Tucson Daily Citizen from Tucson, Arizona • Page 28

Comics ftucson iDailg (Jiliicn Sports MONDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1975 PAGE 29 Markets 'MYERED' DOW Lobos unleash aerial blitz in upsetting Cats By STEVE WESTON Citizen Sportswriter Jim Young is one guy who isn't in favor of a shorter work week. But his work load was-lightened considerably yesterday, a day he spent evaluating films of his University of Arizona football team's game of the previous day and picking out offensive and defensive individuals to be honored. His duties were sliced in half, because there weren't any defensive standouts in the 44-34 licking handed the Wildcats by the New Mexico Lobos Saturday afternoon. The once-proud Arizona defense' collapsed before a two-pronged New Mexico offense that produced 597 total yards of offense, ended a UA winning streak at nine, handed the 'No. 13-ranked Cats their first loss of the season after five victories and severely damaged UA's hopes for a Fiesta Bowl berth on Dec.

26. It was a stunner all the way 35,878 UA Homecoming fans will testify to that as quarterback Steve Myer led coach Bill Mondt's Lobos to one of New Mexico's biggest triumphs in recent years and one of-the major upsets in Western Athletic Conference football history. Arizona's -failure to stop -or even slow Myer Co. negated a fantastic last-quarter Wildcat offensive effort. The Cats, surprisingly, were unable to put pressure on the pocket-passing Myer, which contributed to.

the secondary's being riddled for 351 yards and four touchdowns on 26 completions. Even' more suprising- was New Mexico's ability to run the ball 246 yards worth. "We went with every kind of rush there is to go with," explained Young. "I guess we just got blocked. "Maybe we'd have been better off just letting them throw and.

defending. When you send three rushers in, you don't expect to get the quarterback. But when you send more in, you expect to get to him once in a while. "I think they got something like 240 yards when we blitzed," he continued. "We blitzed too much.

And giving them all that running yardage was just as bad as all that passing yardage." Myer rallied his team magnificently after UA quarterback Bruce Hill had found flanker Theopolis Bell on a 72-yard broken-pass-play touchdown in the first quarter. The UA defense allowed Myer to mount three 'long scoring drives that resulted in touchdown passes to Gil Stewart, Preston Hall and Preston Dennard and the Lobos took a 20-7 halftime lead. The teams traded third- quarter scores UA lagging Sports Calendar RADIO, TV TODAY Pro; Minnesota vs. Chicago 7:00 p.m. KTUC (1400) and Channel 9.

RADIO, TV TOMORROW Hockey: CHL, Tucson vs. Ft. Worth, 6:50 p.m., KTUC (1400). Inside Mavericks 3 0 The best part of Tucson's game was missing over the weekend. Greyhounds 32 at the beginning by 27-7 and the Lobos held a 34-14 lead with 12:33 remaining.

While the crowd roared "Defense!" the 'UA offense pumped up for what was hoped would be an "instant replay" of the previous week's last-second victory over Texas Tech. But the defense didn't answer the call. i Hill took UA 74 yards in only 1:18 and Tex Randolph's one- yard run cut the Lobos' lead to 34-21. But the defense, which led the nation against scoring only two weeks ago, yielded a 37-yard field goal to Bob Berg at 5:52. Twelve seconds later, Bell traversed 80 yards on a brilliant effort with a Hill pass and UA closed to 37-27.

WAC Standings Conference ASU 4 CSU 3 Arizona 2 BYU 2 New Mexico 2 Wyoming 1 UTEP 0 Overall ASU :7 CSU 5 Arizona 5 BYU 3 New Mexico 3 Wyoming 1 UTEP 1 Saturday New Mexico 44, Arizona 34 Brigham Young 33, Wyoming 20 Oregon 18, Utah 7 Colorado State 47, Air Force 10 Arizona State 24, Texas-El Paso 6 After a successful onside kick, Hill got two clutch receptions from split end Scott Piper and Randolph's third fi'B 33 66 76 112116 64 80 20 91 pt OP 190 44 118130 173 78 115113 158140 77123 70196 TD of the game made it 37-34, New Mexico. But the Lobos, converting key third downs (11 of 15 in the game) drove 78 yards to end it. Mike Williams carried nine straight times and scored with :55 left, only the second Lobos' rushing TD of the year both against UA, Amazingly, Arizona scored three times in the fourth quarter and yet owned the football for only three minutes and 20 seconds. "Sometimes there wasn't much concentration out there on the field," said UA defensive back Greg Preston. "We didn't get the pressure on Myer we wanted, and when we did we didn't have the receivers covered." "I really don't know what happened," said linebacker Mark Jacobs.

