Sapulpa Daily Herald from Sapulpa, Oklahoma • 9

PACK NINE SPOR TS Sapulpa Daily Herald Thursday, December 27 1984 CROWN VIDEO YOUR HOME ENTERTAINMENT SPECIALISTS OVER 2000 MOVIES TO CHOOSE FROM 224-6843 TSSZ CHOOSE FROM 224-6843 The Bob Harmon Pro Forecast Huskie no longer an OU fan MIAMI AP Tim Meamber says he stopped rooting for Oklahoma right after they beat Oklahoma State on Nov 24 And just in time, too, since Meamber is the second leading tackier and calls defensive signals for the fourth-ranked Washington Huskies, who meet No 2 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl Tuesday night Meamber's Oklahoma ties were inherited from his father, Jon, who played a little football for the Sooners under Bud Wilkinson He doesn talk about it much, Meamber said He just played one year and then I came along My mother died when I was 9 mon ths old and he had to drop out of school He was 18 years old and he had me Meamber has grown into a solid 6-foot-3, 221-pounder, a three year starter at inside linebacker, the physical and emotional leader of the Huskies defense ranked No 9 nationally and third in scoring defense and one of Washington four captains Besides his 133 tackles during the regular season, he had four interceptions, six pass deflections and three fumble recoveries Meamber said his father doesn talk about it a whole lot, but 1 grew up knowing he played there He's my inspiration, that why I'm an inside linebacker As a high school freshman in Yreka, Calif I weighed 110 pounds and played cornerback and wingback After that, I became an inside linebacker Meamber's father, a contractor and manufacturer of restaurant equipment, was due to arrive in Miami on Thursday and old school ties will tie forgotten I never really asked him a whole lot about it, Meamber said But 1 can remember going hun ting with him and his buddies and they be talking about it Even though this is not one of Oklahoma awesome offensive machines, Meamber is aware that obviously, we ll have to stop the option We've never seen the triple option belore Once we establish that, the other things will come along Record holder is quiet By Murray Olderman SAN DIEGO NEA A funny thing happened to Charlie Joiner on the way to becoming the moat prolific pass receiver in the history of professional football Only when he caught the 650th pass of his career for an NFL record this season did some people realize there was a No 10 operating on the flank of the San Diego Charger offense I mean, Charlie Joiner has been mired in obscurity He has been as well kept a secret as the private life of Carl Lewis Joiner will some day slip into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, and they ll ask for his ID at the entrance Then they ll look at the record and find that he played more years as a pro 16 so far than any receiver in the history of the game He is 37 Only one receiver, former tight end Jackie Smith of the St Louis Cardinals and Dallas Cowboys was older at age 39 Only one man, Don Maynard of the New York Jets, gained more yards on pass receptions 11,834 And there is good reason to believe that Charlie will play long enough to eclipse both of them He is closing in on 11,000 yards Joiner NFL debut with Houston in 1969 preceded personal computers and videocassette recorders When he came along, Michael Jackson was still a sub-teenager, one of the Jackson 5 Joe Namath wasn't yet pushing pantyhose The lack of recognition for Charlie Joiner is amazing when you analyze the figures He has started every game for the Chargers in the last nine seasons except one late in '78 He has averaged almost 17 yards per reception for his career That better than the averages compiled by Kellen Winslow, John Jefferson and Wes Chandler, the receivers in whose shadows he has operated during his San Diego tenure Charlie is still playing with the same efficiency he did a decade ago He runs precise routes He doesn drop the ball He is always there where they need him on third down He never gets hurt Charlie is the most intelligent and perceptive receiver the game has ever seen, says 49er Coach Bill Walsh, who was the offensive coordinator at Cincinnati during the veteran receiver four years with the Bengals Yet Joiner has never taken his job for granted He doesn even concede that he fits into the San Diego scheme for next season You have to see how the coaches PRIZE CATCH Or it 6 iroP are thinking, he says laconically, if they even want you around That why I don make plans beyond this year Charlie applies himself to the job as no one else He doesn talk to the media after Wednesday during game week it might disturb his concentration On game day, he is the first player at the stadium, arriving hours early He rides there with the equipment manager on the road, they take a taxi