Arizona Daily Star from Tucson, Arizona • Page 35

$ht Attorns Bailg Star Tucson, Sunday, September 27, 1992 mi Scorecard 4D Davis Cup 6D Sunday Notebook 14D from ta HM relnes away v. I i J' Top-rated Miami barely holds off undaunted Cats. By Anthony Gimino The Arizona Dally Star MIAMI It began with taunting and ended with! tears. Unintimidated, Arizona came into the Orange Bowl; yesterday to play top-ranked Miami, and the ending1 was just like the Wildcats thought it would be. i "We had absolutely predicted in practice that it would come down to a field goal," UA running back On- tiwaun Carter said.

"We expected it. When it happened we were not surprised about it." It was an improbable situation to everyone but the Wildcats. They made it reality. But elation turned to frustration when SteveJ McLaughlin's 51-yard field goal slid wide right by a footf as time expired. There would be no stunning upset.

Final: Miami 8, Arizona 7. "Anybody who knows football knows we got out-S played," said Miami linebacker Jessie Armstead. The UA (1-2-1) came within a foot of ending all1 those Miami streaks: 21 consecutive wins, 47 consecutive wins at home, 52 consecutive wins against unranked veams. "I think the most important thing is that people who, come in here don't think they can win," said UA coach. Dick Tomey.

"We had no doubt we could win." Arizona's final drive started at its 35 with 3:38 left. Carter ran 2 yards around the right side and Billy John-' son's 1 3-yard gain moved the ball to midfield. i Johnson then gained 8 yards, and Chuck Levy 4 for a first down. Three more runs and the ball was at the 35 in the middle of the field, right where McLaughlin wanted it. There were 3 seconds left when Arizona called timeout.

McLaughlin stood alone on the field while See CATS, Page 10D! f. A Benjle Sanders, The Arizona Daily Star Steve McLaughlin's 51-yard field-goal attempt with three seconds left was wide by a foot, helping Miami preserve Its 8-7 victory over the Wildcats Unknowingly, Cats' lives have been enriched Ml f7 UA senior Malauulu I wasn't about to miss game against Miami By Anthony Gimino The Arizona Dally Star MIAMI George Malauulu sat in the Arizona locker room, showing none of the physical or emotional scars that were evident a week earlier. His team had just lost 8-7 to Miami, coming within inches of beating the nation's top-ranked team. Malauulu, normally reserved after a loss, was still on the offense. His words reflected the fiery UA attitude.

"(Miami) thinks they put on their clothes a little different and have 'S' on their chests," he said. "Sorry, pal. I don't think so. "They're not the No. 1 team.

If they were, they would have blown us out. It was just a matter of us wanting it more than them. We came into their home and gave them a scare." Malauulu hadn't taken a snap in practice all week after suffering a slightly sprained right shoulder in a 14-14 tie against Oregon State. In pre-game warm-ups he told coach Dick Tomey he was ready. Heath Bray started and directed the first three UA drives, which ended with no first downs and one safety.

Bray's one pass was incomplete. "We decided to go with Heath to start with because he had taken all of the work, and we wanted George See MALAUULU, Page 1 ID the Arizona bench, where 40 to 50 players were kneeling in a long line and holding hands, UA assistant coach Marc Lunsford paced, his eyes already moist, his face chisled there was something you could do to change the outcome, to give Steve McLaughlin 15 more inches to the left, to ease his pain "Maybe it's not fair," Arizona quarterback George Malauulu said. "But what can you do?" McLaughlin was about the last person to leave the Wildcat locker room. He politely declined requests to be interviewed. I mean, what could he say? Tomey snapped when asked what he had said to his 20-year-old kicker.

"What would you tell him?" the coach said. "It feels terrible." Arizona came here with a converted safety, Heath Bray, starting at quarterback. It came here having lost or tied the Pac-10's two lowliest franchises. It came here a 27 '2 -point underdog, and even Malauulu was quoted in yesterday's Miami Herald saying that "it would be nice if we got out of here with our pride." Was it just a good con job? Or is this See HANSEN, Page 11 lunches, waiting for a late flight to Tucson. Their lives had been enriched by the drama of an 8-7 loss to the nation's No.

1 -ranked team, but they didn't know it yet. Who knows how long it will take them to realize what they accomplished, how much they grew, by losing 8-7 to the Hurricanes? "If you take too much consolation in coming close, you'll just come close all the time," UA coach Dick Tomey said, the hurt still apparent in his words. "You can't look at our effort and say it was good enough in any way But Tomey was wrong. It was good enough. Arizona has played maybe 800 games in the history of college football, and this one will be long remembered.

This one saved the job, paid the mortgage, impressed the critics. Yes. This will be a good football team. If you've got half a heart, you wished alone as North Dakota. Behind the bench, Marc Lunsford had tears in his eyes, even before the final snap of the ball.

