Missouri vs. Kansas St.: Other I-70 Showdown : THE COLLEGES

The World Series came not a Jack Clark home run too soon for the University of Missouri. All of a sudden, the state mercifully forgot about the Tigers (0-6).

So did Nebraska, which edged Missouri just 28-20, dropping the Tigers to No. 2. A Missouri win over Nebraska would be something so improbable as to defy the imagination--the equivalent of, say, an Oregon State victory over Washington. Never happen.

The Tigers’ anonymity ends Saturday, however, when they take center orchestra pit against bottom-ranked Kansas State (0-6) in the Other I-70 Showdown. It’s the first match between Nos. 1 and 2 in the Bottom Ten since 1983 when UCLA (then 0-3-1) met Stanford (then 0-4).

Stanford, however, is still around, having been whomped 6-30 by USC Saturday. It was sweet revenge for fans in Los Angeles. They got a split for the week against Cardinal teams.

The Rankings:

Team, Record Last Week Next Loss 1. Kansas St (0-6) 7-38, Kansas Missouri 2. Missouri (0-6) 20-28, Nebraska Kansas State 3. UTEP (0-6) Idle BYU 4. Columbia (0-5) 12-28, Yale Bucknell 5. Tulane (0-7) 27-31, Miss State Idle 6. San Jose St (1-6) 0-41, Arizona Pacific 7. Tulsa (2-5) 14-76, Florida St* W. Texas State 8. Stanford (1-5) 6-30, USC Arizona 9. Hawaii (1-4-1) 15-24, Pacific New Mexico 10. Wash.(4-3) 20-21, OrgnSt** Hiding

11. Nebraska (5-1); 12. Houston (1-5); 13. N.C. State (1-6); 14. Wyoming (1-5); 15. New Mexico (1-5); 16. Utah State (2-5); 17. Michigan State (2-4); 18. Washington State (2-5); 19. Pentagon (at sea) (2-4); 20. Pentagon (South Bend, Ind., ground campaign) (0-1).

*Not a typographical error.

**Meager Beavers were 38-point underdogs.

ROUT OF THE WEEK: BYU (6-1) at University of Texas at El Knocked-Down-at-the-Line-of-Scrimmage Paso (0-6).

CRUMMY GAME OF THE WEEK: Kansas State (0-6) at Missouri (0-6) (aired nationwide on 7-Eleven outlet surveillance TV screens).

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Rice Coach Al Conover invited 110 local Roman Catholic priests to root against visiting Notre Dame, but the Irish still won, 28-0.

COMEDY TIME: On the Sunday night news, KGMB-TV in Honolulu ran a clip from “The Three Stooges” in place of excerpts from Hawaii’s 15-24 loss to Pacific.

FIRST, COFFIN CORNER KICKS; NOW . . .: Customers who purchase two burial plots at a Montgomery, Ala., cemetery will also receive two tickets to Alabama’s game against Southern Mississippi next month. The tickets are transferrable in event buyers aren’t able to attend game.

THE PROS

It was Stunning Sunday, beginning with the prediction of Larry King on NBC’s NFL ’85 show that polka-dot ties would come back into style, perhaps as early as next week. (Fashion sources denied it.)

Then there were the upset victories by Atlanta (1-6) and Buffalo (1-6), meaning that only expansion-club emeritus Tampa Bay (0-7) has eluded the agony of victory this season.

The Bills’ 21-9 romp over Indianapolis was doubly impressive. The Dolts had crunched Buffalo, 49-17, two weeks earlier and, in fact, balked at first at giving the bogus Bills a rematch.

The Rankings:

Team, Record Last Week Next Loss 1. Tampa Bay (0-7) 38-41, Miami New England 2. San Fr’isco (3-4) 21-23, Detroit Anaheim 3. Cincinnati (2-5) 27-44, Houston Pitt 4. Indianapolis (2-5) 9-21, Buffalo Green Bay 5. Washington (3-4) 3-17, N.J. Giants Cleveland

6. Atlanta (1-6); 7. Houston (2-5); 8. Green Bay (3-4); 9. Buffalo (1-6); 10. Kansas City (football or baseball team).

ROUT OF THE WEEK: Anaheim (7-0) over San Francisco (3-4) (by a score of 3-0).

SIGNBOOK: A Browns fan held up a sign Sunday that said: “L.A. Raiders--Another Reason to Hate California.” (Oakland feels the same way.)