Battle Creek Enquirer from Battle Creek, Michigan • Page 5

Scoreboard C-2 and Eiraqpuinirer Business C-6 Classified C-6-7 MAKEOVER SectionV Jan. 3, 1983 ains' block clears way for Lions Win, help from LA enable Detroit to gain playoff berth a A iff 'sfQ whs Inside until I was in the huddle. I'm glad the coaches had confidence in me." Rubick had not caught a pass or run with the ball all season. For Hippie, who lost his starting job in the second game after the end ol the players strike, the chance at guiding the Lions was rewarding. "I felt a big pickup when I went in there and the crowd cheered," he said.

"I'll have to continue to produce or I'll be out of there again." The Lions, the final National Conference qualifier, will meet the Washington Redskins (8-1) in the first round of the playoffs, which will begin next weekend. Green Bay (5-3-1), which previously had earned a playoff berth, will not know its first-round opponent See LIONS, C-3 By ANDREW ANGELO The Associated Press PONTIAC Detroit Lions coach Monte Clark was hardly gloating, but he couldn't help being proud of his team after Sunday's 27-24 victory over the Green Bay Packers. The triumph, combined with the Los Angeles Rams' 21-20 upset of the defending Super Bowl champion San Francisco 49ers, enabled the Lions to qualify for the strike-expanded NFL playoffs despite finishing with a 4-5 record. It marked the first time in 12 years that the Lions had made the playoffs. "We emphasized all along that regardless of all that, we just had to finish with a good taste and hope it was meaningful for the playoffs," Clark said in a jubiliant locker room.

"It had to be meaningful for our own Eric Hippie's performance in rallying the Lions raises the old quarterback question. c'2 self-satisfaction, which we haven't had enough of this year." Rookie tight end Rob Rubick scored his first NFL touchdown on a one-yard reverse with 5:47 to play to give the Lions their winning margin. The game-winning 60-yard drive was engineered by backup quarterback Eric Hippie, who was put in the game with 10:34 left after Gary Da-nielson had tossed an interception on the previous Detroit possession. "I was surprised at the play call," said Rubick, who was a l2th-round draft choice out of Grand Valley State. "I didn't know what was called Blocked FG stops 49ers The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO The San Francisco 49ers, driving toward the same endzone where they earned a Super Bowl berth one year ago, came up losers Sunday.

"I don't know what happened. I thought the ball was kicked well," said Joe Montana, who held for Ray Wersching on a 24-yard field goal attempt that could have meant a return trip to the NFL plavoffs. But the kick, with 1 53 left in the game, was blocked by Los Angeles defensive back Ivory Sully to preserve the Rams' 21-20 victory. The Rams, who had lost four straight games, had nothing to gain Sunday, since they already had been eliminated from the playoffs. "I think it proves we still have guys who want tb win.

I've been saying that all season," said the season amid rumors that his job is in jeopardy. A diving catch by Dwight Clark was the highlight of the 49ers' drive deep into Los Angeles territory in the closing minutes. In last January's NFC title game, Clark's tremendous catch in Candlestick Park's north endzone made the 49ers winners over the Dallas Cowboys. It was the 49ers' fifth loss in five home games this year. "I feel embarrassment and humiliation," said 49ers coach Bill Walsh.

"We have some men here who are Pro Bowl performers who played shoddy football. "I am disappointed with the entire season, and this capped it." Montana, 49ers quarterback, played with a sore elbow, but he said later, "I never asked to be taken out." The snap on the late field goal try appeared to be a good one and Montana got the ball set quickly. "Evervthine seemed fine," said after kicking. "People kept telling me that the kick was low. I guess they were right." Said Sully, "All week during the films, we noticed that the 49ers blocked a certain way on their offensive left side and opened up a natural crease." He shot into that crease just far enough to wreck the 49ers' hopes of going to the Super Bowl1 again, this time as a darkhorse, this month.

Vince Ferragamo rallied the Rams from a 20-7 deficit, hitting 22 of 35 passes for 227 yards. He hit George Farmer with a 42-yard TD pass and Mike Lansford kicked the extra point for the Rams' winning margin. Wendell Tyler scored on a one-yard run for Los Angeles' other second-half touchdown. Montana had thrown TD passes of 19 yards to Mike Wilson and 29 yards to Renaldo Nehemiah in the second quarter to give the 49ers their lead. Tallin NfcJL -i-t.

1 1 1 i i AP Photo Detroit quarterback Gary Danielson dives for Mike Butler (77) and Terry Jones (63). Green his own fumble in the third quarter Sunday as Bay's George Cumby recovered the fumble to teammate Amos Fowler battles Green Bay's set up the Packers' final touchdown. Rams coach Ray Malavesi, who worked through the last month of Wersching, who never looks up I I Patriots end rags-to-riches journey by making playoffs -N 'a blocked a punt for a touchdown as the Steelers held off the Browns. Cleveland, facing a 27-7 deficit after a 38-yard touchdown pass from Bradshaw to Jim Smith, closed to 27-21 on a pair of fourth-quarter touchdown passes by Paul McDonald, an 8-yarder to Dave Logan and a 12-yard strike to Ricky Feacher. But Bradshaw found Lynn Swann on a 60-yard pass play to set up a 34-yard field goal by Gary Anderson ished the regular season atop the NFC with an 8-1 record and their best record since a 10-1 finish in 1942.

