when Vincel Anthony ended Western Illinois' last drive with an interception at his 20,. giving WKU a 35-32 victory in the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs. Highlight Lowlight Rice, which hasn't: won a Southwest Conference game in two seasons, scrapped its way to a 14-14 halftime tie, but fell apart in the second half of a 45-14 loss to Houston.

The Owls finished a winless season and extended the nation's longest losing streak to 18 games. a 26-15 victory against USC. Yesterday the Notre Dame defense uncharacteristically blitzed, giving the USC offense headaches and probably backaches, too. Trojans quarterback Rodney Peete, a Heisman Trophy hopeful, was 23 of 44 with two interceptions and was sacked three times. Notre Dame right defensive end Frank Stams had 2Vi sacks.

"It was the most times I've been on my back since I've been here," said Peete, a senior who left the Coliseum with his left shoulder in a sling. The diagnosis was a bruise, although X-rays were to be taken today. "We felt we had to mix it up with blitzing," Notre Dame Coach Lou Holtz said. "All year I've been asked on my call-in talk show why we don't blitz more. Today was the most we've blitzed all year." Irish defensive coordinator Barry Alvarez, a native of Burgettstown, guessed his team blitzed on 20 percent (or 17 times) of the Irish's 84 plays.

"We usually blitz two, three, four times maximum a game," Alvarez said. The Trojans' defense never pressured quarterback Tony Rice, who ran for a 65-yard touchdown and completed 5 of 9 passes for 91 yards, much of that coming on a 55-yard pass to Raghib Ismail on the Irish's first play. "Lou Holtz asked me last night in a team meeting what was the first play I wanted to run and I told him that one and he laughed at me," said Rice, who made a fake pitch to tailback Mark Green and watched the Trojans fall for it. "He said, 'That's why I'm the coach and you're the Although the drive ended with the Irish punting from USC's 41, they came back on the next possession to take a 7-0 lead on Rice's 65-yard touchdown run. It was the longest rush of the season by Notre Dame, Rice's longest career rush and the longest run USC has given up since 1979.

On the Trojans' ensuing possession, Peete, who completed 7 of his first 9 passes, completed a pass to tailback Aaron Emmanuel, who was hit by left tackle George Williams and fumbled. Stams recovered at the 19 and, five plays later, Green leaped over a pack of players to score from the 2, putting the Irish ahead 14-0. Emmanuel's fumble was one of four USC turnovers, the most in a game this season. "You can't expect to win against the nation's No. 1 team making the mistakes we made," said Peete, who had a costly interception at the end of the first half.

The Trojans had scored 2: remaining in the second quarter on Scott Lock wood's 1-yard run to pull within 14-7. The USC defense looked like it was going to do its part, holding Notre Dame to 3 yards in four tries. But with 52 seconds remaining before intermission and USC in a first and 10 from the Irish 49, a Peete pass intended for John Jackson was picked off by corner-back Stan Smagala and returned 64 yards for a touchdown. "Whenever you play a big game like this, you can't make big mistakes and that's what we did," said second-year USC Coach Larry Smith, who lost his first home game. "Notre Dame has a fine team and they played an excellent game.

That's why they won. We didn't do anything to help ourselves win the game." Southern Cal was aided by Notre Dame penalties in the second half, ATHENS, Ga. Vince Dooley achieved a milestone attained by only nine other Division I-A coaches when No. 20 Georgia handed him his 200th victory, 24-3 against Georgia Tech yesterday. "I'm proud of it," Dooley said.

"It's not just a victory for me. This also belongs to all the players and assistant coaches who have been with me over the years," Dooley, 56, completing his 25th season at Georgia, scotched his players' plans to celebrate at the end of the game, talking them out of hauling him off the field on their shoulders and dunking a container of water on his head. "We wanted to dump some water on him, but we knew that was a no-no," tight end Troy Sadowski said. "We weren't going to let any juniors in on it because we knew they had to come back next year." The 200th victory came in an unusual manner for Dooley, known for his penchant for pounding away On the ground. The Bulldogs did the damage in the air with Wayne Johnson passing for 168 yards and one touchdown.

The key play was Wycliffe Lovelace's 33-yard interception return that gave the Bulldogs a 14-point lead early in the third quarter. Only two other active Division I-A coaches Joe Paterno at Penn State and Bo Schembechler at Michigan have won 200 games. Dooley has a 200-77-10 record in a career spent entirely at Georgia. The Bulldogs (8-3) will play Michigan State in the Gator Bowl Jan. 1.

