The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 40

The Philadelphia Inquirer College Football Sunday, September 4, 1994 C16 On a mission: Owls pounce, 32-7, on hapless Akron Temple showed it could avoid last season's mistakes. rni. 1 I i.U U1 redshirt freshman, beat Akron cornerback Aaron Justice one-onrojie down the right side and caught a 2- ips were uie uiuauerers. night. No Temple running back lost yardage on a play.

Sophomore tailback Danny Davis ran 19 times for 77 yards, caught three passes for 30 yards and had three touchdowns, the first time an Owl had had three TDs since 1990. Davis fell to the turf in the third quarter, and the whole Owls sideline fell silent. Last season, it would have been a blown knee. But it turned out Davis just had some cramps in his leg. Defensive end Tim Terry, another sophomore, forced an interception with a blindside hit and recovered a fumble.

Linebacker Lance Johnstone forced a fumble with a blindside of his own and had the interception that Terry forced. Defensive tackle Deandre McClur-kin was making things happen inside. And cornerback Allan Jackson, a junior-college transfer, led the Owls with 10 tackles. Quarterback Henry Burris completed 15 of 25 passes for 178 yards and had two fine touchdown passes, but Owls coach Ron Dickerson wasn't rushing to praise him. Dicker- son said Burris Just completely fell asleep during one series in the.

first half. He can't do that against the teams the Owls will be playing, Dickerson said; it will kill them. "I wasn't satisfied, and I don't think Henry was satisfied," Dickerson said. And Dickerson doesn't want his team to forget how last season started. It sneaked past Eastern Michigan, another Mid-American team, in the season opener, then got rocked by California and never recovered.

But he wasn't looking to throw water on his team too much, "You have to have fun out there," said linebacker Johnstone. "That's the only way you can play." Right off the bat, Temple showed line superiority. On their first drive, the Owls ran five times, and gained at least 5 yards every time. Davis ran around the left side for an 11-yard score, just nine plays into the game. Akron didn't move the ball at all in the first quarter.

The Zips didn't have a single first down. But on their first possession of the second quar ter, they made something happen. Punt returner Darrien Couch broke a tackle and returned a punt 37 yards to Temple's 32-yard line. Four plays later, Gouch, lined up at halfback, took a pitch and went left, finding all sorts of room once he turned the corner, on his way to a 20-yard score. The momentum had swung to Akron.

The Zips stopped Temple on three plays. Except Gouch fumbled the next punt. Terry recovered for the Owls on Akron's 40-yard line. Five plays later, Davis found a seam down the left side, deep into Akron's secondary, and Burris found him for a 23-yard touchdown. Rich Maston's kick was wide left, making Temple's lead 13-7.

Temple's defense then came up big. Terry swung around from the blind-side and smacked Akron quarterback Matt Kaulig just as he was releasing a pass. The ball popped high in the air and straight into the hands of Johnstone: Temple ball at Akron's 33. After one running play, Burris went looking for a big strike and found it. Owls flanker Troy Kersey, a w- IVm Wildcats unleash a balanced attack The 23-7 win was a mixture of a quick-strike offense' and a defense that held Fordham to 29 rushing yards.

est scoring margin over a Division I-A opponent since 1986. Last season Akron beat Temple, 31-7. The one-sided nature of the game doesn't equate to a winning season, of course. It just means that the Owls did what they should do if they're on the right track. They dominated a bad team from a lesser conference.

They did it by cutting down on all the stupidity of last season. There were no penalties halting scoring drives, and no blocked punts except one and that was an Akron punt blocked by the Owls. "We're on a mission this year," said Owls fullback Sid Morse, who rushed for 61 yards and caught five passes for 41 yards. "All that stuff we had last year, the mistakes and weak players we had, you're not going to see that this year." There were Owls highlights last ts i Ed Davis dives toward the end zone Wolverines still trailed at that point, Big East Michigan ASSOCIATED PRESS Michigan's 115th football opener certainly wasn't the easiest. Boston College, in Dan Henning's debut as a college coach, scored on the first play and had No.

5 Michigan down by 12-0 before the Wolverines rallied behind Todd Collins and Amani Toomer for a 34-26 victory yesterday in Ann Arbor, Mich. Collins completed 17 of 24 passes for 258 yards, including touchdown tosses of 46 and 38 yards to Toomer, who finished with seven catches for 179 yards. Ed Davis had 8- and 1-yard TD runs and Tim Biakabutuka had a 1-yard TD run for Michigan. Mark Hartsell, making his first start for BC, was 28 of 43 for 338 yards and three touchdowns. On the first snap of the game Hart-sell, on only the third pass of his college career, heaved a long bomb to wide-open Greg Grice, who hauled it in behind Chuck Winters at the Michigan 28 and scored easily.