Washington kicker Mark Mose-ley's NFL record streak of 23 straight field goals ended when he missed a 40-yarder in the second quarter. Saints 35, Falcons 6: Ken Stabler passed for 271 yards and Wayne Wilson ran for three touchdowns to lead New Orleans past Atlanta. It was the first victory over Atlanta for New Orleans since Bum Philips took over as Saints coach two years ago and the first since 1979. Bengals 35, Oilers 27: Quarterback Ken Anderson hit an NFL-record 20 straight passes, including touchdowns to Dan Ross and Isaac Curtis, as the Cincinnati rolled past Houston. Dolphins 34, Colts 7 David Wood-ley tossed three touchdown passes, one more than he had in eight previous games, as Miami swamped Baltimore and saddled the Colts (0-7-1) with the first winless season in their history.

Raiders 41, Chargers 34 Rookie By KEN RAPPOPORT The Associated Press After finishing in a tie for the worst record in the National Football League last year, New England didn't stand pat. The Patriots kicked out Ron Er-hardt and brought in Ron Meyer from Southern Methodist University as the head coach. It was a savvy move, as it turned out. Despite season-long turmoil because of Meyer's college-style discipline and what some players consider the coach's aloofness, the Patriots have made a dramatic turnaround. Sunday, revitalized New England joined the NFL's playoff ranks with a 30-19 victory over the Buffalo Bills that gave the Pats a 5-4 record in this strike-shortened season.

Last year, they were 2-14. "I think it's always tough to come out of a situation like that," said New England's Mike Haynes, who made a key interception in Sunday's game. "It also takes a tremendous effort on everyone's part to get rid of the negative things that come out of tha kind of season." Along with New England, the Cleveland Browns qualified as one of the eight teams from the American Conference despite a 37-21 loss to playoff-bound Pittsburgh. Haynes' interception set up Tony Collins' tie-breaking touchdown run in the fourth quarter, then Steve Gro-gan threw his third scoring pass of the game to give New England the victory. The Bills, buried at their own one-yard line following a punt, pushed out to the 24 before Haynes stepped in front of Roosevelt Leaks, intercepted NFL Roundup Joe Ferguson's pass and returned the ball 25 yards to the Bills' 13 with 31 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

On the third play of the fourth period, Collins burst through the right side to break a tie at 16. The Bills closed the gap to 23-19 on Efren Herrera's 25-yard field goal. But Grogan drove New England 74 yards in nine plays, the last one a 2-yard toss to tight end Don Hasselbeck with 6:49 to play. "In spite of what was going on, I think we reacted positively and said 'Let's go win this said Hasselbeck. "People might find it hard to believe, but we weren't upset if we didn't make the playoffs.

"Everyone wants to be in them, but if we had to come in here Monday and turn in our things, there wouldn't have been too many guys upset. So everyone was just relaxed going out there." Meyer shrugged off his part in the Patriots' turnaround. "The accomplishment is all the players. With the talent on this football team and the leadership shown by the veterans, I said secretly to myself in training camp I felt we had a good run at the playoffs." But Haynes pointed out, "It's easy to say that we should get all the credit. But the coaches are the ones who called the plays and called the defenses." Terry Bradshaw threw two touchdown passes, Franco Harris ran for 120 yards and Johnny Rodgers with 2:39 left.

In other NFL games: Tampa Bay 26, Chicago 23 (OT) Bill Capece booted a 33-yard field goal 3:14 into overtime to lift Tampa Bay over Chicago. Capece, who kicked a 40-yarder to force the extra period with 26 seconds left in regulation, kicked his fourth field goal of the game two plays after James Wilder bolted 47 yards to the Chicago 13-yard line. Chiefs 37, Jets 13: Bill Kenney's three touchdown passes triggered Kansas City's upset of playoff-bound New York before the second-smallest crowd in modern NFL history. Only 11,902 fans showed up to see the Chiefs end the season at home with their best game of the year. Giants 26, Eagles 24: Joe Danelo kicked his fourth field goal with two seconds left to lift New York over Philadelphia.

The game marked the last NFL game for New York head coach Ray Perkins, who will replace Paul "Bear" Bryant at the University of Alabama next season. Redskins 28, Cardinals 0: Washington combined three touchdown passes by Joe Theismann and an aggressive defense to beat St. Louis. With the victory, the Redskins fin Marcus Allen scored two toucnaowns in the last six minutes and corner-back James Davis returned a pass interception 52 yards for the go-ahead touchdown with 2:41 remaining to boost Los Angeles Raiders over San Diego. Seahawks 13, Broncos 11 Dave Krieg drilled a 19-yard pass to veteran Roger Carr with 47 seconds left to give Seattle a come-from-behind victory over Denver.

