The Sacramento Bee from Sacramento, California • 4

J' tfi mv The Sacramento Bee Sunday November 22 1987 mm Showdown turns into cakewalk TOM JACKSON Looking up in Tampa TAMPA Fla Slightly more than halfway through this NFL re-entry season Ray Perkins finds himself where he never thought be squeezed between conflicting emotions That might not sound like a big deal but Perkins is a straight-ahead man who believes in good and evil industry and sloth winners and losers are two kinds of Perkins says who have a fear of failure and guys who have a fear of success a fear-of-failure This uncompromising pragmatist groups the world as fastidiously as he squares the papers on his perpetually ordered desk And he agonizes over the Tampa Bay 4-5 record However as spiritual leader of this ragtag bunch Perkins help feeling encouraged over the resilience no average feat considering heart-wrenching losses to the Bears and Cardinals when they blew big fourth-quarter leads and to the Vikings when they fumbled at the Minnesota 1-yard line in a six-point game Encouragement in the land of frustration? Clearly this could exist only where genuine success has not recently paused this for failure: 1 2 wins in four seasons two coaching changes and a No 1 pick who chose baseball over Tampa (Bo Jackson) If that bad enough Tampa Bay gained a country-club reputation under former coach Leeman Bennett The membership regarded losses as so many used pool towels let pile up somebody else will take care of the mess That somebody became Perkins By SL Price Bee Staff Writer LINCOLN Neb You never heard 76663 people so quiet You never saw words stick in so many throats strangling a crowd a team a state with red-faced embarrassment Nebraska had its fun this week talking trash like the bad boys do and now the Cornhuskers may never speak again Oklahoma 17 Nebraska 7 feelings are hurt and I know where to go from Com-huskers defensive end Broderick Thomas said quietly believe it right now in a state of Hyped as the of the Century contest even qualify as the best of the decade or even the year In a matchup of No 1 Nebraska and the No 2 Sooners Bar- ry Switzer's boys quietly rolled into Lincoln and for the fourth year in a row simply beat Tom Husk- i ers all over the field Ignoring the cocky predictions and the oddsmakers who said Oklahoma win without starting quarterback Jamelle Holieway and fullback Lydell Carr the Sooners moved the ball at will in the stunning upset at Memorial Stadium simplest terms they are a better football team both sides of the ball" Nebraska defensive coordinator Charlie McBride said was one of those old-time rear-end shots It was a butt-kicking That I can remember as good as been handled as far as consistency and just tearing us The fallout? Now it will be Oklahoma (11-0) No 1 all year until being replaced last week by Nebraska jetting to Miami Jan 1 for an Orange Bowl matchup with Miami for the national championship Nebraska (9-1) meanwhile will play Florida State in See SOONERS page D6 play them We play a very good game against them the first time Now got an opportunity after 11 games to come back and play them again really looking forward to First-year USC coach Larry Smith clutching a dozen red roses said that before the season he had written or eight on a piece of paper and stuck it into a desk draw- i er guess we set our goal he said This was supposed to be a rebuilding year for USC and look at us now going to the Rose free safety Mark Carrier said UCLA had entered the game 9-1 and was hoping to finish with the first 8-0 conference record since the Pac-10 was formed in 1978 The Bruins were off to their best start since 1976 when they were 9-0-1 before losing to USC UCLA quarterback Troy Aikman who began the game as the leading passer threw three interceptions The Trojans converted two of those both by Carrier into touchdowns Aikman had only beenj intercepted three times in his previ-g ous 10 games was the same defense nothing See TROJANS page D6 Patrick Collins runs away from Doug Welniak en route to a 65-yard touchdown Associated Press in the third quarter Inside football USC gets roses bids UCLA aloha Muster Stanford win Big over Cal URED FROM the University