The Eagles went up by 9-0 on a safety with 9 minutes, 57 seconds left in the first quarter when Michigan was flagged for holding in the end zone. A 28-yard field goal by David Gordon put the Eagles ahead by 12-0 with 10:48 left in the second quarter. Then Michigan came to life. Collins was 5 of 6 for 67 yards in a 12-play drive that ended in Davis' first TD. Late in the quarter, Toomer caught a pass at the Eagles 30 and slipped two tackles for a 46-yard TD play that gave Michigan a 14-12 halftime lead.

Midwest 1 1 torn 4M ri Associated Press JON FREILICH for Michigan's first touchdown against Boston College. The however, on their way back from a 12-0 deficit to a 34-26 victory. rallies to Big East i ne pernaps apiiy nameu By Mike Jensen INQUIRER STAFF WRITER thing new for a lot of Temple Owls, something they hadn't experienced since high school. For one night, at least, football was fun again. Owls players punched the air with their fists and howled with pleasure.

They could breathe easier all game 'long, knowing that disaster wasn't going to strike on the next play. The team making all the mistakes last night was the Akron Zips. They were the ones who couldn't run or pass. Zips coach Gerry Faust walked into the interview room after the game muttering about all the dumb plays his team had made. Really, there was very little drama to this one.

Temple's 32-7 victory was its larg- Penn St. frolics in its opener PENN STATE from CI up. Quarterback Kerry Collins had a splendid night, completing 19 of 23 passes for 260 yards and three TDs. Bobby Engram, Freddie Scott and Keith Olsommer caught scoring passes from Collins, and Mike Archie, Carter's backup, ran for a 13-yard score before Jason Sload burst in from the 1 for another TD. In a game that was decided by the end of the first quarter, just about every one of the 64 players who traveled to the Twin Cities played as Penn State piled up 689 yards, almost perfectly mixing the run (345 yards) and the pass (344).

As is his custom, though, Paterno tried to add some sobering touches to a giddy victory. "Everything went way, and we didn't have to face any adversity," he said. "And it's tough to judge things when there's no adversity. No one should get carried away with this game." For Carter, this game must have seemed like a continuation of preseason practice. With less contact.

For the junior speedster, it was just a night of running wind sprints, showing the college football world that the right knee he injured late last season was fine. "Everyone's been hyping our offense, and we do have a lot of weap-( ons," said a smiling Carter, who is so 'polite, he walks up to back judges "and hands them the ball after each of his TDs. "I'm just happy to be back playing a lot." By the end of the first quarter, Penn State was cozily in front by 28-3. By halftime, the Nittany Lions had -boosted their lead by only one more to 35-3, maybe because boredom 'had begun to grip them. Whatever, it was time to starting thinking about Southern Cal next week in their home opener and time for Paterno to permit everyone on his depth chart to break a sweat.

Above all, it was time for Carter to get a rest. And the rest gave him a chance to 'savor his sensational night under the Metrodome bubble. Carter was barely touched on his TD runs. "I think somebody tried to knock out my legs on one of them, but our offensive line made gaping holes, 'and our receivers made great blocks," he said. Carter gained 181 yards on 14 carries in the first half, often running behind the powerful blocking of fullback Jon Witman, tight end Kyle Brady and tackle Keith Conlin, a 6-f(xt-7, 301-pound junior from La Salle High School.

He had picked up 117 of those yards before nine minutes elapsed. When Carter wasn't running for TDs, Collins was completing pass af-ter pass, mostly to Scott, who grabbed seven passes for 143 yards in the first half. Penn SL Minnesetl 14 21 7 14-56 0 3 0 0- PS Carter 2 run (Conway kick) PS Carter 80 run (Conway kck PS Scolt 26 pass from K.Collins (Conway kick) PS Carter 62 run (Conway kick) Mtn FG Chalberg 33 PS Olsommer 4 pass from K.Collms (Conway kick) PS Engram 10 pass from K.Collins (Conway kick) PS Archie 13 run (Conway kick) PS Sload 1 run (Conway kick) A 51,134. PS Mil First downs 31 13 Rushes-yards 64-345 28-117 Passing 344 130 Return Yards 51 0 Comp-Att-Int 24-30-0 14-31-1 Punts 6-33 Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-1 Penaities-YardS 9-75 9-66 Time of 34 09 25 5 1 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Resiling: Pen" St, Carter Milne 5 35. Arch b-34, Pitts 7-24.

