The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 69

fo Inquirer colleges Sunday, Oct 21, 1984 7-E College football predictions lose their predictability By BILL LYON aura of comfort and reassurance. College officials and alums look at stuffed stadiums, smile with satisfaction, and, with a certain smugness, tell each other that a 10-1 season, or even 9-2 or 8-3, somehow proves that they are doing things right. They are concerned mostly with Image, and so we are expected to swallow, with unquestioning acceptance, the banal platitudes we hear each Saturday afternoon about trumpet fanfare here, please "the student-athlete." The victim in all of this is that same student-athlete. Does he exploit the college by using his scholarship to hone his football skills? Yes, but not nearly to the extent to which the college is exploiting him. Whatever college athletes are paid, they are worth far more.

Should they ever realize this and band together and organize, they can bring the system to its knees. To wit: Homecoming canceled because of a strike. Not by the teachers, by the football team. Parity, of course, has different meanings to different people. For Pete Rozelle and the NFL, the ideal parity is everyone goes 8-8 and the 17th tie-breaker determines who makes the playoffs.

Socialism, sports-style. Mediocrity is its own reward. For the Nebraskas and Michigans, parity is when Tulane and Rice get to make it respectable every other year, say, 28-7. For the Tulanes and the Rices, parity would take the form of arsenals the equal of the Nebraskas and Michigans. Their prayer would go something like this: Please, pretty plesse, just this once, let us go out there and line up with them all even, stud-wise.

Well, it has been refreshing to watch the No. Is change almost every week, and to see new faces in the top 20. But there will be no sweeping revolution. The power elite will remain essentially the same, unless 30-95 is drastically reduced to something like 1040. But that is unlikely.

Winning football teams furnish an bechler of Michigan: "My God, this isn't the '60s or 70s. Look at Syracuse-Nebraska." Right Which is one reason why, even though Michigan may have the Northwesterns and Indianas to cuff about, there is still a scoreboard such as two weeks ago: Michigan State 19, Michigan 7. "Every Saturday you're seeing scores that shock you," said Jim Dickey of Kansas State. "And it's good for college football when a team has to play well to win and can't make eight or nine mistakes and still come out with a win. I've 'said all along that this 30 limit will allow people to play closer." The 30 limit of course, refers to the NCAA's version of the salary cap.

It puts a ceiling over the number of scholarships a school can tender to football players. No more than 30 can be awarded in one year, and no more than 95 total. These limits were installed in 1976, and for some time the NCAA has been waiting for them to create pari ty. The idea was to prevent the larger sports foundries from hogging all the prime talent. The limits were supposed to effect severe deprivation on all the haves while providing immediate relief for the impoverished have-nots.

However, it was not understood how restricting the number of scholarship players to a handful under 100, when only 11 are allowed on the field at one time, would be the hardship it was portrayed. Some people, in fact have had the temerity to suggest that 30 scholarships still equals almost three full teams. And 95 scholarship players? That is enough for eight full squads, with seven left over. Your typical college coach, of course, subscribes to the Pentagon philosophy of overkill you can never have too many taiibarks or Titan missiles. Never can tell when one of those Oregon States will launch a sneak attack before dawn.

You got to give them their 50-7 beating regularly just to keep them in line. How about a loss and a tie and several scares? The point is, nothing is certain in college football any longer. Most of the gimmes are gone. Oh sure, Alabama will be favored over Vanderbilt most years, but this year it was Vandy 30, Bama 21. And Arkansas is going to be expected to crush TCU most of the time, except that in 1984, it was TCU 32, Arkansas 31.

And it's been a quarter of a century since Syracuse even belonged on the same field as Nebraska. But last month it was Syracuse 17, Nebraska 9. Or, in the words of Bo Schem- Army infantry hands Penn its first loss, 4843 Could anyone beat Ohio State? Lou Holtz, the Minnesota coach: "Not unless spaceships brought back some people I don't know about" Well, a couple of weeks ago, It was Purdue 28, Ohio State 23. Purdue is still located in West Lafayette, not in a suburb of Saturn. In August almost everyone had agreed that Auburn was a certifiable juggernaut Unbeatable.

Auburn lost its first two games. Miami then inherited No.l. Followed by Nebraska. Then Texas. Now Washington.

