The Greenville News from Greenville, South Carolina • Page 31

GREENVILLE PIEDMONT Outdoors Bulletin board Section eh irnnim Che (frmurille News Sunday, November 1, 1981 OT1 (SMS (O) The Tigers, feasting lavishly upon the Deacons' remains, amassed Statistics Wake Clem First downs 24 35 Rushes-yards 32-88 68-536 Passing yards 263 220 Return yards 136 114 Passes 25-42-2 1M9-1 Sacks 0-0 0-0 Punts 0-00 Fumbles-lost 3-2" 0-0 Penalties-yards 4-45 5-50 Time of Possession 27:11 32:49 Wake 7 7 3 724 ....14 35 20 1382 Chuck McSwain, who rushed for 90 yards on 15 attempts, led the assault with three (on runs of one, 16 and 12 yards). Fellow back Cliff Austin, the Tigers' leading rusher with 101 yards, scored the first two on runs of four and three yards, while split end Perry Tuttle caught touchdown passes of 75 and 25 yards. Tuttle, incidentally, struck down another Jerry Butler record. With seven receptions for 161 yards, the senior from Winston-Salem, N.C., (Wake Forest's home) boosted his career reception yardage to 2,224, breaking Butler's old Clemson mark by one. But that, too, was simply another toss-in to the afternoon carnival.

By Chris Smith The Greenville News CLEMSON The yardage was turning to mileage, ihe scoreboard read like an ill-matched basketball scrimmage, Clemson's scout team was getting a crash-course in offensive sets and, to add insult to an already brutal injury, Wake Forest's mascot defected across field to help the Tiger finish his pushups. Death Valley became the site of an unceremonious funeral Saturday Wake Forest's entire football team was put to rest, 82-24. The victory took on added importance when No. 1-rated Penn State lost to Miami, 17-14, and No. 2 Pittsburgh had a rough time in a 29-24 victory over lowly-regarded Boston College.

Nothing, but nothing, stood in the way of third-ranked Clemson much less. Wake's skeletal defense. Tiger reserves. In the fourth quarter, for instance, sophomore tailback Duke Holloman gained 59 yards and scored a touchdown. And freshman fullback Craig Crawford broke loose for a 72-yard touchdown run.

Prior to Saturday, Holloman had two carries for four yards and Crawford had yet to appear. Accusations of savagery are sure to flow. However, it mattered little whether the first or fifth unit was in; Wake Forest's defense was flattened by all. Even Wake Forest Coach Al Groh stated afterward: "It was our job to stop them, not their job to stop themselves. I thought they were more than gracious." But Clemson certainly cannot be accused of being gracious to a fault.

From the beginning, when a Dan Benish fumble recovery set up a 50-yard touchdown drive, the Tigers physically whipped the Deacons. Clemson's running backs spent the entire afternoon seeing how many tacklers they could shed. The winners had to be Austin and fullbacks Kevin Mack and Jeff McCall. Short-yardage plays quickly became 10-yard gains, and usually tight situations became easy first downs. In fact, Clemson converted all 12 of its third-down situations most likely another school record.

"They were trying to arm-tackle, so we just stood low and broke the tackles," Austin explained. Others running for touchdowns were quarterback Homer Jordan (a seven-yard run), Mack (10 yards) and McCall (24 yards). Passing, meanwhile, was just as effective. But, obviously, it became a less crucial phase of Clemson's See Clemson, Page 2C Attendance 61,500 first seven times it touched the ball. And the first non-scoring possession came with just 39 seconds remaining in the first half.

In the second half, Clemson scored on five of Us seven posses- cinnc By the end of the long, long after- noon, eight Tigers had scored at least one touchdown. Tailback amecoc owl owei IIP i-M- a Sx 9 20 riiraiaai zirs in on title By Mike Hembree The Greenville News Furman moved within one giant step of winning its second consecutive Southern Conference championship by mashing Marshall, 35-3, Saturday afternoon at Paladin Stadium. The victory, combined with-Tennessee-Chattanooga's Saturday Statistics 12 Statistics ncs use First downs 14 13 Rushes-yards 45-159 48-85 Passing yards 84 39 Return yards 99 107 Passes 8-20-4 6-14-4 Punts 5-32 6-42 Fumbles-lost 9-2 2-1 Penalties-yards 9-90 5-39 Time of Possession 29:21 30:39 N.Carolina St 0 12 0 0 12 S.Carolina 3 3 7 7 20 Lone after Clemson's starters had left the field and shed helmets for caps, Wake Forest's defense still was being manhandled by the XT-' f-, i-f- te-Mr Mar Fur 14 23 36-80 52-282 108 109 96 106 11-23-1 8-13-1 2- 14 3-19 8-36 4-42 2-0 1-0 3- 36 8-89 28:37 31:23 0 3 0 03 7 14 14 035 Pack, By Mike Hunt The Greenville News COLUMBIA Perhaps it is merely a coincidence that this 20-12 South Carolina victory against North Carolina State was played on a day that is reserved for misdeeds. Yet, eleven turnovers, five by the winning team, turned the game into one bizarre turn of events after an-other, which, after it was over, made the losers feel like they had lost it more than the winners had won it. But don't tell that to the Gamecocks on this Sunday morning.