Fletcher 5-22, Sload 5-19. Witman 3-10. Scott 1-2. Richardson 1-(minus 4). Collins 1-(mmus 7).

Minnesota. Darkms 19-92. Jackson 5-53. Eckers 1-(minus 3), Sauder 1-(mtnus 10). Schade 2-(mmus 15) fatting: Penn Collms 19 23-0-260.

Rich-ara'ion 5-7-0 84 Minnesota, Eckers 15-1-4, Senile 6-12 0-69. Sauder 7-14 0 57. Receiving: P'1'1 Scott 7 133. Ingram 5-73. Brady 4 jO Campbell 2 66 P.Coiims t-14, Jure-vmus 19.

Witman 16. IvWne 15, Arch 1-4. niw 1-4 Minnenoli. Woodson 4-39. Garrison 3 31.

Osterman 2 24. Jackson 2-7, White 1-14 Darkmt 1-11. Hios 1-4 yard TD pass. Temple 10 0 3-32 0- 7 Akron Tern D. Davis 11 run (Maston kick) Akr Gouch 20 run (Jakab kick) Tern D.

Davis 23 pass Irom Burris (kick failed) Tern Kersey 29 pass from Burris (kick failed) Tern FG Maston 42 Tern D. Davis 6 run (Maston kick) Tern FG Maslon 30 A 10,205 Tern 4 Akr First downs 16 Rushes-yards 46-168 28-101 Passing yards 178 i 115 Return yards 6 0 Passes 15-25-0 16-37-3 Punts 7-40 8-43 Fumbles-lost 3-1 '2-2 Penalties-yards 6-57 Time of Possession 34:02 25:58 INDIVIDUAL LEADERS 1 Rushing: Temple, D. Davis 19-77, Morse 1161, Mack 8-43, Atwater 1-5, Burris 4-2, B. Johnstone 2-4, Baxter. Akron, Gouch 12-84, Kaulig 8-27, Blakeley 1-10, Reader 4-6, Floyd 2-6.

Ford 1-2. Pitiing: Temple, Burris 15-25-0-178, Akron, Kaulig 16-37-3-115. Receiving: Temple, Morse 5-44. Cook 3-34, Davis 3-30, Baxter 2-28, Kersey 1-29, V. Johnson 1-13.

Akron, Gouch 7-45, Blakeley 4-36, Stanford 3-27, Ford 2-7. '1'L pleting 20 of 35 for 230 yards and to touchdowns. Throughout the afternoon, Pearson moved the Cats downfield with quick, short sideline and slant routes. Finneran caught an 8-yard TD pass in the second quartet fo complete a six-play, 59-yard drive. Rob Carter caught a 25-yard TD pass in the last quarter to complete a five-play, 65-yard drive.

i Those types of drives were nonexistent in 1993. If one game means Pearson may understand Talley's multiple offense. Or maybe he finally has some guys who can catch the ball. Of course, Fordham has a young, inexperienced defense that played. a role in giving up 405 yards of total offense to Villanova.

The Rams also have a rookie coach in Nick Quartaro. "They looked a little tentative, which has to be expected with a young team and new coaching staff," Talley said. Talley had one scare when outside linebacker Andy Cobaugh reinjured his reconstructed left knee in the first quarter. Cobaugh returned on the next series with nothing more than a bad bruise. The Cats' first touchdown of the season came early in the second quarter as Pearson took advantage of Finneran's height and deliberately lofted a jump ball into the left corner of the end zone, which would have tied the game at 7-7 had Frank Vene-zia not muffed the point after.

"It's nice having someone that tall who can make catches like that," Pearson said. "We're going to get some high grabs this season." And some road wins. The Cats were 0 and 5 last year, so that's one negative they won't have to worry about this time around. Viiianevi 07 723 fordtum 7 0 0 07 For O'Leary '65 fumble return (Ruotf kickj Vil Finneran 8 pass from Pearson (kick tailed) Vil FG Venezia 22 Vil Cowsette 6 run (Venezia kick) Vil Carter 25 pass from Pearson (Venezia kick) A 4,243 VII For First downs 20 10 Rushes-yards 44-170 24 29 Passing 235 -169 Return Yards 127 -138 Comp-Att-Int 21-39-1 18-4(i-3 Punts 9-343 12-473 Fumbles-Lost 4-2 0-0 Penalties-Yards 4-37 75 Time of Possession 34.25 25:36 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Rushing: Villanova. Cowsette 18-83, Sitford 8-63.