"I don't think they were more physical. I can only speak for myself, but, for me, there was a mental letdown" "I have to think it was a mental thing," added Young. "I think defense is as much emotional as it is physical. You fight back or you get down. I think our players got down." Young said the collapse was a combination of things.

"One of the problems with our defense is that it doesn't make the big play sack the quarterback, throw the runner for a loss and so on," he explained. "I don't think it's a question of talent. While the winners laugh Citizen Photos by P. K. Weis New Mexico's Mike Williams (40) joins an official in signal- Lobos handed Arizona its first defeat of the season, 44-34, at ling his touchdown.

Williams scored twice Saturday as the Arizona Stadium on Homecoming. Lobos 9 Myer savors "The problem's been with us for quite a while. "If I had a ready-made solution, 1 would've used it in the game. 1 don't know what it is, but we'll stop it." Myer used 10'different re-' ceivers in setting school records for career TD passes and most TD tosses in a single game and tying a record for completions. Williams, a freshman, got of New Mexico's 246 ground yards and the Lobos had been averaging only 124 rushing yards as a team.

To compound matters, the UA ground game, which had produced a WAC-leading 266 yards per game, could net only 142, as 100-yard-per-game gainer Randolph could manage just 40. jumped around too much in the first half in calling the plays," said Young. "Then we had to throw, so we had no opportunity to get our running going." UA's passing game, however, was awesome. Hill set school records with 406 pass ing yards and 446 yards in total offense. Demory threw for 365 yards against Oregon State in 1971 and Allan Stanton had 378 yards in total offense against New Mexico in 1951.

Bell's 217 yards on seven receptions surpassed the best single game performance of 205 yards by Charlie McKee against Oregon State.in 71. The teams' combined total offense of 1,151 yards was the most ever in WAC history (1,126 by Utah and Colorado State in 1972). UA, which sustained more penalties (12 for 117 yards) against New Mexico than it had in five games this season, faces another bleak prospect this Saturday afternoon. The Cats will travel to Provo, Utah, where sharp-passing quarterback Gifford Nielsen has fired Brigham Young to three straight wins. Last year, BYU and former quarterback Gary Sheide did to UA what New Mexico did cripple the Cats' title hopes.

Another conference would kill those hopes. New Mexico Arizona First Downs 3 0 23 Net Yards Rushing 246 122 Nel Yards Passing 351 406 Net Total Offense 597 554 Passes 26-38 21-34 Passes Intercepted By Fumbles-Lost 3-1 1-0 Punts-Averaae Penalties-Yards 5-35 12-117 Individual ByTIMO'MARA Citizen Sportswriter Steve Myer was sprawled "on a bench in the New Mexico locker room! perspiration still dripping from his face. He admitted he was thoroughly exhausted. He had a right to be. Myer, tfie man who more than any other on the Lobo football team sparked New Mexico to its upset win Saturday over the University of Arizona, had just come off the field at Arizona Stadium after almost single-handedly devastating the Wildcats.

Myer's individual statistics were only a part of the overall picture. Yes, he completed an amazing 26 of 38 passes. He rolled up 351 yards- in the process. He hit his receivers four times for touchdowns. But at least as important was what he did mentally to Arizona.

The Cats had heard week that Myer was one of the best collegiate passers in the nation. And they had cause to be nervous, for it was only last week that UA gave up 12 completions in 14 attempts to Texas Tech. "It went better than it's ever gone," Myer said of his passing The senior was only 28 yards off his all-time game record at halftime, and quickly surpassed that as New Mexico came out at the start of the third quarter to score, the final play being a 19-yard pass to flanker Roy Cameron. "It's the best game I ever had," Myer said above the joyous shouting in New Mexico's dressing room. "The greatest win, too.

The line was blocking and I had plenty of time to throw. It sure is a great win over these guys." Arizona, Myer allowed, is a very capable team, but "they sure didn't play like it today." The quarterback gave much of the credit for his superlative passing performance to his receivers, who he said were getting open consistently throughout the game. all, 10 different players caught passes from Myer, led by split end Preston Dennard, who hauled in eight for 141 yards. "We were just able to keep scoring," said victorious coach Bill Mondt, whose Lobos are now on the season and 2-3 in Western Athletic Conference play. "Our running attack (which complemented Myer's passing with 246 yards) has been getting better lately.

