Fort Worth Star-Telegram from Fort Worth, Texas • 49

fW I -t TT7 -vTWv r' toftb Sunday StQf-TelegfQm section NOVEMBER 16 1980 ii mi r'f Baylor accepts Cotton Bowl bid ByGALYN WILKINS Star-Telegram Writer BIRMINGHAM Ala It was a 1980s version of a grim desperately fought Civil War battle The Southern boys from Alabama were counting bodies the Northern boys from Notre Dame clinging to the slender thread of a lead and trying to get out of the shadowless dark mists alive It was supposed to be fun and it was But it also was a marvelously contested mini-war over a 100-yard piece of hallowed ground called Legion Field The winning eyes were glazed and he kept saying is what college' football is all about This was a great battle This men was a real Notre Dame not only got out alive but with the best defense the best freshman quarterback a Sugar Bowl invitation and a 7-0 victory Alabama got out just before running completely out of backs but with a Cotton Bowl date against Baylor on New The game boiled down to three Notre Dame attacks on the Alabama goal line attacks which brought a frenzied crowd of 78873 to its feet Alabama fended off two of them one on a fumble recovery another on a blocked field goal But on the other one which followed an Alabama fumble at the four-yard-line the Irish punched across a second-quarter touchdown The rest of the heavy responsibility was placed on the broad shoulders of the defense The Notre Dame defenders who permitted a touchdown in 20 quarters were equal to the job equal and more Alabama came within sight of the goal only three times missing a 37-yard field goal in the third quarter and failing on two fourth-and-short runs at the Notre Dame 35 and 37 in the fourth quarter Alabama have picked a bigger week to be running around on Please see Irish on Page 9 How Top 20 teams fared 1 GEORGIA but Auburn 31-21 2 SOUTHERN CAL kutto Washington 20-10 3 FLORIDA STATE did not play 4 NEBRASKA beat Iowa St 350 5 ALABAMA lost to Notre Dame 7-0 I NOTRE DAME beat Alabama 7-0 -7 OHIO STATE beat Iowa 41-7 0 PITTSBURGH beat Army 45-7 PENN STATE beat Terrvle 50-7 10 OKLAHOMA beat Missouri 17-7 11 MICHIGAN beat Purdue 244 12 BAYLOR beat Rice 144 13 BRIGHAM YOUNG beat Colorado St 45-14 14 SOUTH CAROLINA beat Wake Forest 39-31 15 NORTH CAROLINA beat Virginia 24-3 14 PURDUE lost to Michigan 244 17 UCLA played Arizona St In night game II SMU lost to Texas Tech 144 19 MISS STATE beat LSU 55-31 20 FLORIDA beat Kentucky 17-15 with Besides the Baylor-Alabama clash in Dallas on Jan 1 the other top bowls will have Georgia and Notre Dame at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on New Day Florida State may face a rematch with Nebraska in the Orange Bowl depending on next Husker-Sooner battle and Washington an upset winner over Southern Cal is smelling rosesandisawaitingfor its Jan 1 foe to emerge from the Michi-gan-Ohio State fray also next weekend But of them all Baylor thinks in Star-Tel(ram Newsservices Baylor has half a claim on the Cotton Bowl the Mustangs are packing their suntan lotion for San Diego New Eve date awaits in Houston and the Cougars will get acquainted with the pungent aroma of the New Jersey Meadowlands So please check the category for the above" in answering which Southwest Conference teams received and Quickly accepted bowl bids Saturday The SWC foursome had plenty of company with the numerous invitees not being the least bit coy in accepting to UTs Bobby Johnson while ThatTCU played without its two best defensive linemen Garland Short and Charlie Champine and that quarterback Donnie Little had his second-best day (334 yards total offense) in an Orange uniform made the score more unbelievable But this fact as cold and hard as Fort wind was proclamation of another TCU loss: The Frogs accumulated -43 on the ground Parity has not yet arrived in the Southwest Conference No matter what Rice chooses to be- SWC standings All the tallest cotton linebacker Mike Singletary summed it up in the Baylor locker room after a 166 decision over Rice saying I was being recruited people said Baylor win like to see some of those people Perhaps buying