Bryant 8-26, Kingsbury 1-2, Pearson 8-minus 2. Marchese 1-minus 2. Fordham, Ross 1 1-20, Davis 5-14, Moorehead 6-6, Pohlman 2-mmus 11. Passing: Villanova, Pearson 20-35-1-230. Marchese 1-4-0-5.

Fordham, Moorhead 14-31-2-135, Pohlman 4-17-1-54. Receiving: Villanova, Finneran 4-73, Carter 5 66, Hunt 5-54. Fordham, Bathan 3-60, Zingo 3-29 Ross 3-22. drive with a 14-yard scoring run with 6:51 to go. Western Michigan 28, Miami (Ohio) 25 Jay McDonagh's fourth touchdown pass of the game, a 29-yarder to Kam Merritt late in the fourth quarter, rallied Western Michigan to the Mid-American Conference victory over Miami of Ohio in Oxford, Ohio.

McDonagh passed for 328 yards and used tailback Jim Vackaro's versatility to avoid a season-opening upset. Vackaro had 93 yards rushing and 151 receiving. Toledo 20, Indiana State 17 Ryan Klaer's 17-yard field goal with two seconds left concluded a hectic 65-yard drive that gave Toledo the victory over Indiana Slate in Toledo, Ohio. Indiana State had tied the game at 1717 with 131 left, on Tom Cera- n)'j cornno) foitchrlnwn of tjg night to lien Wolfe and Tom Allison's extra point. defeat BC ted away Sean Fitzgerald's two-point conversion pass with 36 seconds left and 19th-ranked Texas held off Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh.

A missed Pitt extra point proved costly as Texas won only its second opener in eight years. Pitt lost its 10th consecutive home game. Curtis Martin turned in a Tony Dorsett-like performance on Tony Dorsett Day at Pitt Stadium, carrying 28 times for 251 yards, the most ever against Texas. TCU's Jim Swink ran for 235 yards against Texas in 1955. Miami 56, Georgia Southern 0 Sixth-ranked Miami routed Georgia Southern in Miami to break an NCAA record with its 58th consecutive victory at the Orange Bowl.

The Hurricanes surpassed Alabama's record of 57 wins in a row at home set from 1962 to '82. James Stewart rushed for 145 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries. Alfred Shipman scored on an 82-yard run. Quarterback Frank Costa threw for 168 yards and one touchdown. Virginia Tech 34, Arkansas State 7 Maurice DeShazo threw two touchdown passes and ran for a third score, all in the first quarter, as No.

21 Virginia Tech rolled past Arkansas State in Blacksburg, Va. West Virginia 16, Ball State 14 Freshman Bryan Baumann's first collegiate field goal, a 33-yarder with 8 seconds left, gave defending Big East champion West Virginia the victory over Ball State in Morgantown, W.Va. Big Ten Coni AH gamut Cont. All games WIT Temple OOP 100 Virginia Tech OOP 100 West Virginia 1 0 Miami 1 Boston College 0 10 Pittsburgh 0 0 0 PIP Rutgers 0 10 Syracuse POO 010 By Tim Panaccio STAFF WRITER NEW YORK Not every Bronx tale has a happy ending. This one did for Villanova.

Overcoming three first-half fumbles, the Wildcats unleashed their long-awaited, quick-strike offense and their Nasty Boys defense and defeated Fordham, 23-7, at Jack Coffey Field in the Bronx. Sophomore quarterback Erik Pearson threw for two touchdowns. Freshman Brian Finneran, the 6-foot-5 bean-pole wide receiver, showed why he was the all-time leading receiver in Orange County, catching four passes for 73 yards several arriving more than a foot over his head including his first collegiate touchdown. And sophomore backup corner-back Brian Barajas, who didn't get a single interception in 1993, picked off two passes for a Wildcats defense that held the Rams to 189 yards passing and 29 yards rushing. "I'm really happy with our defensive effort," said Villanova coach Andy Talley.

Villanova held Fordham quarterback Joe Moorhead to 135 yards passing (14 of 31) and came up with two interceptions and two sacks. Overall, the Cats had three interceptions and three sacks in the game. "We came back to win by two touchdowns after a bad first half, and that is encouraging," Talley said. "I've been preaching poise all week and it was nice to see us settle down and not lose our heads." Especially, after a horrid first quarter that saw fullback Anthony Cowsette fumble the ball twice. His first calamity, on the season's initial drive, resulted in a 55-yard touchdown return by the Rams' Chris O'Leary, giving Fordham a 7-0 lead.

