Southwest Roundup : Greg Thomas’ Passes Help Arkansas Score 34-17 Win Over Tulsa

Tulsa Coach Don Morton said Arkansas quarterback Greg Thomas made some great plays Saturday. Arkansas Coach Ken Hatfield was just as happy about the plays Thomas didn’t make.

“Early in the game, when some things weren’t working, he kept us in the game,” Hatfield said. “Plus, he didn’t force anything in the passing game.”

Thomas, who completed 6 of 8 last week, picked his spots against Tulsa and hit on 8 of 9 passes for 104 yards and 2 touchdowns as the 12th-ranked Razorbacks defeated the Golden Hurricane, 34-17, at Fayetteville, Ark.

Thomas also ran 16 times for 59 yards, including a 30-yard gain that set up the clinching touchdown.

The Razorbacks scored 10 points in the final 2 1/2 minutes of the first half when Donnie Centers made a spectacular catch of a 44-yard touchdown pass from Thomas, and Kendall Trainor kicked a 55-yard field goal.

Thomas’ 11-yard pass to Derrick Thomas gave Arkansas a 24-7 lead early in the third quarter.

Tulsa cut the lead to 24-17 and could have closed it to four had not David Fuess missed a 40-yard field goal try with 12:47 to play.

The victory improved Arkansas to 2-0. Tulsa is 2-2.

Texas A&M; 48, North Texas 28--Ira Valentine, subbing for injured starter Roger Vick, scored two touchdowns in a 34-point first-half explosion to lead the 16th-ranked Aggies to a Southwest Conference victory at College Station, Tex.

Vick suffered a compound dislocated finger on his left hand on his first carry and did not return.

Keith Woodside picked up the rushing slack and finished with 107 yards in 10 carries.

The victory gave Texas A&M; its first victory of the season after a 35-17 season-opening loss to LSU. North Texas State is 1-1.

Aggie quarterback Kevin Murray hit Rod Harris on a 50-yard pass play on the first play of the game to set up Valentine’s 12-yard touchdown run to start the avalanche.

Murray, who sat out most of the second half, finished with 13 completions in 22 attempts for 193 yards and 1 touchdown. He has 359 career completions.

The Aggies finished the game with 458 total offense to North Texas State’s 226 yards.

Texas Christian 35, Kansas St. 22--Quarterback David Rascoe rushed for 135 yards in 20 carries and completed 11 of 18 passes for 136 yards as the Horned Frogs defeated the Wildcats in an intersectional game at Fort Worth, Tex.

Rascoe ran for 25 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter before tossing a shuffle pass to Tony Jeffery that the running back turned into a 30-yard scoring play early in the second period. Rascoe also scored on a 3-yard run in the third quarter.

The sophomore quarterback also set a TCU record for consecutive completed passes when he hit on his first nine attempts.

Jeffery, who set a Southwest Conference record with 343 yards rushing against Tulane last weekend, also scored on a 6-yard run early in the third quarter. His score was set up by Bobby Davis’s 72-yard run on the first play from scrimmage in the second half.

Texas Tech 14, New Mexico 7--Billy Joe Tolliver completed 20 of 45 passes for 213 yards at Lubbock, Tex., as the Red Raiders rebounded from a 61-11 shellacking by Miami last week to raise their record to 2-1.

The Red Raiders moved ahead 14-0 on their first drive of the second half. On the fifth play of the 64-yard drive, Tolliver found Walker in the flat and Walker bolted 15 yards to complete the 30-yard scoring play with 11 minutes to go in the third quarter.

The Raiders opened the scoring on the last drive of the first half on a 3-yard run by Ervin Farris.

New Mexico, which had crossed into Texas Tech territory only twice in the first three quarters, scored its lone touchdown on a 99-yard drive in the final quarter after Texas Tech had downed a punt at the one.

Billy Rucker completed five straight passes in the eight-play drive, including a 25-yarder to Terance Mathis for the touchdown, to make the score 14-7.

New Mexico fell to 0-3, looking little like the team that lost only 31-30 to Brigham Young last week.