Cotton Bowl tickets only other expense-paid trip to Dallas in January was in 1974 when the lost to a powerful Penn State squad 41-20 The opponent is a team well-acquainted with bowls and na-Please see Four on page 15 Bears get by Owls for crown Rice makes champs earn 16-6 triumph By PAT TRULY Stir-Telegram Writer HOUSTON You just knew when Walter Abercrombie dashed 79 yards on the first play from scrimmage here Saturday that something good was going to happen to the Baylor Bears Sure Less than three hours later there was Jim Ray Smith (all-South west Conference for Baylor in 1955) decked out in a green coat and a green tie left over from 1974 explaining in the Bears' lockerroom that it is customary to invite the SWC champion to the Cotton Bowl you accept the host he asked Before Baylor coach Grant Teaff could even nod the players roared and started a cheer of we going? COTTON "Who do you want to Teaff was asked and the players responded not scared to play An hour or so later Alabama became the visiting team So for the first time since 1974 and only the second time in history Baylor is officially irrevocably sweetly (if the players can be believed) in the Cotton Bowl The final drop of title honey for the Bears was 16-6 win over Rice not an easy victory but a definite one built on rock-ribbed defense that silenced the Owls in the second half and a churn-it-out running attack led by Abercrombie's 168 yards quarterback Jay Jeffrey's 94 yards and 93 by Dennis Gentry is not a miracle football team like we had in Teaff said is a good football team We have risen to the occasion each time it has been asked of us and sure we ill next week against Texas "Going to the Cotton Bowl started off as a dream for us then it became a goal and then finally a reality We were determined to get it today Rice played well and made usearn every bit of did some things on said Baylor quarterback Jeffrey we get many long plays But sometimes you just have to get it 5 or 6 yards at a shot I just know this is the biggest moment of my Jeffrey too was asked about remaining regular-season game against Texas next week he said going to enjoy this one for a while first" Wide receiver Robert Holt just sat and grinned "This means a whole lot to us Even when we were going to play Arkansas last week the media seem to think we would go to the Cotton Bowl They were figuring out ways somebody else could win it Now everybody has to say going We showed What the Bears showed Saturday was a speedy and rugged defensethat simply shut Rice down the final 30 minutes Rice never let Baylor be comfortable though The Bears jumped in front 74) with only 20 seconds gone after Abercrombie's long run to the Owl 1-yard line But the Owls charged back ith a 58-yard drive to a Kenneth Sam field goal cutting the margin to 7-3 Early in the second quarter Baylor drove to the Rice 25 and Robert Bledsoe kicked a 43-yard field goal for a 10-3 Please see Bears on Page 15 TV sports SUNDAY FOOTBALL I St Louis Cordkwls vs Dalits Cowboys Channel 4 3 Houston Oilers vs Chicago Boars Channel 4 Bowl calendar Cotton Thursday Jan I At Dallas ALABAMA (8-2) vs BAYLOR (9-1) Sugar Thursday Jan 1 At New Orleans GEORGIA (10-0) vs NOTRE DAME (8-0-1) Rose Thursday Jan 1 At Pasadena Calif WASHINGTON (8-2) vs MICIIIGAN(8-2)orOHIOSTATE(9-l) Orange Thursday Janl At Miami FLORIDA STATE (9-1) vs OKLAHOMA (7-2) or NEBRASKA (9-1) Independence Saturday Dec 13 At Shreveport La Teams to be determined Garden State Sun Dec 14 At East Rutherford NJ NAVY (7-3) vs HOUSTON (5-4) Holiday Friday Dec 19 At San Diego SOUTHERN METHODIST (7-3) vs BRIGHAM YOUNG (9-1) or UTAH Tangerine Saturday Dec 20 At Orlando Fla MARYLAND (7-3) vs FLORIDA (7-2) Fiesta Friday Dec 26 At Tempe Ariz PENN STATE (9-1) vs MICHIGAN-OHIO STATE LOSER Hall of Fame Sat Dec 27 At Birmingham Ala TULANE (7-3) vs Team to be determined Liberty Saturday Dec 27 At Memphis Tenn PURDUE (7-3) vs MISSOURI (7-3) Sun Saturday Dec 27 At El Paso MISSISSIPPI STATE (8-2) vs OKLAHOMA-NEBRASKA LOSER Gator Monday Dec 29 At Jacksonville Fla PITTSBURGH (9-1) vs SOUTH CAROLINA (8-2) Bluebonnet Wednesday Dec 31 At Houston NORTH