The second fumble, at the Fordham 3-yard line, denied the Cats an early score. In 11 games last season, Cowsette didn't drop the ball even once. Cowsette got one score back with a bruising 6-yard run early in the second half in which he broke three tackles. Talley stayed with Cowsette the rest of the way, and the sophomore responded with a team-high 83 yards on 18 carries. Talley issued a warning though.

"We would like to develop Anthony into a rusher," Talley said. "But if he keeps fumbling like that, he'll be on the sidelines with me." Pearson, whom Talley buried last week, saying he looked awful in practice, had a marvelous game, com 11 carries. Shaw's run, the lOth-longest scoring run in school history, followed Eric Johnson's 1-yard touchdown plunge, which had pulled Central Michigan within 17-14 with 6:39 left In the second quarter. Indiana 28, Cincinnati 3 Alex Smith, the first Indiana freshman to start at running back in a season opener since 1945, rushed for 152 yards and two touchdowns as the Hoosiers beat Cincinnati In Bloo-mington, Ind. Smith, redshirted last year, scored on runs of 1 yard In the first quarter and 22 yards late in the third period.

He did not play In the final quarter. John Pad, who passed 27 yards to Eddie Baety for a touchdown early In the third quarter, set up the Hoosiers' final touchdown with a 56-yard completion to A jam il Stnnrr mtrtwny through the fourth quarter. Brelt Uw completed the 85-yard Oklahoma 30, Syracuse 29 Scott Blanton kicked a 48-yard field goal with 11 seconds to play and No. 16 Oklahoma, which blew a 24-point lead, came back to beat Syracuse in Syracuse, N.Y. Oklahoma led, 24-0, before Syracuse finally scored on a 78-yard pass play from Kevin Mason to Marvin Harrison with 7:02 left in the third quarter.

Syracuse scored again on its next possession on a 4-yard run by Kirby Dar Dar. An Oklahoma field goal made it 27-14, but a 6-yard touchdown run by Mason, a safety yielded by Oklahoma and a 48-yard scoring pass from Mason to Harrison put Syracuse in front by 29-27 with 1:01 left in the game. A missed extra point opened the way for Oklahoma win the game on Blan-ton's field goal, however. Texas 30, Pittsburgh 28 Taje Allen, a reserve defensive back, bat Powlus throws for four touchdowns as Irish roll, 42-15 WIT Penn State 10 0 10 0 Indiana 0 0 0 1 0 0 Iowa OOP 100 Michigan 0 0 0 1 0 0 Ohio St. OOP 100 Purdue 0 0 0 0 0 0 Michigan St.

OOP OOP Wisconsin 0 0 0 OOP Northwestern POP 1 IMinoiii POP PIP Minneson PIP PIP ASSOCIATED PRESS Ron Powlus was worth the wait. The Notre Dame sophomore threw four touchdown passes in his first game last night, and the third-ranked Irish overcame a slow start to rout Northwestern, 42-15, at Soldier Field in Chicago. Powlus, who missed last season after breaking his collarbone, had been bothered by a sore elbow in preseason practice. But there was nothing wrong with his arm or his passes last night in the season opener for both teams. The quarterback from Berwick, completed 18 of 24 passes for 291 yards and tied a school record held by Steve Beuerlein, Daryle Umonica and Angelo Bcrtelli with four touchdown passes.

Powlus, regarded as one the nation's top prep quarterbacks, hit ihree of his touchdown passes in the second quarter as Notre Dame took control. He completed 10 of 13 first-half passes for 186 yards as the Irish scored two touchdowns in the final 72 seconds to take a commanding 21-3 lead before a sellout crowd of 66,946. Iowa 52, Central Michigan 21 Sedrick Shaw broke loose for an 80-yard touchdown run and Kent Kahl punched the ball in for three other scores as Iowa unveiled a rejuvenated running game while crushing Central Michigan in Iowa City, Iowa. Central Michigan, which had stunned Michigan, anoiher Big Ten opponent, in two of the last three years, failed in its upset bid as the Hawkcyes scored seven rushing touchdowns, rolling up 568 yards of total offense. Iowa punted only once during the game, and that didn't come until 2 minutes.

40 seconds remainon' (n th third quarter. The llawkeyes, who averaged just 108 yards rushing in 1993, scored seven running touchdowns, two shy of the school record of nine, set rinrinnml In two Thry also rushed for 347 yards. Shaw led the way with 135 yards on.