I don't think Arizona expected us to run on them." Mondt had nothing but the highest praise for his offensive line, which kept UA defenders well away from Myer all game. "We did an unbelievable job of protecting Myer. They never'got to him once." the second-year coach said. RUSHING New Mexico Williams Barnes Forresl Turman Sutton Arizona Hill Randolph Baker Schock Bell PASSIC New Mexico c-a Mver Arizona Hill 21-34 PASS RECl New Mexico Dennard Hall Ellis- Stewart Forrest Barnes Cameron Sutton Williams Roblson Arizona Piper Bell Randolph Hartwig, Score bv quarters: New Mexico i Arizona tc 22 10 9 3 5 .10 16 9 .1 1 4G yd 351 406 EIVING cgt 8 4 3 3 2 ,2 ...1 .1 1 1 9 7 2 2 1 0 20 .7 0 net 118 64 43 13 8 45 40 32 3 2 4 2 yd .141 40 45 39 24 21 19 9 8 5 98 217 48 30 13 avg 5.4 6.4 4.8 1.9 1.6 4.5 2.5 3.6 3.0 2.0 hi 0 Id 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 6 0 2 0 0 0 7 17--44 7 20--34 Jack Associate Sports Editoi Warning signs were there Remember when Northwestern coach Johnny Pont, after his team lost by a 41-6 score to the Arizona Wildcats here, had the audacity to say his team was better than UA? Pont's post-game comment seemed like sour grapes, even though he claimed it wasn't. His team had moved the ball well but was victimized by six turnovers.

There were solid reasons for Pont's comment. But that Northwestern game and the next UA home outing, the thrilling victory over Texas Tech, were really providing some warning signs, even though the Wildcats were victorious Maybe Pont was right in both. The UA defense, despite those early shutouts against Pacific and Wyoming, was giving up too many yards. And it wasn't showing any improvement. In fact, it was getting Northwestern couldn't score because of its own offensive mistakes.

Texas Tech got four touchdowns. The two managed almost 1,000 yards and 50 first downs in those two games. So New Mexico's 44-point outburst Saturday shouldn't have come as a complete shock. The warning signs were there. New Mexico's Steve Myer is the type of passer that can make any defensive team look bad.

He's especially effective against a club like Arizona that relies on a philosophy of discipline and containment. The Cats tried a three-man pass rush against Myer, using eight men to protect the pass zones. This didn't work because the defenders either weren't aware of receivers coming into their areas or when Myer was throwing a ball. Often times he zipped a pass right past a UA defender's ear. And when Arizona sent more than three men on the pass rush, New Mexico's line picked them up and still gave the quarterback plenty of time.

UA coach Jim Young said he felt the Cats blitzed "too many times." Watching Myer pass, it didn't seem like the Cats blitzed at all because not once in 38 New Mexico passing plays did Arizona either sack Myer for a loss or force him to run. Give New Mexico credit for.a great job of pass blocking. The Lobos' offensive line built a wall around Myer and no matter what the Cats did, it didn't work. But Arizona was whipped up front in two other areas. The Cats couldn't move the ball on the ground against the Lobos.

As a result, they couldn't keep the ball away from Myer with time-consuming marches. New Mexico had the ball 35 minutes and 35 seconds to UA's 24:25. Most teams that rely on the forward pass aren't good ground teams. That was New Mexico's reputation coming into the game. It's basically because teams that concentrate on the techniques of pass protection, a passive type of blocking that requires a lot of practice, have trouble finding the time to develop the aggressive blocking needed for the running game.

Rushing unexpected But New Mexico also was firing off the line Saturday and the Lobos managed 246 rushing yards. This was totally unexpected. Arizona's total defensive helplessness was never more evident than in the game's closing minutes. The Cats' offense put thejeam back in the game, cutting the New Mexico margin to 37-34 with 4:51 to go. The stage was set for another finish, like the Texas Tech game.

All the UA defense had to do was stop the Lobos, force them to give up the ball and the offense would have time to score. The defense failed miserably. New Mexico marched 78 yards, all but 16 of it on the ground, to score the clinching touchdown. Three times the Cats failed to stop a third-down running play that would have forced a Lobo punt. The warning signs were there, even with that unbeaten record.