CAROLINA (9-1) vs TEXAS (7-2) Peach Friday Jan 2 At Atlanta VIRGINIA TECH (8-3) vs Team to be determined TCU's Stanley Washington Longhorns demolish Frogs By JIM LAISE Star-Telegram Writer Texas helped elect a Republican president but little else has changed in the state the last four years It is the second week of November the weather is turning the plains are dusted with snow gunshots crackle in the country air And the Longhorns have whipped TCU and have been invited to a bowl Texas (4-2 7-2) earned a 51-26 victory Saturday And with it a chance at North Carolina in the New Eve Str-TtegrmLA PRICE scoring a third-quarter TD 51-26 lieve When TCU and Texas meet injuries being equal nothing else will be That TCU was successful in stopping strength its inside running game but still lost by a big bulge is indicative how far apart these programs are Without its best backs Texas chose to run around the Frog flanks and pass over them Little had a hand in half of the eight Texas scores He completed 16 of 22 passes including 12 in a row or 215 yards and a TD He rushed 16 times Please see Little on Page 16 Jones spurs Mean Green to 26-1 8 win By JIM REEVES Star-Telegram Writer DENTON Northeast Lousiana Indians had the wind in their faces fire in their eyes and an early 74) lead over North Texas State on a bitter Saturday night at Fouts Field And then along came Jones Malcolm Jones that is The diminutive senior from Dallas Carter wiped out North individual one-game rushing record with a whopping 249 yards on 29 carries and scored three touchdowns sparking the Mean Green to a 26-18 Homecoming victory over Northeast Lousiana fancy footwork he had 169 yards rushing in the first half helped the Eagles to a 23-7 halftime lead and they survived a second-half passing Please see Jones on Page 6 Bowl-bound SMU fallstoTech 14-0 gives the shirt off his back Bluebonnet Bowl TCU (1-6 1-9) finds itself in the usual late-November quan-dry playing the Aggies and hoping to sal vage a fourth consecutive two-victo-ry season The Horns entered this game without three key backfield members passing quarterback Rick Mclvor star tailback Jam Jones and backup Rodney Tate The 20569 found that hard to believe Because even without that trio UT went on a 579-yard total offense rampage Stephan still smiled broadly into the camera lights in the SMU locker room and told the press how pleased he was to have the Mustangs But he any happier than the Tech players were to upset 18th-ranked SMU The Raiders were coming off a numbing 24-17 loss at TCU in which the Frogs overcame a 174) deficit in the fourth quarter Just one week before that Tech had been riding high with a 24-20 win over Texas here at Jones Stadium The Raiders were smarting from the TCU loss a setback that knocked them out of the bowl picture And the only thing that would heal the wound was a win over SMU think we wanted to win a little worse than they said quarterback Ron Reeves whose 12 of 20 passes for yards gave him the school career passing record with 2950 yards "We GAMES Baylor 16 Riee 6 Texas 51 TCU 26 Texas Tech 14 SMU 0 Arkansas 27 Texas 24 By JIM CARLEY Star-Telegram Writer LUBBOCK Holiday Bowl officials must have been in shock It was bad enough for these San Diegoans to have come all the way to West Texas to find snow But then Texas Tech made things even more upsetting for them The word was already out that the Holday Bowl the third-year post-season game in San Diego had promised SMU a bid to its Dec 19 game And sure enough all kinds of bright beaming officials with Holiday Bowl imprinted on their sport coats and shirts were here But Tech spoiled the party by pinning a 144) defeat on the Ponies the first SMU shutout since Texas turned the trick in 1976 The bowl in viution was still issued to the Mustangs who fell to 7-3 overall and 4-3 in the Southwest Conference And selection committe chairman Ed were coming of a big win and a big loss and we just wanted to show people we had some SMU quarterback Lance Mcllhenny who suffered his first loss as a starter for the Ponies agreed with assessment ready to play Please see Texas Tech on Page 7.