Clarion-Ledger from Jackson, Mississippi • Page 53

(Die (flarion-gfrlgcr Jackson Daily News Sunday, September 5, 1976 Spouts Section Ole Miss Gets Mud In Its Face By JOHN STAMM Collegiate Sports Editor MEMPHIS, Term. There are two halves to a football game and Memphis State taught Ole Miss that valuable lesson here, Saturday night. In the season opener marred by a slippery, slimy football turf of Memorial Stadium and a staggering 18 fumbles, the Tigers emerged the surprise winner 21-16 before a sell-out crowd of 51,187 surprised fans. The Rebels limped home to Oxford with mud on their faces and the haunting nightmare knowing they let the Tigers off the hook in the first half. The Tigers played early as if it was the first day of fall practice and the ball had been soaked in butter.

Four times they fumbled inside their 30-yard line and waited for the Rebels to put them away. But the Rebels didn't deliver the knockout blow, chalking up only a touchdown and three field goals by Hoppy Langley for a 16-6 lead. It should have been more. Memphis State knew it and the comforting thought gave it enthusiasm. It showed in quarterback Lloyd Patterson's passing arm as he threw a 55-yard strike Showing tenseness on its first series, the Rebels went to work the second time they had the ball.

Taking over at their own 40-yard line after Memphis State was penalized 15 yards for a personal foul on the punt, Ellis worked the slot to perfection. Storey got the game's first down and moved Ole Miss into State territory with a run off left tackle for eight to the 49. Three plays later, facing a third and nine, Ellis passed to tight end Wade Griffin on a delay over the middle for 10 to the 39. But the Rebels would stall after another first down, playing Memphis State's fumblitis game, as Sweet dropped a handoff from Ellis at the 15. Memphis State, however, returned the favor for the first of its three times in the first half.

Quarterback Patterson muffed the snap from the center and end George Plasketes fell on the ball at the 10. The Rebels needed just one play Storey hit right tackle, shook off three Tigers; and scamped into the end zone with the season's first touchdown with 5:14 showing in the first quarter. Langley added the extra point and the Rebels led 7-0. The Tigers came out throwing in retaliation, Patterson dropping back in the pocket and hitting flanker Ricky Rivas on a third and nine for 23-yards to the Rebel 47. But the Tigers bugaboo struck again.

Rivas fumbled on the tackle by Ole Miss' Brad Pittman and the Rebels safety fell on the ball at the 47. The Rebels marched down the field as Ellis alternated Sweet and Storey. The drive featured a Sweet gallop of 14 yards around end on a neat Ellis pitch. The Rebels bogged down at the 26 and Langley was wide with a 43-yard field goal with 1:17 left in the quarter. But the freshman made good on his next try from the 45.

39 seconds into the second quarter. Memphis State fumbled for the second time as Patterson mishandled the snap and Plasketes fell on the loose ball. Langley then converted after three runs failed. Langley was quickly back in action moments later, See Ole Miss, Page 4D. to Ricky Rivas two plays deep into the second half to cut the margin to 16-14.

And the Rebels played giveaway, fumbling at their own 33 to set up James King dash up the middle for a 17-yard run that brought the made the Rebels forget the lofty pre-season expectations. "We kept ourselves in trouble in the second half, said Ole Miss head coach Ken Cooper of his team's seven fumbles, the last setting up the decisive score. "I felt we should have had more points in the first half, but we missed on the opportunities. I think the turning point was the play for the touchdown by Rivas." The win left Memphis State second-year head coach Richard Williamson delighted. "The most pleasing thing was the way we played in the second half.

I think we are going places this year." The Tigers went nowhere in the first half as the Rebels were the dominant team, but only in the statistics and not on the scoreboard. MSHPs Threadgill Brings Out Sunshine wr A I 4 t' ks o1 sx -1 I 'IT. By BOB WAGNER Clarion-Ledger Sports Writer STARKVILLE Suddenly, and without any warning, Bruce Threadgill flicked his arm twice, turning a rainy downer of a day into a sunny brilliant, sun-drenched September Saturday. Second-quessing everyone, Threadgill defied a driving rain storm at Scott Field, traversing 63 yards in two completions to give Mississippi State a 7-0 victory over North Texas State. The swiftness of his heroics left an estimated 29,000 gasping, as they'd witnessed a mammoth defensive duel to that point.