of Alabama last New i Eve by Bucs owner Hugh Culverhouse Perkins was no cabana boy but a drill sergeant is contagious Sooner or later you get to accept it" he says voice lilts with Southern rearing but it can sting like a cold country morning want anybody who wants a pat on the back when we lose I want them to have some pain I want them to suffer Like I With the announcement of three-a-day training camp practices and personal phone calls by Perkins to unsigned players stressing the importance of their attendance the players quickly understood to leave their 5-iron mentality at home The new guy was tough that was plain enough from his flinty blue eyes to the taut creases in his jaw to the waist as trim as when he was an All-American receiver for Bear Bryant Still there are a lot of tough guys who never amount to much They hang around pool halls get tattoos on their forearms and dare strangers to ask directions granite nose has a purpose In little Petal Miss pick out the fastest guy in elementary school and challenge him to a race then beat him because he was afraid to lose A dozen years later he convinced doctors to clear him for football a little more than a year after surgery to remove an injury-induced blood clot in his brain sense of achievement has been reflected in how hard he could push himself See JACKSON page D7 Earle Bruce leaves a winner as Ohio State nips Michigan Page D4 Notre Dame comes up short loses to Penn State 21-20 Page D5 Syracuse holds off West Virginia 32-31 to complete undefeated season Page D5 A rundown of the matchups for the postseason bowl games Page D6 The Top 20 How the Associated Press Top 20 college teams fared Saturday 1 Nebraska (9-1 lost to Oklahoma 1 7-7 2 Oklahoma (1 1-0) def Nebraska 17-7 3 Miami (9-0) def Toledo 24-14 4 Florida State (9-1) was idle 5 UCLA (9-2) lost to USC 17-13 6 Syracuse (11-0) def West Virginia 32-31 7 Notre Dame (8-2) lost to Penn State 21-20 8 Clemson (9-2) lost to South Carolina 20-7 9 LSU (9-1-1)def Tulane41-36 10 Auburn (8-1-1) was idle 11 Michigan State (8-2-1) def Wisconsin 30-9 12 South Carolina (8-2) del Clemson 20-7 13 Oklahoma St (9-2) def Iowa State 48-27 14 Georgia (7-3) was idle 15 Tennessee (8-2-1) def Kentucky 22-14 16 Texas (8-2) def TCU 42-24 17 Alabama (7-3) was idle 18 Iowa (9-3-0) def Minnesota 34-20 19 Pittsburgh (8-3) def Kent State 28-5 20 Indiana (8-3) def Purdue 35-14 I Coverage page D4-7 By Bob Burns Bee Staff Writer STANFORD Few felt the frustration of football season more acutely than fullback Brad Muster whose Heisman Trophy candidacy unraveled the moment his ankle received its first of many tap-ings in late August Similarly few could experience the depth of satisfaction Saturday afternoon following 31-7 victory over California An estimated Stanford Stadium crowd of 85000 watched the Cardinal record its largest margin of victory over Cal since 1930 After an 0-4 start Stanford won five of its last seven games to finish the season with a 5-6 overall record The Cardinal was 4-4 in Pacific-10 Conference play Cal which concludes its season Saturday against Washington State in Tokyo dropped to 2-3-1 in conference and 3-6-1 overall Muster operating at what he termed efficiency rushed for 87 yards on 22 carries and caught seven passes for 56 yards in his final college game His 15-yard touchdown run on which he left two faked-out defenders sprawled on the turf gave Stanford a 24-7 lead wish we could start the season all over again from Muster By Dan Vierria Bee Staff Writer LOS ANGELES Have you ever met anybody who want to go to Hawaii? Well meet the UCLA Bruins who will be on their way next month courtesy of a scrappy USC team On Saturday the Trojans scored twice in the fourth quarter on touchdown passes by Rodney Peete upsetting the fifth-ranked Bruins 17-13 and securing a Rose Bowl berth against Big Ten champion Michigan State on New Day A Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum sellout crowd of 92516 the largest USC home crowd since 1965 saw the Trojans earn their first Rose Bowl trip since 1984 USC and UCLA tied for the Pac-10 title with conference records of 7-1 but USC goes to the Rose Bowl because of the victory in head-to-head competition