Georgia Tech completed its season at 3-8. Florida State 52 Florida 17 TALLAHASSEE, Fla. Chip Ferguson's three first-quarter touchdown passes sparked No. 5 Florida State. Florida State (10-1) will play in the Sugar Bowl against Auburn.

It was Florida State's largest margin of victory against Florida and its 10th consecutive victory since losing to No. 3 Miami in the opener. Florida (6-5) will play Illinois in the All American Bowl. Houston 45 Rice 14 HOUSTON Andre Ware threw five touchdown passes and Jason Phillips and James Dixon became the first teammates in NCAA history to finish 1-2 in the nation in receiving for No. 15 Houston.

Rice finished its season 0-11 and extended the nation's longest losing streak to 18 games. Houston (9-2) will play Washington State in the Aloha Bowl Dec. 25 in Honolulu. It is the Cougars' best regular-season record since a 10-1 finish in 1979. LSU 44 Tulane 14 BATON ROUGE, La.

Greg Jackson returned an interception 71 yards for a fourth-quarter touchdown and Tommy Hodson threw for 222 yards and two touchdowns for No. 18 Louisiana State. LSU, bound for the Hall of Fame Bowl against Syracuse, finished with an 8-3 regular season. The Tigers were 6-1 in the Southeastern onference, tying for first place with Auburn. Tulane finished at 5-6.

Temple 45 Boston College 28 PHILADELPHIA Matt Baker completed touchdown passes of 80, 42, and 33 yards to Mike Palys and Temple (4-7) turned three first-half interceptions into scores against Associated Press Notre Dame's Todd Lyght knocks away pass intended for Erik Affholter Boston College (3-8). Todd McNair scored two touchdowns on short runs and rushed for 121 yards' for! Temple. Tom Waddle caught five passes for 68 yards to become the all-time career (139) and single-season (70) receiving leader for Boston College. Tennessee 14 Vanderbilt 7 NASHVILLE, Tenn. Tennessee tailback Keith Davis rushed for 162 yards and scored the winning touchdown on a 5-yard run in the third quarter.

Tennessee (5-6) won its fifth consecutive game. Vanderbilt is 3-8. Arizona 28 Arizona St. 18 TUCSON, Ariz. Alonzo Washington scored twice, catching one of three Ronald Veal touchdown passes as Arizona (7-4, 5-3) beat Arizona State (6-3, 3-4) in the Pacific 10.

Arizona is 6-0-1 against Arizona State since 1982. They tied 24-24 last year. In Division I-AA first-round nlay, John Gregory hit Mike Barber with an 8-yard touchdown pass aft a muffed punt and Marshall )eat North Texas, 7-0 Furman sc red after recovering a Delaware amble on the fourth play of the ime and won, 21-7 Joe Ross rai 75 yards for a touchdown to start a Georgia Southern comeback ff a 38-20 victory against The Citadel Linebacker Mark Newsyom scored a safety on a blocked pu it to break a 13-13 tie as Northweaern State beat Boise State, 22-13 (Zip Zanders and Ron Burroughs ach returned interceptions for touchdowns as Western Kentucky (eat Western Illinois, 35-32 Coer-back Johnnie Hendrix returnel an interception 48 yards for a touchdown as Stephen F. Austin ticat Jackson State, 24-0-. John Fnesz passed for 398 yards and tpree touchdowns as Idaho beat Montfena, 38-19 Tim Lester rushed forjtwo touchdowns as Eastern Kentlcky beat Massachusetts, 28-17.

but could not capitalize completely. Quin Rodriquez gave USC its final points on a 26-yard field goal with 1:38 remaining in the third period. The Irish got its last touchdown, a 1-yard run, by Green. "I think this team is underrated even though we're No. 1," Holtz said.

"I've read articles that people have sent to me all year saying we were lucky against this team or that team. Our football team is prettier than I am, but that's about it. They don't play pretty all the time, but they sure play together as a team." NOTES Holtz suspended sophomore flanker Ricky Watters and sophomore tailback Tony Brooks, who was the Irish's leading rusher through 10 games with 667 yards, for arriving late at team meetings and functions. The players were sent home before the game. They were 40 minutes late for dinner Friday night at the team's Newport Beach hotel.