Playing before a regional television audience and representatives from the Peach and Hall of Fame bowls, South Carolina (6-3) hung on for its fourth consecutive win and thusly plunged itself into the mad postseason scramble. The bewildered Wolf-pack (4-4), who are still probably counting their missed opportunites today, met face-to-face with mediocrity. The game, which had more big plays and defensive heroes to chronicle, was not totally decided until USC strong safety Chuck Fin ney ran 55 yards with an interception with his team fighting to hold a one-point lead in the waning seconds of the game, and perhaps it was fitting that a defense helped settle the matter. With its mid-week injury to tight end DeWayne Chivers, USC was forced to scrap the two-tight-end offense by the second half. What resulted was a flurry of reverses and motions and all kind of fancy things that USC had hoped to dump in favor of a more simplified attack.

State, meanwhile, was into its usual bag of tricks on offense cnitinitia unA uhirltno anH nntinnino 6 anu idKing anu, wen, you gei me picture. But all this faking and motion by hi Atilir 1 both teams amounted to only a combinded total of 367 yards the Gamecocks had but 124 to show for J70ff PK jfi ft if ih school yardage records of 756. total offense and 536 rushing en route to their eighth straight victory. Seventeen records were broken and three were tied. With another record-35 points in the second quarter, Clemson was sitting fat and happy upon a 49-14 halftime lead.

Understandably, the idea that Wake's scoring output was the highest against Clemson this season, became lost in the ridiculous ease of the Tigers' own barrage. Had impotency been a concern in' weeks past, this should have buried any lasting doubts. Whereas the usual course of game dissection is to pinpoint those series in which a team scored, Saturday required an opposite viewpoint. Clemson scored touchdowns the Jeff McCall takes a But N.C. State, more than South Carolina, hopes it will happen.

On a perfectly dry artificial turf, with perfectly clear skies and temperatures cool enough to keep sweat off the ball, here are some stats which help portray this game: There were 11 fumbles, eight pass interceptions, 14 penalties, two missed field goals, two missed conversion tries, and then some really loose play. There would be some salvation in charging the fumbles off to hard hitting by the two magnificent defenses. However that needs closer, examination. The bulk of N.C. State's nine fumbles came in the simple handing of the ball from the center to the That six inches was just more than they could manage.

It would seem with two pairs of hands from the same team crowded into such a small space; the ball could not escape, but alas! that was not the case. State coach Monte Kiffin, who could have cried and everybody would have understood, said, "It's hard to explain. I don't think, even as an assistant coach, I've ever been in a ball game that was so goofya ball game." v- 1 'T TAki'sV jf fr First downs Rushes-yards Passing yards Return yards Passes Sacks by Punts Fumbles-lost Penalties-yards Time of Possession Marshall Attendance 10811 win over East Tennessee State, sets up Furman's Nov. 14 meeting with Virginia Military Institute as the battle for the conference championship. VMI is 3-0-1 in league play and has only the Furman game remaining on its league schedule.

The Paladins are 4-1 in the conference with VMI and The Citadel (Nov. 21) left. East Tennessee's Saturday loss, its second in the league, makes Furman's game with The Citadel of no importance as far as the conference championship is concerned. Undisputed first place in the league rides strictly on the Nov. 14 game in Lexington.

A VMI victory or a tie would give the Keydets the title. Furman needs a win. A victory over VMI and a loss to The Citadel the following week would give Furman a 5-2 conference record, which, in the Southern's formula for deciding its champion, would be better than VMI's 3-1-1 record. Furman won the league crown last year with a 7-0 record. Saturday's Cakewalk also was notable for several other reasons: It assured Furman of its second See Furman, Page 2C thoir fnrroH miiltinla revival In Attendance 56,517 record for State rookies (914 yards), were left on the respective drawing board.

But yardage, or a lack thereof, does not tell the story. It was those amazing turnovers, the kind which, soon after one was committed, seemed to naturally foster a command performance. And even the final count of 11 does not accurately tell what happened on this cold day. There were chances, many chances, for even more. The Wolf-pack fumbled nine times, seven on center-quarterback exchanges, but only two were recovered by South Carolina.