Observed Gerry Faust of Notre Dame: "The way things are now, it would take a miracle to go undefeated." Of course, Faust is supposed to do that every year. So far, however, he appears to be in no danger of accomplishing it even once. "The way college football is today," he said, "the national champion will have one defeat" Would you believe two defeats? Navy rolls to win over Princeton Tigers limited to 5 yards rushing By Laurel Miller Special to The Inquirer ANNAPOLIS, Md. Navy racked up 521 yards in total offense yesterday and crushed Princeton, 41-3, at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The one-sided victory enabled the Midshipmen to level their record at 3-3.

Princeton dropped to 3-2. Mark Stevens rushed for 79 yards on only four attempts to lead Navy's 232-yard effort on the ground. The Tigers got no such production. They were held to 5 yards rushing on 20 attempts. 1 Todd Solomon kicked a 52-yard field goal at the close of the first half, breaking the Navy record of 50 "yards, set by Steve Fehr against 4 Army in 1980.

"The wind was straight with me," Solomon said. But the kicker did give himself some credit. "I feel I do have enough leg to get it there," he said. Navy quarterback Bill Byrne com-, pleted 13 of 17 passing attempts for 204 yards and two touchdowns, and his replacement, Bob Mische, went 4 for 4, adding 28 yards. The Midshipmen moved 80 yards in eight plays on their second drive of the game to take the lead with a 34-yard touchdown pass from Byrne to Chris Weiler with 6 minutes, 53 seconds to go in the first quarter.

Byrne dove 1 yard for Navy's second touchdown with 2:14 remaining in the first period, and Solomon's field goal made the halftime score 17-3. "We weren't getting off the line in the first half," Navy coach Gary Tranquill "We should've had at least two more scores in the first half, but we went out in the second half and took control." Princeton's only points came on a 28-yard field goal by Mike Miscovsky with 3:31 left in the first half, capping an 83-yard drive. Tigers quarterback Doug Butler completed 22 of 42 attempts for 221 yards but was intercepted twice and sacked three times. "I thought our offensive line for not having some key players who were out with injuries protected our quarterback well," Princeton coach Frank Navarro said. The Tigers were hurt particularly by the absence of offensive tackle Chal Taylor, who was out with strained knee ligaments.

Princeton's offense was plagued by five fumbles, two of which Navy recovered. "They closed down our running game, and that, in turn, hurt Butler's passing chances," Navarro said. "The fumbles were just a loss of poise, and that gave them excellent field JIm West Virginia's Rob Bennett sets up a field goal for the Mountaineers with a pass reception West Virginia edges BC 21-20, on a late TD drive duced to negotiating the final margin, especially after failing to fully exploit two scoring opportunities in the third quarter. Sassaman finished with 116 yards rushing and completed both of his passes for 21 yards. Backup Rob Hea-ly completed five of six passes for 70 yards and a touchdown in the conservative Army throwing tactics.

"I thought we executed our offense well today," said Army coach Jim Young, in what will certainly go down as one of the understatements of the season. "We used our size and did a good job of controlling the line of scrimmage." By the intermission, Sassaman had 99 yards rushing in addition to leading meticulous drives of 80, 73, 60 and 80 yards and consuming 19 minutes of the clock. The Cadets used no diversionary tactics in their approach to the Penn defense, taking the nation's third best rushing attack right to the Quakers. Army took the ball 80 yards in 10 running plays to a touchdown in 3 minutes, 24 seconds the first time it got the ball, to take a 7-0 lead. Sassaman did an excellent job running the wishbone with some timely pitches just as he was being hit.

The Army quarterback got 21 yards on the drive and halfback Dee Bryant got the TD on a 5-yard sweep to the left, just getting to the flag for the score. The Cadets not only did not put the ball in the air on the drive, but never got to a third-down situation. Craig Stopa's extra point made it 7- 0. Army took a bit longer to execute its second touchdown drive, going 70 yards in 15 plays in 6:31 with two quarterbacks. Sassaman retired after seven plays to have a contact lens replaced and Healy took it from there, handing it off to fullback Doug Black for a 1-yard TD run.