The UA deiense just isn't stopping anyone. And the thoughts of facing the high-powered offenses of Brigham Young, San Diego State and Arizona State don't make the outlook any brighter for Arizona. FIRST QUARTER 'UA 7, NEW MEXICO 0: Bell 72-yard pass from Hill at 1:25. PAT Plstor, Rick. 74-yard drive, 3 plays.

SECOND QUARTER UA 7, NEW MEXICO 7: Stewart 5- vard pass from Mver at 12:51. PAT -Berg, kick. 79-yard drive, 12 plays. Key plays: Myer passes to Hall for 16 yards and to Forrest for 13 yards; 25-yard run bv Barnes. NEW MEXICO 14, UA 7: Hall 7-yard pass from Mver at 8:16.

PAT Berg, kick. 79-yard drive, 8 plays. Key plays: Myer passes of 19 and 24 yards to Dennard and pass of 13 to Barnes. NOTE: Drive aided bv two personal foul penalties against Arizona. NEW MEXICO 20, UA 7: Dennard 15- yard pass from Myer at :13.

PAT --kick tailed. 80-yard drive, 7 plays. Key plays: Myer passes of 28 yards to Ellis and 8 yards to Williams. NOTE: Drive aided by personal foul penalty against Arlzo- THIRD QUARTER NEW MEXICO 27, UA 7: Cameron 19- yard pass from Myer at 11:06. PAT -Berg, kick.

80-yard drive, 11 Dlays. Key plavs: Myer passes of 12 and 18 yards to Dennard; 12-yard run by Forresl. NOTE: Drive aided by offside penally against Arizona on third down and four yards to go situation at UA 44. NEW MEXICO 27, UA 14: Randolph 2- yard run at 8:50. PAT Plstor, kick.

80- yard drive, 8 plavs. Key plavs: Hill passes of II yards to Piper and Hartwig, 14 yards to Bell and 34 yards to Randolph. FOURTH QUARTER NEW MEXICO 34, UA 14: Williams 1- yard run at 12:33. PAT Berg, kick. 58- yard drive, 8 plavs.

Key plays: Mver passes of 31 yards to Stewart and 15 yards to Ellis. NEW MEXICO 34, UA 21: Randolph 1- vard run at 11:09. PAT Plstor. kick. 74-yard drive, 7 plavs.

Key plays: Hill passes of 13 yards to Bell twice, to Greathouse for 13 yards and to Hartwig for 19 yards. NOTE: Drive aided by pass Interference penalty against New Mexico. NEW MEXICO 37, UA 21: Berg 37- yard field goal at 5:52. 74-yard drive, 11 plavs. Key plavs: Mver pass ol 16 yards to Dennard; 14-vard run bv Williams.

NEW MEXICO 37, UA 27: Bell 80-yard pass from Hill 5:40. PAT Attempt at two-point conversion failed. 80-yard 1 drive, 1 plav. NEW MEXICO 37, UA 34: Randolph 3- yard run at 4:51. PAT Plstor, kick.

26- vard drive, 6 plays. Kev plays: Hill passes of 13 and 10 yards to Piper following successful onside kick. NEW MEXICO 44, UA 34: Williams 4. yard run at PAT Berg, kick. 70- yard drive, 12 plavs.

Kcv plavs: Mver passes of 5 yards to Robison and 11 yards to Forresl; consecutive runs by Williams ol 5, 3,17, 5,4,12,3 and 6 yards. Attendance: 35,878. Agony of defeat UA's Greg Preston finding losing painful Mistakes cause Arizona State many problems By BRUCE JOHNSTON Citizen Sportswrilur TEMPE Fumbles, interceptions and penalties. Usually the common denominators that separate good football teams from bad ones. They also can bring a good team down to the level-of a bad one.

For example: Arizona State, five of seven fumbles lost, eight penalties for 80 yards and one interception; Texas-El Paso, no fumbles, two interceptions and five penalties for 50 yards. The figures don't lie in assessing ASU's sloppy 24-6 victory over UTEP Saturday night after both teams played a 0-0 tie in the first half. Despite ASU's edge in mistakes, though, the turning point in the game was in the other UTEP turnover category -blocked kicks. Midway in the third quarter, with. ASU ahead 7-0, the Sun Devils blocked UTEP punt and recovered it at the Miner four-yard line.