Neither offense could do a thing, struggling to get first-half totals of 37 yards for North Texas and 38 for State. More of the same marked the second half, until No. 2 Steve Woh-lert got the Bulldogs moving in the middle of the final period. That drive stalled, but noseguard Harvey Hull forced a quick kick with two punishing tackles. Re-enter Threadgill with 6:49 -left.

"It was a hard decision," head coach Bob Tyler said, "because Wohlert had exploded them on down there, but whoever put that together won the ballgame. They were just smarter than I was." Credit Threadgill, who was told to give the ball up the middle to fullback Dennis Johnson. "It was supposed to be a straight inside wishbone play," the blond-headed quarterback from New Iberia, said, but they overshifted on us, so I called an audible." The pass went for 32 yards to Gavin Rees along the sideline, but just barely made it past the defender. "I thought the other guy had it," Tyler said. "I was telling them to just drive it on.

This was like the LSU thing in Jackson a couple years ago, and we were afraid of slinging it around too much." Rees' catch put the Bulldogs on the North Texas 31, well within Kinney Jordan's field goal range, but Threadgill had been put in to try the bomb. He found another split end, Robert Chatman steaming past the left cornerback. Threadgill tossed cross-field, and Chatman won the game as he stepped on the goal line. Previously, the Bulldogs looked liked they got the short end of the Wishbone. Johnson got the only first down of the opening quarter, enroute to a 62-yard day as the game's top rusher.

Walter Packer was held to eight yards. Things got progessively better though, and for that, Tyler was thankful. "I commended them for getting stronger as the game went on with the new offense. We were afraid to pitch it out too much in a game this close, and appeared a little tight at times. "I was at Alabama when they installed the Wishbone, and they started out a little slowly too." The offensive high point developed when Wohlert sprinted onto the field with 15 seconds left in the third period.

The fans, growing tired of three yards and a cloudburst, cheered the change. Magically, things began to happen. Walter Packer got five. Johnson gained eight and a first down. James Jones picked up 12 and a first.

Holes opened up and the Bulldogs were suddenly whipping the Mean Green. Just as suddenly the magic stopped with two non-plays and it was status quo again. Defense took over, and that, really, is where Mississippi State beat North Texas State. "The defense cut and sliced all the way," Tyler said. "Just super.

super play." As the game progressed, the Bulldog defenders got stronger. They were approaching a goal. THE goal. A Mississippi State defense had not scored a shutout since 1966, a 20-0 job over Richmond. "We guessed at what they might do," Tyler said after the first MSU shutout in 102 games.

"They didn't surprise us on their sets, but on that Statue of Liberty thing, I believe our defensive coaches would say that was a surprise." Imagine the shock though, and North Texas turning Mean Green around the gills, when Threadgill unloaded a pair of longshots and beat the odds both times. State Does It With Strong 'D' Bv BERNARD FERNANDEZ Oaily Newt Sports Writer STARKVILLE Lyndon Johnson was President, beach blanket movies were all the rage and Bat- man was combating evil twice a week on television. Remember 1966? That was the year when Mississippi State University last shut out an opponent in football Sept. 30, to be exact, with Richmond a 20-0 victim. Teh years and 102 games later, the Bulldogs did it again with a 7-0 verdict over toughter-than-adver-tised North Texas State here Saturday afternoon on Scott Field.

