Care to Comment Coach?

Leading 34-14 with five seconds left last Saturday, Iowa State called a timeout and then kicked a field goal to beat Missouri, 37-14.

Pouring it on? Exactly. That’s the way Iowa State Coach Jim Criner intended it.

Of Missouri Coach Woody Widenhofer, Criner said: “Woody has got a million excuses and we just wanted to make sure there was no doubt about who won the football game,” Criner said. “Last year we supposedly spied on him. He runs off at the mouth a little too much. We called time out and we went out there to score the field goal. Woody shouldn’t run off at the mouth so much.”

Said Widenhofer, hinting that Criner’s job is in jeopardy: “They’ve had a lot of problems over there. Maybe he figured if he scored enough points they will keep him. Well, I hope I’m around to play these people again.”

Don’t bet on it. Widenhofer’s career record is now 3-16.

Wait a Minute: Said Buffalo Bills Coach Hank Bullough, defending rookie quarterback Jim Kelly, “If you go back you’ll recall there’s been only one quarterback in pro football who really came in and did much his first year and that was Dan Marino.”

Sammy Baugh, in his first year out of TCU, led the Washington Redskins to the NFL title in 1937.

Trivia Time: Besides Sammy Baugh, what quarterback led his team to an NFL title as a rookie? (Answer below.)

Stanford wasn’t kind to Washington State Saturday, and neither was Steve Wilstein of the Associated Press. Here’s his lead on Stanford’s 42-12 win:

“STANFORD, Calif. ()--Stanford fullback Brad Muster left his big footprints all over the Washington State players on Saturday, compiling 277 yards rushing and receiving and sending the Cougars home whimpering.”

Ouch.

For What It’s Worth: When Ram quarterback Steve Dils was with Minnesota, he was the quarterback when the Vikings won 23-14 over the Chicago Bears in 1983 at Soldier Field. The Vikings did most of their damage on the ground, getting touchdown runs of 56 yards by Darrin Nelson and 52 yards by Tony Galbreath.

Dils completed 14 of 29 passes for 180 yards with 1 interception. Chicago quarterback Jim McMahon was replaced by Vince Evans after completing 4 of 11 passes for 35 yards with 2 interceptions.

Jeff Ruland of the Philadelphia 76ers, on teammate Julius Erving, who announced he’s retiring after the season: “I used to sneak into the Nassau Coliseum to see him play when he was with the New York Nets. People talk about Larry Bird and Michael Jordan but they could never duplicate the things he did. I think he could play until he’s 50.”

Trivia Answer: Bob Waterfield. He quarterbacked the Cleveland Rams to a 15-14 win over the Washington Redskins for the NFL title in 1945.

Quotebook

Robert Parish of the Boston Celtics, after facing Moses Malone, now of the Washington Bullets: “It was the same old Moses, jumping in on everybody, huffing and puffing.”