And even that that doesn't count the passes that were dropped, the calls that were questioned, the 129 yards marked off in penalties, the crowd noise which caused numerous State delays (and one crucial offsides call against the 'Pack), or the two potentially winning chip shots missed by State kicker Todd Auten. Perhaps State coach Monte Kif-fin put the game into perspective when he called it "the weirdest I've been around." Kiffin, probably only half-jokingly, even asked a reporter if he would like to change jobs with him after watching the snap fall before it reached the quarterback time after time, a problem State has not experienced at all this year. tiAe fttrit iiinn it mn( uauunccii, ja, iiiat nao il, naa all Kiffin could say. Auten, a normally accurate kicker who missed second-half field goals of 21 and 31 yards (the latter See USC, Page 3C No. 1 Lioms ttiamble The Associated Press MIAMI After Miami of Flor ida rode Jim Kellv's arm and Danny Miller's foot to a 17-14 unset of No.

1 Penn State Satur day, Joe.Paterno rejected the no tion that the nation top spot is iinxed this season. "Thev just piayea some gooa football," said Paterno, after his Nittanv Lions' loss marked the fifth time in eieht weeks that the No. 1 team has fallen. "We gave it our best shot. We hung in there, but just didn't have enough at the end." "This is the ereatest win we've ever had.

I'm ecstatic," exulted Harry Malhos, Miami's athletic rfirprtor. Coach Howard Schnellenbereer said quietly that he felt lucky to escape wttn tne victory. See Miami. Page 6C iio(rJ(trfri'aT uj Tiger leap after scoring Clemson sixth touchdown Bow! scout: only score will be remembered dan ferJ otner woras, me onenses, except for 124 yards by Superfrosh Joe Mcintosh to establish a seasonal its offensive touchdown after the Carolina offense fumbled. Its other touchdown was defensive, on a blocked punt.

South Carolina's two touchdowns were equally divided between a game-clinching pass interception by Chuck Finney and one 80-yard drive which accounted for nearly a third of its entire total offense. But when there's a train wreck, the object is to survive. And Carolina's rugged defense made it a survivor. So it reaches November a 6-3 team which has only Pacific and an open date between now and the time that bowl berths will be "understood." And Gregory is right. By December, it won't matter much that this game resembled two giant turtles wrestling, inept on offense, strong and unyielding on defense.

Kiffin will remember. He was so sure State had it won, he admitted, that he had already written down a note that State linebacker Robert Abraham, of Myrtle Beach, who had harvested two of South Carolina's passes "would get the game ball. That would have been such a great thing for his last game at South Carolina. "But when you lose, you don't give game noise in the fourth quarter when State had the ball at the Carolina seven on third down, and trailed by only 12-13. His quarterback asked for mercy, referee George Marcoc-cia said play, "and our right tackle was offsides because he couldn't hear the quarterback." Carolina coach Jim Carlen was curious about one pass interference call "when no pass was thrown." Later one flag was thrown down and then retrieved with an 'excuse it" gesture.

But in a game like this, you can't harp on every little thing. Perhaps the most frustrated young man of the afternoon was State place kicker Todd Auten. He had hit on 14 of 16 previous extra point tries, and 8 of 11 field goals. His only extra point try was blocked, and he missed a 21-yard field goal try in the third quarter and a 30-yarder that could have given State the lead with five minutes to play. "I don't know what happened to them," he said.

"I wasn't rushed. I can't fault the technique. I just missed them." How good were the defenses and how bad were the offenses other than all those fumbles and intercep- tions? State had only 16 yards to go for Vj COLUMBIA How did such a nice group of defensive players wind up in a place like this? The defensive warriors from both teams played much too well to have a game like Saturday's South State gaggle as part of their transcripts. South Carolina won, 20-12, mainly because N.C. State had the ball last.

I You could see from the middle of the third quarter that whoever didn't have it last was going to win. If you didn't see it you can take the words of coaches and bowl scouts that it was a mess. Scouts from the Peach Bowl and the Hall of Fame Bowl saw it. Dallas Cowboys' personnel chief Gil Brandt saw it. Practically everybody saw it except some members of the officiating crew.

When the game was nearly over. Art Gregory, chairman of the Peach Bowl selection committee was subpoenaed for a comment. Gregory gasped and cleared his throat and offered: "Assuming South Carolina wins, in December, people will forget how the game was played and just remember that Carolina won." That will entail some powerful forgetting. SPORTS EDITOR Kiffin said he was told he must have been sick after the close losses to North Carolina and Clemson in the previous two weeks, but he said, "I can't be not when you've got the game won. Wow.

Just unbelievable. The center-quarterback exchange I can't believe it. It's the most frustrating game I've ever coached He is still bewildered by two calls. On the game's first play, it appeared South Carolina quarterback Gordon Beckham had been hit at his own seven, and the ball bounced into the end zone, where a Carolina teammate covered it. But the officials said no safety.

They spotted the ball at the Carolina seven, a loss of 13 yards on a play which Kiffin said he had been made to understand "was an incomplete pass." He also felt the officials didn't give State protection against crowd 1.