Joiner gets his back muscles stretched by assistant trainer Marc Howard, no one else then he relaxes He doesn allow anyone to clean the helmet or the shoes he wore the previous week He still uses an old style suspension helmet It has only been changed once, after he got it cracked on a cold day in Cincinnati three years ago He is not a big man In fact, he is rather slight for pro football at 5 foot 11 and 180 pounds He can still run 40 yards in 4 7 seconds, which means he has retained most of the speed of his youth while combining it with experience enough to avoid hard hits Asked to explain his longevity, Joiner says, Tve just been lucky And I try to keep aware of where every defender is, especially the linebackers Back in 1978, when he had a knee problem, Joiner thought of retiring But he went on to have the most productive year of his career in 79, catching a personal high of 72 passes In 1980, Joiner made All-Pro In '83, he was voted the most valuable player on the Chargers by his teammates Didn the Houston Oilers, you might wonder, realize what they had back in 1969 when they drafted Joiner Texas is suddenly Long gone Final Regular Season Average 148 Right, 75 Wrong, 1 Tie 664 NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE PLAY-OFFS Saturday and Sunday, December 29 and 30 AMERICAN CONFERENCE If Seattle wins wild card 'DENVER 17 PITTSBURGH 13 'MIAMI 30 SEATTLE 28 NATIONAL CONFERENCE If New York wins wild-card SAN FRANCISCO 27 NEW YORK 14 'WASHINGTON 23 CHICAGO 20 Bob Harmon Goes Out On A Limb With These Predictions SUNDAY, JANUARY 6 American Conference Championship MIAMI 21 DENVER 20 ANAHEIM, Calif AP Iowa quarterback Chuck Long still doesn't know if he wants to be a professional football player next year, but if he asked the Texas Longhorns, they probably tell him to do it That way, they be sure they never have to face him again In what may or may not have been his final game as a collegian, Long enjoyed his Christmas feast one day late, carving up the Texas secon dary for 461 yards and six touchdown passes in leading the llawkeyes to a 55-17 rout Wednesday night in the first Freedom Bowl He was everything we saw in the films, a stunned Texas Coach Fred Akers said He was as perfect as I ve ever seen a quarterback be Long wasn't quite perfect, hut he was close The 6-loot-4, 202 pounder misfired on his first four passes, but bounced back to complete 29 ol 39 at tempts in a driving rain, including 11 straight at the end of the first hall and beginning of the second The yardage, touchdowns and completions were school records, along with his 481 yards in total offense The six TD passes are believ ed to he the most ever thrown in any bowl game For a wet ball and throwing against a man-to-man where you have to throw perfect strikes, he was fantastic, Iowa Coach Hayden Fry said Long, a two-time Aii-Big Ten Conference pick who finished seventh in the Heisman Trophy voting this year, has to make a decision about his future because he could either return to Iowa next fall for another season or declare himself eligible for the NFL and USFL drafts This was a good game to end the year on, but I still want to sit down and think about my decision, said Long Long was at his best in the third quarter, when he engineered a 31- point explosion that turned the game into a laugher after Iowa led only 2417 at halftime He completed 12 of 14 passes lor 241 yards in the quarter Fullback Fred Bush scored a first half touchdown for Iowa on a 1-yard run and Tom Nichol added field goals of 27 and 35 yards as the llawkeyes 8-4 1 ran up the highest point total ever against Texas in modern times The most points a Texas team ever allowed came in a 68-0 loss to the University of Chicago in 1904 Hogs, Tigers try to rebound MEMPHIS, Tenn AP Both Arkansas and Auburn view their meeting in the 26th Annual Liberty Bowl tonight as a way to redeem disappointing losses at the end of the regular season Arkansas dropped out of contention lor the Southwestern Con lerence championship by losing its last game to SMU 31-28, while Auburn 17-15 loss to Alabama kept the Southeastern Conference Tigers out ol the Sugar Bowl Arkansas, 7-3-1 under first-year coach Ken Hatfield, didn't figure in the bowl picture at the start of the season and that may give the Razor hacks, who are 3-point underdogs, extra incentive as they face an 8-4 Auburn team that was a preseason No 1 choice It always feels good to get to go to a bowl game, Arkansas quarter back Brad Taylor said Wednesday It is a great opportunity for us to play a team like Auburn They com pare to SMU and Houston in our league They are big and physical It will take one of our best offensive games to move the ball While the Kazorbacks will be smaller man lor man against the Tigers, Hatfield hopes his Flexbonc