Krieg, who replaced starting quarterback Jim Zorn in the second half, found Carr on the two-yard line behind Broncos' free safety Aaron Kyle and Carr went into the endzone AP Photo Tampa Bay quarterback Doug Williams fires a pass past Chicago defender Mike Hartenstine in Sunday's game at Tampa. Joe and the grid polls say it's so: Penn State is No. 1 Vi in tho II. rJ.u fDsl fourth in the smti whifh was follow through." Collins said. "We're This time.

Penn State was voted riiidi LtUiicuu ruuiuan ruuo The Final AP Top Twenty The Top Twenty teams In The Associated Press college football poll, with irstplace votes in parentheses, season records and total points. Points based on 20-19-18-17-16-15-14-13-12-11-10-9-8- 7-4-5-4-3-2-1 n-l-0 1,089 Psnn State (44) 1. 11-0-1 1,023 12-1-0 978 953 United Press International 1. Penn State (33) 2. Southern Methodist (4) 3.

Nebraska 4. Georgia 5. UCLA 6 Arizona State 7. Washington 8. Arkanasa 10.

Pittsburgh 10. Florida State 11. Louisana State 12. Ohio State 13. North Carolina 14.

Auburn 15. MICHIGAN 16. Oklahoma 17. (tie) Alabama Texas 19. West Virgina 20.

Maryland 551 514 468 436 406 314 293 266 216 173 169 147 86 70 53 46 45 45 40 31 11-1-0 11- 0-1 12- 1-0 11-1-0 10-1-1 10-2-0 10-2-0 9-2-1 9-3-0 9-3-0 8- 3-1 9- 3-0 8- 4-0 9- 3-0 8-4-0 8-4-0 8- 4-0 9- 3-0 9-3-0 8-4-0 final regular-season poll, received nine first-place votes and 1,023 points. The other two first-place votes went to Nebraska, which held onto third place by edging LSU, 21-20, in the Orange Bowl. The Cornhuskers, who lost only to Penn State, polled 978 points. Georgia dropped from first to fourth with 953 points. Penn State received 33 of 37 first-place votes and 551 points in UPI's coach's poll.

SMU, which got the remaining four first-place votes, was second with 514 points and Nebraska third at 468. Georgia was fourth with 436 points. See POLLS, C-2 the only unbeaten team; doesn't that mean anything? "We were voted in the Top Ten at the start of the season, we moved up to No. 2, then we tied Arkansas and two idle teams moved ahead of us. We played as tough a schedule as Penn State and we didn't lose to a team that lost four games.

"We finished the schedule as the only undefeated team, we played as a member of the top four the last half of the season and somehow the voting sentiment goes to Penn State. How come?" Penn State received 44 of 55 first-place votes and 1,089 of a possible 1,100 points from AP's nationwide panel of sportswriters and sportscas-ters. The Nittany Lions were either first or second on every ballot. Combined News Sources "Unaccustomed as I am to being in this situation Penn State coach Joe Paterno began. That was Paterno's little needle Sunday at the voters who kept him and his Nittany Lions from the throne on three earlier occasions despite unbeaten and untied seasons.

Paterno had just been informed that Penn State, which began playing football back in 1887, had captured its first national championship thanks to Saturday night's exciting 27-23 Sugar Bowl victory over previously top-rated and unbeaten Georgia. This time, it wasn't the one-man Paterno Poll, which he conducted in 1968, 1969 and 1973, when records of 11-0, 11-0 and 12-0 were only good enough for finishes of second, second and fifth. national champion in both the polls of The Associated Press and United Press International. The Nittany Lions (11-1) rebounded from a 42-21 loss to Alabama in October to win their last seven games, capped by Saturday night's Sugar Bowl triumph. However, Penn State's triumph in the final rankings evoked a storm of protest from Southern Methodist coach Bobby Collins, whose Mustangs defeated Pitt, 7-3, in the Cotton Bowl.

They wound up as the nation's only unbeaten team with an 11-0-1 mark, but had to settle for second place while Penn State vaulted from the runner-up position to the top. "We did what the so-called experts asked, and the experts failed to So. Methodist (9) Nebraska (2) Georgia UCLA Arizona State Washington Clemson Arkansas Pitt LSU Ohio State Florida State Auburn Southern Cat Oklahoma Texas North Carolina West Virginia 11-1-0 10-1-1 10-2-0 10-2-0 9-1-1 9-2-1 9-3-0 8- 3-1 9- 3-0 9-3-0 9-3-0 8-3-0 8- 4-0 9- 3-0 8-4-0 a. 3. 4.

5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

10. 11. 12. 13. 14.

15. 16. 17. 18. 19.

20. 894 729 679 656 611 593 473 429 380 360 337 250 240 172 154 9-3-0 8-4-0 147 Maryland moiTiaini 1. luinn intui listed aloha betically: Note: By agreement with American Football Coaches Assoication, teams on probation by the NCAA are Ineligible tor top 20 and national championship consideration by the UPI Board of Coaches. The only teams on probation for the 1982-83 season are Clemson, Oregon, Southern Cal and Southern Mississippi. Air Force, Alabama, Arizona, Boston College, Brlgham Young, Florida.

Fresno State, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, New Mexico, Notre Dame and Tulsa..