"I thought my decision to suspend the two players might be a divisive influence because we'd been close all year," Holtz said. "I told them last (Friday) night. They realize, with me, that the team has to come before anything else." Notre Dame's only other 11-vic-tory seasons produced national championships 11-0 in 1973, including a Sugar Bowl victory against Alabama, and 11-1 in 1977, with a Cotton Bowl victory against Texas. HOW THE TOP 20 FARED ScripjM Howard AP Yesterday Thii week 1. 1.

Notre Dame (11-0) beat USC, 27-10 end reg. season 2. 2. USC (10-1) lost to Notre Dame, 27-10 end reg, season 3. 3.

Miami (9-1) beat Arkansas, 18-16 Brigham Young 4. 4. W. Virginia (1 1-0) regular season ended 5. S.

Florida St. (10-1) beat Florida, 52-17 end reg. season 6. 6. Nebraska (11-1) regular season ended 7.

8. Arkansas (10-1) lost to Miami, 18-16 end reg. season 8. 7. Auburn (10-1) regular season ended 9.

9. UCLA (9-2) regular season ended 10. 10. Oklahoma (9-2) regular season ended 11. 11.

Michigan (8-2-1) regular season ended 12. 12. Oklahoma St. (8-2) did not play idle 13. 13.

Clemson (9-2) regular season ended 14. 15. Wyoming (11-1) regular season ended 15. 14. Houston (9-2) beat Rice, 45-14 end reg.

season 16. 17. Alabama (8-3) regular season ended 17. 18. Wash.

St. (8-3) regular season ended 18. 16. Louisiana St. (8-3) beat Tulane, 44-14 end reg.

season 19. 19. Syracuse (8-2) did not play Pitt 20. 20. Georgia (8-3) beat Georgia Tech, 24-3 end reg.

season Early breaks launch Westminster past Bluffton, 40-7 i TT 1 i I 1J 4 A A 1 1 Tf A. 1 I vs. -m 1 1.638. DeGruttola added 82 vards and Joe game. Westminster held Bluffton to 133 in Springfield, at 2 p.m.

(Pittsburgh By Chris Bates problems. If you get careless, and combine it with their good hard hitting, the ball will time). Evangel beat Bethany 22-10. Westminster (12-0) took the Beavers out of their running offense early. A pair of fumble recoveries by defensive MVP Andre Borowicz and one by Michael Stephens set up touchdown runs by Brad Tokar (54 and 2 yards) and Joe DeGruttola (11 yards).

The early turnovers, along with the Titans' stingy defense, kept Bluffton from doing what it does best: run the football. The Beavers entered the game as one of the top running teams in the nation, averaging 268 yards per game on the ground. When they fell behind, the ground game was abandoned in favor of a passing Micchia threw three touchdown passesj hitting Dave Foley on throws of 39 and 5t yards and Chris Osborne on a Westminster needs two more victories to be crowned national champion and! Fusco is taking it all in stride. i "Our goal from the beginning of the year! was a national championship. If we are fortunate enough to win it all, that's great If not, it can't tarnish the good we have accomplished this year." 7'?" In other games, Oregon Tech whipped! Carroll, 70-35, and Wisconsin-La-J Crosse beat Northwestern (Iowa), u.

Vv I come loose. "We are a control type of football team. Westminster took us out of our game and they have to be given credit for that. They deserve to be No. 1 and I hope they win the national championship." To do that, the Titans will have to continue to play the way they have all season.

While the defense was limiting Bluffton to just seven points, Tokar and friends were busy finding the end zone. Tokar, a sophomore from Fort Cherry who holds the career rushing mark at Westminster, gained 152 yards on 20 carries, increasing his season total to For The Pittsburgh Press NEW WILMINGTON The NAIA Division II quarterfinal game between Westminster and Bluffton (Ohio) yesterday was over before the fans could get comfortable. Westminster converted three first-quarter fumbles into touchdowns including the opening kickoff to stake itself to a 21-0 lead en route to a 40-7 victory. The No. 1-ranked Titans, who have been in the NAIA national playoffs nine times since 1970 and won championships in 1970, '76 and 77, advanced to Saturday's semifinal against Evangel College (11-0) yards rushing.

"I think one of the reasons we held them to 133 yards was the fact that we jumped out to the early lead," Titans Coach Joe Fusco said. "That's not to take anything away from our defense, but it took them out of character when they had to throw that early in the game." Bluffton Coach Carlin Carpenter, whose team made its second playoff appearance in as many years, knew the fumbles were too much to overcome. "We never felt like we had any control in the game. Anytime you fumble twice inside your own 20, you are going to have.