So instead of driving up to Pasadena UCLA will go to Honolulu on Christmas Day to play Florida in the Aloha Bowl came awfully close to being conference champs but we lost the wrong Bruins coach Terry Donahue said The Trojans 8-3 opened the season with a 27-13 loss to the Spartans "Michigan State makes it even Peete said wait to said be that way but a great way to go Cal entertained comparable thoughts last week after upsetting Arizona State but that victory was a costly one Sophomore quarterback Troy Taylor broke his right index finger against the Sun Devils and was sorely missed against Stanford Brad Howe a fifth-year senior making his first college start completed 11 of 22 passes for 117 yards against the most generous pass defense He was intercepted twice was one of the best defenses ever Howe said He laughed and added the only one That pretty much summed up the game It would be easy to say Cal lost because it lacked steady guidance but the Bears do anything well Saturday of us did a good job Cal coach Bruce Snyder said should be given credit They were better than us today for An 82-yard touchdown pass from Brian Johnson to Warren Batson gave Stanford a 7-0 lead in the final seconds of the first period Batson a freshman wide receiver caught pass at the 30-yard line See CARDINAL page D6 INSIDE Ferdinand wins by nose Shoemaker gives flawless ride in Cup Kings wilt down stretch Dallas hands Sacramento fifth straight setback and lows with Alysheba all year and for jockey Chris McCarron who served as a television commentator for the 1986 Cup races because of a broken leg been a champion all the time in my Van Berg said of Alysheba they took a poll of all the people In the US he'd be a champion" Alysheba would have needed only one or two more strides to score a victory that would have clinched the horse of the year title But he was foiled by Shoemaker who gave the winner a virtually flawless ride and by the legendary Whittingham who spent months aiming Ferdinand specifically for this race It took a finish this sensational to make the Classic the dramatic high point of the races at Hollywood Park Half an hour earlier Otis Thorpe lost the ball to Derek Harper who made an easy layup and was fouled by Smith resulting in a three-point play Rookie guard Kenny Smith then committed a turnover allowing Harper another easy layup Harper had a game-high 27 points you give up two possessions in a row in that situation it look very said Kenny Smith who led the Kings with a career-high 25 points and 11 assists just not very assistant coach Willis Reed said The Kings were missing two key players guard Reggie Theus and swingman Harold Pressley for the second straight game Theus averaging 25 points has a strained hamstring muscle Pressley has a broken nose Both expect to play Tuesday at Portland Bee News Services INGLEWOOD It was the essence of Hollywood: a star-studded cast of characters great drama and a cliffhanger finish In the long-awaited meeting of the last two Kentucky Derby winners Ferdinand outfought Alysheba in a thrilling stretch run and won the richest race the $3 million Cup Classic by a desperate nose It was the first Cup victory for Charlie Whittingham 74-year-old Hall of Fame trainer It was also the first Cup win for jockey Bill Shoemaker 56 are very good friends" Whittingham said of his relationship with Jack Van Berg the 51-year-old Hall of Fame trainer of Alysheba made it awfully tough But it was another bitter disappointment for Van Berg who has experienced extreme highs uy Kt uraswicn Bee Staff Writer If the Sacramento Kings had a finishing touch be dangerous Instead the Kings are vulnerable and frustrated after losing to the Dallas Mavericks 103-96 Saturday night before a capacity crowd at Kings arena It was the fifth consecutive loss and their fourth straight defeat at home The Kings tied the game twice in the fourth quarter pulling even for the last time with 5:19 left when Derek Smith hit a 19-foot jump shot to make it 89-89 Dallas then scored nine straight points and ran away with the victory "We were in a tight ballgame and we make good Kings coach Bill Russell said Three errors inspired the rally See KINGS pge D13 See CUP pageD3 i i 6.