A little of the starch went out of the scrappy Miners at that pointfand the resultant TD proved to be enough of a margin to keep UTEP at bay. ASU did roll up 443 yards of total offense. Still, the defense really accounted for 14 of ASU's points (the blocked kick and an interception return for a TD late in the game) while the offense was able to drive for only 10 points. The ASU defense, as usual, was its brutal, aggressive self. And, as usual, had trouble containing a good running quarterback and the option attack between the 30-yard lines.

But UTEP never got farther than the ASU 25 all night, and that was on its first possession of the night. In the second half the Devil defenders were exceptional, not allowing the Miners to drive past their own 45. UTEP got its only points on two long field goals that were set up on fumble recoveries deep in ASU territory. The only real problem ASU had was in defensing the run-; ning of UTEP QB Bobby McKinley, who, after a number of sacks, still had 66 net yards rushing. He completed only one of 12 passes, though; "I think they're a great football team," said UTEP coach Gil Bartosh, "Still, I think they rely Qir their defense to keep them in the game.

As long as their defense plays well, they'll be tough to beat." Bartosh feels that if the ASU defense has a it is in handling an optioji attack. And, with a tough lete like Bobby McKinley, at- the helm, that was what UTEP set out to do. "We felt in order to be sue-. cessful tonight we'd have to- run the option. We knew wett have to finesse them since we; couldn't match them physical' ly," he explained.

Bartosh now has seen his team fall to ASU arid Arizona in a 36-0 decision. Can tie compare the two teams? couldn't try to compare the two. They're both great football teams (despite UA-'S. upset loss to New Mexico, he said). They play different styles.

"ASU'has a more aggres-; sive, blitzing type of defense while Arizona plays a nique type defense. Offensive-; they're both explosive, although Arizona might be 'a little more explosive. "When they play you can take all the records and throw them out the window. That will be one great football game." Team UTEP First Downs 11 Nel Yards Rushing 188 Net Yards Passing 11 Net Total Offense 199 Passes 1-12 Passes Intercepted By i Fumblcs-Lost 0-0 Punts-Average 8-45 Penalties-Yards 5-50 Lobos outfox staff The New Mexico Lobos fooled a lot of people Saturday in a 44-34 football conquest of the University of Arizona, including the sports staff of the Tucson Daily Citizen. All 10 Citizen sportswriters predicted a UA victory in the Homecoming game.

The Citizen picks were: Regis McAuiey, 31-14; Jack Rickard, 34-24; Naaman Nickell, 31-14; Steve Weston, 27-15; Dave Kellogg, 28-17; Bill Quimby, 28-0; Bruce Johnston, 20-17; Steve Chandler, 27-21; Allison Hock, 35-21; and Tim O'Mara, 34-12. UTEP Elliott McKinlev Amerson Cobb Baker ASU Williams Lovett Wilson Morlensen Mucker Perrv Sproul UTEP McKinlev ASU Mortensen. Sproul Individual RUSHING tc 22 20 9 3 23 19 '1 8 1 1 2 PASSING c-a yd 1-12 11 net 90 66 29 ASU, 18 292' 15V 4438-13. 7-5' 4-43 8-80' avg. 4.0 3.2' 3.2 3.8 194 99 6 5 3 2 -17 5.0 .60 ..7 3.0 2.0 td 0 7-9 139 1-4 12 PASS RECEIVING UTEP cgt Baker i ASU Jefterson 3 Mucker 3 Williams 2 UTEP 0 0 0 6-- 6 ASU 0 0 17 7 24 How they scored FIRST QUARTER No scoring.

SECOND QUARTER No scoring. THIRD QUARTER ASU 7, UTEP 0: Mortensen 1 run, Kev plavs: Mortensen passes of 21 and 22 to Mucker. 71 yards in 9 plays, 3:46. ASU 14, UTEP 0: Lovott 4 run, Key plav: UTEP punt blocked by who recovers at UTEP 4.4 yards In 1 play, :03. ASU 17, UTEP 0: Kush 38 FG, 3:43.

Key plays: Mortensen to Mucker pass tor 16, Mortensen scrambles for 17 yards. 73 yards In 8 plays, 3:43. FOURTH QUARTER ASU 17, UTEP 3: Alvarez 46 FG, 14110. Key play: ASU fumble ASU 26-yard line. 27 yards In 4 plays, :50.

ASU 17, UTEP 4: Alvarez 45 FG, 10:56. Kcv plav: ASU fumble ASU 32.32 yards in 5 Plays, 1:47. ASU J4, UTEP 6: T. Peterson 48 Interception.