The Cadets even resorted to throwing the ball this time twice. Healy hit split end Scott Spellmon for a 14-yard gain to set up a first down at the Penn 15-yard line during the drive. Penn quarterback John McGeehan got Penn moving with a 24-yard dart to Warren Buehler on the first play of Penn's ensuing possession, giving the Quakers a first down at their own" 48. Penn got the ball to the Army 26 but settled for Tim Murphy's 43-yard field goal and a 14-3 deficit with 42 seconds left in the first period. Penn's defense finally got a sight on Army's defense in the third period but blew two big scoring chances and had to settle for three of a possible 14 points that would have, at least, made the game competitive.

on a 46-yard fly pattern down the right sideline on the seventh play of the game to give the Scarlet Knights a 7-0 lead. "He's not going to throw every game like that," said coach Dick Anderson. "I don't want people getting the impression he's going to throw for 300 yards a game." Louisville came right back on its first possession, marching 75 yards in five plays, the final 51 yards coming on a screen pass from Rubbert to wide receiver Ernest Givens. Rutgers regained the lead, 14-7, driving 73 yards in 10 plays as Hochberg hit five of six passes, including a 31-yard scoring toss down the middle to Stephens. Louisville closed the gap to three points, 24-21, early in the third By Chuck Newman inquirer Staff Writer WEST POINT, N.Y.

Army's ground forces, ranked third in the nation going in, hit Penn with a 408-yard attack yesterday to bury the previously unbeaten Quakers, 48-13. Army, which went into the game with a 322.4 rushing average in five games, scored the first four times it got the ball and overran Penn's defense for 257 yards of running in the first half. The point total was the highest by Army (4-1-1) in 75 games, dating back to a 48-7 win over Holy Cross in 1977. Penn's loss was its first after four wins this season and broke a five-game Quakers' winning streak, its longest since 1968. Army fullback Doug Black, who entered the game as the nation's second-leading rushing fullback with an average of 111 yards a game, was limited to 74 yards in 21 carries but scored three touchdowns (on runs of 1, 4 and 1).

Instead, it was Cadets quarterback Nate Sassaman who spread the Quakers' defense. Sassaman, a 5-foot, 11-inch senior who was promoted from defensive back last season to the general in Army's new wishbone this season, exposed the Quakers' flanks and guided the Cadets to touchdowns on their first four possessions and a 28-10 halftime lead. So awesome were the Army drives of 10, 15, 14 and. 12 plays that the Cadets were forced into third-down situations only five times, only once with more than 2 yards to cover for a first down. Maybe Penn coach Jerry Berndt made a better assessment of Army's domination than anyone after the end came mercifully.

"We'll make a training film of this the wishbone," he said. Penn's rushing offense, dominant in the first four games of the season, got only 114 yards in 32 tries. Sophomore Rich Comizio led the rushing game with 52 yards on 11 carries and got the lone touchdown on a 1-yard run in the second quarter. It brought the Quakers to within 21-10, but Penn had no answers to stopping the Army frontal assault. "We made some adjustments," Penn defensive back Tim Chambers said.

"But we just didn't execute. Combine that with the fact that they are a good team and you have the ingredients of a blowout which it was." Penn safety Ross Armstrong felt the effects of the Army onslaught. Maybe too early. "We knew they were going to have some long drives," he said. "I guess I was overexcited or hyperventilated.

I just didn't pace myself." By halftime the Quakers were re in the first quarter and said, 'Wow, we can do it." With Louisville trailing, 24-21, Smith scored on an 18-yard run with 5 minutes, 22 seconds left in the game, and 2 minutes later tallied from 22 yards out to ice the game for Rutgers. The victory, before a homecoming crowd of 25,764 the largest at Rutgers Stadium since 26,200 attended a 100th anniversary game in 1980 raised the Scarlet Knights' record to 5-2. Louisville fell to 2-5 despite three touchdown passes by Cardinals quarterback Ed Rub bert. Hochberg completed 16 of 22 passes in the first half as Rutgers scored on three of its first four possessions and took a 24-14 lead into halftime. The junior quarterback hit Cobb United Press International goals of 41 and 45 yards by Kevin Snow.

The Eagles' touchdowns were on a 24-yard run by fullback Steve Strachan and a 42-yard pass from Flutie to wide reciever Kelvin Martin. In the first half, Boston College and West Virginia scored field goals before BC began to pull away. The Eagles went up, 13-6, on Strachan's 24-yard run with 3:11 to go in the first half. The TD run was set up two plays earlier by a controversial call. On fourth and 1, Flutie faked a handoff off the middle and ran around the left side for an apparent gain of 6 yards.