offense which splits receivers and running backs out of an option set will continue to be effective Using the diverse Flexbonc, the Kazorbacks were able to run more offensive plays than any team in the SWC while having their defense de lend against less plays than any other team in the league Our offense may go 1 yard on the first play and 2 yards on the second, but on the third play we may go 90 yards, said Taylor, who is Arkansas' all-time passing and total offense leader The Kazorbacks' hope to control the ball with their Flexbone und keep Aurburn running back Bo Jackson on the bench Jackson, who missed several games with a shoulder injury is almost 100 percent for tonight's 7 30 CST start at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, according to Tiger coach Fat Dye I don't think there is any dll lerence in Bo from a year ago, Dye said The only thing that might set him back is his conditioning Arkansas may have some people feeling sorry for them because ol their size, but they are strong physically, they have excellent linebackers and the best secondary we have seen all season I think our size is inmaterial and that their quickness has to be a plus for them, Dye said I certainly don think we are a better football team than Arkansas and I don think we ve beaten anyone as good as Arkansas And they are better than some of the teams that have beaten us, Dye said The Liberty Bowl gives us the chance to play another game and end on a winning note, Dye said Wrestlers better the competition iu pa Wrestling Founda tly sent wrestlers to the Elemenatary Wrestling nt and many of the par- laced with the 10 years old learn finishing in a tie for first with Glenpool Under eight placers were Jett Bales, first at 40 pounds Drew Will- ingham first at 55 pounds Blue Perez, second at 58 pounds Steven Long, second at 64 pounds an Frank Kelley, fourth at 64 pounds Under 10 winners included Drew Willingham, second at 55 pounds Ryan Houser, second at 58 pounds Jesse Keigley, first at 58 pounds, Ben Wald, first at 61 pounds Tony Brown, first at 64 pounds Jeff Thomas, second at 67 pounds and William Bales, fourth at 85 pounds 12 and under participants featured Tony Brown, second at 64 pounds Ben Wald, third at 64 pounds Glen Mattison, second at 85 pounds Tsangani Record, fourth at 100 pounds and Tony Bonino, first at 115 pounds In the junior high division BUly Hunter finished second at 118 pounds National Conference Championship SAN FRANCISCO 30 WASHINGTON 24 WE'VE EOT YOU COVERED See All The Action Get All The Scores green ON ESPN AND CNN CCABLEy 3 3 1 0 ERR Sunday, January 20 SUPER BOWL XIX SAN FRANCISCO 28 MIAMI 24 The Liberty Bowl gome between Arkansas and Auburn should be as close as the two comparative scores both took almost identical defeats Irom Texas while the Razorbocks tied Mississippi The Tigers, however beat Ol Miss by four South Carolines loss to Navy probably prevented the Gamecocks from winning the notional championship but meeting Oklahomo State in the Getor Bawl will be no small challenge Defense could win it for the Cowboys No common opponents tor Aloha Bowl teams, No 10 SMU No 16 Notre Dame Irish won last four gomes in 7-4 season, the Mustangs finished 9 2 in tie lor first in the Southwest Conference The Irish and Gerry Foust just might come through There another gome this one the Moll of Fame Bowl where a broken fingernail could make us change our pick Wisconsin, unranked vs Kentucky, No 19 the Wildcots winning three of their tinol four Peach Bowl perpetrolors ore two conterence runners-up, Virgmio in the ACC Purdue in the Big Ten, ond schedule toughness might hove been given more consideration in picking this one West Virginia won 7 ol their opening 8 games then folded in the tinal three while TCU continued to surprise all season The Bluebonnet Bowl could hold another surprise 0th ranked Doug Flutie whoops Boston College will try his passing ortistry vs Houston in the Cotton Bowl A difficult challenge for Houston Last year notionol champion, Miomi, No 15, ond No 18 UCLA, are featured in the Fiesta Bowl, the Hurricones losing tour games in tough schedule Big difference Miami 365 points vs UCLA's 255 The Big Ten hos won just twice in 15 years in the Bose Bowl where 5th ranked Ohio State meets No 20 Southern Col In the post, the safe pick has been the Poc IO team, but not this year Nebraska's 359 point offense vt LSU 305 point total could make for offensive show in the Safer Bawl, but instead they moy shut each other down The Tigers gave up 100 more points than the Cornhutkers The Orange Bowl pulls more ronk than any of the 18 bowls as Oklahoma No 2, tries to hold its lofty position vs No 6 Washington 10-1 on the season It possible that the Husky defense just might outscore the Sooner offense Home I earn.