Lunsford knew what it meant and what a win could do for the Arizona program. He had been there in 1981 at the L.A. Coliseum when the Wildcats chopped down No. 1 -ranked USC. He was at Notre Dame in 1982, when a Max Zendejas field goal beat the unbeaten Fighting Irish on the game's last play.

It was the chance of a lifetime in a lifetime of chance. Please, Lord. Once more. "In a couple of years I think I'll look back favorably on this game," UA senior offensive tackle Mike Heemsbergen said. "But it'll take a while.

It won't be very soon." Forty-five minutes after McLaughlin's kick had floated a foot or two wide of the right goal post, most of the Wildcat players and coaches sat silently in the end zone at the dark Orange Bowl. They were eating sack Greg Hansen with anxiety. Three seconds were on the clock at the Orange Bowl. "I was numb," senior cornerback Darryl Morrison would say 20 minutes later. "I've never had a feeling like that in my life.

We were going to shock the world." Steve McLaughlin stood by himself at the 50-yard line, swinging his right leg to meet an imaginary football. He was as istakes overshadow ASU's 514 yards Bates hurt in last 19 seconds of Nebraska's 45-28 victory 'v -s iv United States clinches Davis Cup semifinal Story, Page 6D Scoreboard American League Indians 7, Tigers 4 Yankees 2, Blue Jays 1 Brewers 2, Athletics 1 Red Sox 7, Orioles 3 (14), 1st game Orioles 2, Red Sox 0, 2nd game Angels 1, White Sox Twins 9, Royals 2 Mariners 8, Rangers 4 Roundup, Page 3D National League Astros 5, Dodgers 4 Expos 12, Cubs Pirates 19, Mets2 Giants 8, Reds 3 Phillies 3, Cardinals 1, 1st game Phillies 10, Cardinals 0, 2nd game Braves 2, Padres 1 (10) Roundup, Page 3D APTop 25 Football (3) Florida St. 35, Wake Forest 7 (4) Michigan 61, Houston 7 (6) Notre Dame 48, Purdue (7) Alabama 13, La. Tech (8) Tennessee 40, Cincinnati 0 (9) Penn St. 49, Maryland 13 (10) Colorado 28, Iowa 12 (14) Virginia 55, Duke 28 1 6) Clemson 20, Georgia Tech 1 6 (18) Georgia 37, Mississippi 1 1 (23) N.

Carolina 27 N. Carolina 20 (25) Boston College 14, Mich. StO Pac-10 Football (1) Miami 8, Arizona 7 (15) Nebraska 45, Arizona St. 24 (11) UCLA 35, San Diego SL 7 (19) Stanford 37, San Jose St 13 Oregon 59. UNLV 6 Utah 42, Oregon St.

9 Washington SL 39, Fresno SL 37 Roundups, Pages 9D, 12D, 13D V- By Jack Magruder The Arizona Dally Star LINCOLN, Neb. In a place where Santa Claus could watch a game incognito, Arizona State was presented with its offense, 514 yards' worth. But ASU made enough mistakes to keep from even getting close it lost to Nebraska 45-28 when the Cornhuskers scored directly on one of ASU's five turnovers and had touchdowns after three others yesterday, before their 185th consecutive red-clad sellout, 76,138, at Memorial Stadium. For all that, ASU (1-2) may come to dread the final 19 seconds more than anything. Sophomore halfback Mario Bates, ASU's most productive player and the second-leading rusher in the NCAA Division suffered a left knee injury while being tackled on a running play with 19 seconds remaining.

Bates, who scored two touchdowns and had his fourth consecutive 100-yard rushing game with 118, remained on the ASU sideline being examined by team physicians Dr. Steven Zonner and Dr. Norman Fee after the team left the field. Bates' left knee was placed in an inflatable cast, and he left the field on crutches. The injury was charac- ASU notes.

Page 9D. terized as a sprain, and Zonner said further tests will be performed today. ASU would not say whether ligament or cartilage damage was found. "We'll give him x-rays and re-evaluate him (today). We'll take it slowly.

There is no need to rush," Zonner said. Bates, on crutches, did not wish to comment as he left for the team bus. "I thought, and I still believe, we have a chance to be a good football team," ASU coach Bruce Snyder said. "I also know this. We can't be that inefficient and hope to win games.

It doesn't matter if we get 1,000 yards. (We need) efficiency, in terms of taking care of the football and critical penalties. "We were beaten by a good team, and we made some critical errors to help them." ASU's 514 yards amounted to the seventh-most against Nebraska (3-1) in its 103-year history, although Pac-10 champion Washington had 618 in its 36-21 victory here last season. "We felt in the second half we See ASU, Page9D l7 1 The Associated Press Nebraska QB Mike Grant, who gained 20 yards on this play, runs into ASU's Adam Brass.