The officials, however, blew the play dead before the quarterback was tackled. The officials then gave Boston College the option of running the play over or taking a 2-yard gain and a first and 10 at the West Virginia 32-yard line. BC took the first down and, two plays later, scored. West Virginia rushed for 190 yards and held BC to 69. tie completed 21 of 42 passes for 299 yards and one touchdown.

The Mountaineers (6-1) trailed by 20-15 when they began the winning drive from their own 20 with about 9 minutes remaining. West Virginia moved the ball to midfield on a 25-yard pass from quarterback Kevin White to tight end Todd Fisher. Seven plays later, Gay rushed up the middle for 21 yards to the Eagles' 5-yard line and set up his touchdown on the next play. A pass on a two-point conversion attempt failed. On its final possession, Boston College moved the ball to West Virginia's 38-yard line but was taken out of scoring position when Flutie was sacked by linebacker Fred Smalls on first down for an 11-yard loss.

BC surrendered the ball three plays later. West Virginia scored earlier on a 1-yard run by fullback Ron Wolfley and three field goals by Paul Wood-side from 20, 23 and 33 yards. Boston College scored on two field Vernon Williams Makes a gain or Rutgers United Press International MORGANTOWN, W.Va. The eyes of his teammates told John Gay that West Virginia would score during its fourth-quarter drive against Boston College yesterday. The Mountaineers (No.

20 AP, No. 19 UPI) had trailed by 20-15 with 9 minutes remaining, but they moved 80 yards and Gay scored from 5 yards out with 4:52 to play for a 21-20 victory. Fourth-ranked BC had led, 20-6, at halftime. "The difference in the second half was determination," Gay said. "The line, backs and receivers all had it You'll never see determination like you saw in our eyes today.

There was no way we "weren't going to score on the final drivel. "It was an easy touchdown, because our line knocked everybody down," added Gay, who went around the left side for the score. West Virginia held BC (4-1) scoreless for the final two quarters on a day when BC quarterback Doug Flu- Kosar hit Stanley Shakespeare for a 16-yard touchdown on the Hurricanes' first possession, and his passes set up scoring runs of 2 and 5 yards by Alonzo Highsmith as the Hurricanes turned the game into a rout "Bernie's ankle was giving him some problems, but he's the most mentally tough young man I've ever been around, and that's why he's a winner," said Miami coach Jimmy Johnson. "Before the game, in the bus, his ankle was throbbing and it was swollen as big as a grapefruit. Then he goes out and plays without a limp and nobody even knows it was bothering him," Johnson added.

Pitt coach Foge Fazio said his team's lifeless offense had as much to do with the one-sided loss as did Kosar's gutty performance. Rutgers downs Louisville, 38-21 Kosar completes 29 passes as Miami downs Pitt, 27-7 Associated Press PISCATAWAY, N.J. Quarterback Rusty Hochberg threw three first-half touchdown passes and tailback Albert Smith scored two touchdowns late in the fourth quarter as Rutgers beat Louisville, 38-21, yesterday. Hochberg, who had only thrown three touchdown passes in six games this season, hit flanker Brian Cobb on a 46-yard TD pass and found fullback Curtis Stephens on a 31-yard strike in the first quarter. He also connected with tight end Alan Andrews on a 7-yard scoring pass in the second quarter.

"I was really confident today," said Hochberg, who completed 26 of 37 passes for 358 yards. "We've always been a little bit slow in the first quarter, but we got two touchdowns from Inquirer Wire Service MIAMI Bernie Kosar, proving that a strong arm can overcome a weak ankle, fired a school-record 29 completions for 351 yards yesterday in Miami's 27-7 victory over Pittsburgh and then hobbled off the field with the aid of a crutch. Miami is ranked ninth by the Associated Press, 10th by United Press International. "When you play the game at this level, you can't be worried about injuries," Kosar said. The spectacular sophomore sprained his ankle last week while notching school records of 373 passing yards and five touchdowns against Cincinnati.

But he came back to throw 42 passes and make the Pitt defenders look as though they could have used crutches. is I-.