A crowd estimated at 29,000 saw the defenses dominate play as a heavy rain falling throughout the game made both teams ineffective on offense. The final margin was provided by much-maligned quarterback Bruce Threadgill, who hit on back-to-back passes in the fourth quarter for 63 yards, the second a 31-yarder to sophomore split end Robert Chatman for the game's only touchdown. Other than that, however, it was strictly a war in the pits with a number of players on both sides turning in exceptional efforts. MSU linebacker Ray Costict had 12 individual tackles and seven assists, while teammate Harvey Hull, the Southeastern Conference's premier nose guard, had 10 solos. For North Texas, linebacker Terry Champagne had 10 primary stops and an assist, while end Dennis Dillard was 8-and-4.

The going was to so tough that State halfback Walter Packer, who ran for 1,012 yards in 1975, was limited to eight in eight carries. "You'd have to see a lot of football games before you saw one where both defenses played as well as those two out there said North Texas State coach Hayden Fry. But while a win by any other name is still a win, many of the fans were less than happy since they had come to see MSU's new Wishbone attack eat up yardage. The rain and North Texas made the debut something less than a smash success, but Bulldog coach Bob Tyler wasn't complaining. 'Tm interested in two statistics, that's all," Tyler told newsmen afterwards.

"One is that we won and the other is that we stayed together. "Really. I'm not worried about how many yards we gained. That doesn't count for anything. "We got stronger offensively as See State, Page 4D.

i1 Staff ptioto by Chuck Pratt Mean Bulldog Defense North Texas State fullback Brad Hammit has the ball knocked from his grasp by the hard-hitting Mississippi defense led by tackle Larry Cillard (79) and noseguard Harvey Hull (99). Also in photo is NTS tackle Paul Martin (70). North Texas State recovered this first quarter fumble, but lost in the end. 7-0, to the Bulldogs in a raiii-soaked game in Starkville in the season opener for both teams. JSU Gets Off To Fast Start By KENT HEITHOLT Clarion-Ledger Sports Writer MONTGOMERY, Ala.

Jackson State started off the 1976 football season here in a fashion that would satisfy any coach in the country. The Tigers scored the first three times they touched the ball against Alabama State and jumped out to a 22-0 lead at the end of the first quarter and overcame a sluggish offensive performance (seven fumbles) during the remainder of the game to hold on for a 25-7 victory. No sooner did the game begin when Larry Franklin, a wide receiver for the Tigers, caught the opening kick-off from Larry Britt, sifted to the right and raced 91 yards down the sideline for a touchdown. Jackson State took cue from the early spark and proved that lightning would strike twice. Quarterback Jeremiah Tillman, throwing with great accuracy in the first half (he completed six in a row before throwing his first incompletion) engineered the next score and then it was another kick return with Charles Williams taking a punt all the way.

After the early firepower, however, the Tigers didn't do much. They squandered scoring chances and came away only with two field goals by kicker Charles Wilson, who proved to be a bright spot as the replacement for graduated Vernon Perry. But it was the Tiger defense, much maligned earlier in the week, that stole the show. With a vicious front line harassing the quarter- backs, J-State allowed a mere 96 yards total offense by the Hornets and only 26 in the second half. The Tigers did their damage in the first period, mostly in the early moments.

After Franklin's dazzling touchdown run. Alabama State took its turn on the offensive but a crunching tackle by JSU linebacker Victor Sterling knocked the ball loose from ASU fullback Alvin Over-street and Tiger defensive lineman Earl Bryant grabbed it in midair. The 6-7, 260-pound senior from Hattiesburg rambled 19 yards with the ball before being dropped on the 21. On his first offensive play of the year, Tillman, who was 9-for-12 in thehalf tolled left and spotted tight end Larry Hardy cutting across the middle for a 21-yard touchdown pass. Charles Wilson's kick missed and the Tigers led 13-0 with only two and one-half minutes gone.

It didn't take long for the next score either. With Hornet quarterback Ben Harris unable to move the team. Alabama State had to punt and the Jackson State specialty squad was again up to the test. Defensive back Charles Williams caught the ball on the 28, gave a head fake to the first Hornet downfield and headed for the outside where a wall of blockers had already paved his way to the end zone. Williams went 72 yards without being touched to make the score 19-0 with 11:17 remaining in the first quarter.

See JSU, Page 4D.