South Roundup : TCU’s Jeffrey Rushes for 343 Yards in 48-31 Victory Over Tulane

TCU running back Tony Jeffery didn’t want his record-setting afternoon to end Saturday.

“Can we spend the night?” Jeffery asked Coach Jim Wacker after leading the Horned Frogs to a 48-31 victory over Tulane at New Orleans.

Jeffery rushed for 343 yards, best ever for a Southwest Conference back, and scored 5 touchdowns, turning in the best rushing performance in major college football this season.

He was only 14 yards shy of the NCAA record of 357 yards in a game, set by Rueben Mayes of Washington State in 1984.

“Truthfully, I was dreaming about having a good game last night, once I finally got to sleep,” Jeffery said.

It was a return to form for Jeffery, who was voted the Southwest Conference offensive newcomer of the year after his freshman season in 1984. Last season, during the troubled times after revelations of NCAA violations by TCU, he fell off to what was, by his standards, a mediocre season.

Jeffery’s touchdown runs were for 11 yards in the second quarter, 38 yards, 32 yards and 81 yards in the third quarter and 67 yards in the fourth quarter. He carried 16 times and averaged 21.4 yards a carry.

The previous Southwest Conference yardage record was 342 yards by Texas’ Roosevelt Leakes against SMU in 1972. The old TCU rushing record was 247 yards by Bobby Davis in 1970. The school record for touchdowns in a game was three, tied by Kenneth Davis in 1984.

The best single-game rushing effort this year was turned in by Tony Citizen of McNeese State, who had 304 yards in 30 carries against Prairie View last weekend.

TCU is 1-0. Tulane is 0-1.

Pittsburgh 14, N. Carolina St. 14--At Raleigh, N.C., Erik Kramer hit Haywood Jeffires for a touchdown and a two-point conversion, and Mike Cofer kicked two late field goals as the Wolfpack mounted a second-half comeback.

Craig Heyward and Charles Gladman rushed for one touchdown each as the Panthers (0-1-1) took a 14-0 lead at halftime.

Kramer hit Frank Harris on a 31-yard pass play to bring N.C. State to the Pitt 20 in the third quarter. The Wolfpack (1-0-1) battled to the five, but a Kramer pass was batted down, and N.C. State settled for Cofer’s 24-yard field goal with 9:47 left.

Late in the final period, Kramer found Nasrallah Worthen on a 28-yard pass play, ran 21 yards for another gain and passed to Jeffires for a 7-yard touchdown. Kramer tossed to Worthen for the two-point conversion to pull N.C. State within 14-11.

N.C. State held Pitt in the final minutes, and punter John Rasp bobbled the snap to give the Wolfpack possession on the Panther 15. The Wolfpack, saddled with a 15-yard penalty for offensive pass interference, again went to Cofer, who hit a 49-yard field goal to make it 14-14 with 55 seconds left. It was his ninth straight field goal, including the end of last season, an N.C. State record.

Virginia Tech 20, Clemson 14--Chris Kinzer kicked two field goals, and Erik Chapman threw for 242 yards and 1 touchdown as the Hokies upset the Tigers at Clemson, S.C.

Kinzer hit field goals of 38 and 31 yards, the second one coming with 14:12 left as Virginia Tech (1-1) beat Clemson for the first time since 1954.

The Hokies lost to the Tigers last year on a field goal with no time remaining.

The loss was Clemson’s first against a Division I school from Virginia in 35 straight games. The Hokies last beat the Tigers, 18-7, on Oct. 2, 1954.

Georgia Tech 17, Furman 17--At Atlanta, Furman freshman Mike Wood kicked a 28-yard field goal with 29 seconds remaining to earn the Division I-AA Paladins a tie with the Division I-A Yellow Jackets.

“We are very disappointed we didn’t win the game,” said Coach Jimmy Satterfield, a long-time assistant who took over at Furman this season.

Georgia Tech Coach Bill Curry said: “This is a painful lesson for our team.”

The tie left Georgia Tech with an 0-0-1 record. Furman is 1-0-1.

S. Carolina 45, W. Carolina 24--Wingback Sterling Sharpe caught touchdown passes of 5 yards from Todd Ellis and 15 yards from Kevin White and scored a third touchdown on a 5-yard run at Columbia, S.C.

Anthony Smith added a career-high 145 yards rushing to help the Gamecocks (1-2). Western Carolina is 0-2.

Arkansas St. 30, Memphis St. 10--Quarterback Mark Robbins ran for 142 yards and 2 touchdowns as Arkansas State (3-0) routed Memphis State (0-2) at Memphis, Tenn.

Wake Forest 31, Boston U. 0--Mike Elkins threw 2 touchdown passes, and tailback Darryl McGill rushed for 2 scores in the fourth quarter as Wake Forest improved its record to 2-0 in a game at Winston-Salem, N.C. Boston is 0-2.

William & Mary 37, VMI 22--Quarterback Ken Lambiotte passed for 4 touchdowns, including 3 to Michael Clemons, and completed 23 of 39 attempts for 279 yards in a victory at Williamsburg, Va.

Clemons, who rushed 24 times for 79 yards and caught 7 passes for 55 yards, also scored on a 1-yard run as the Indians improved to 2-0, while the Keydets fell to 0-1.