The ‘Last-Play’ Watch for USC-Notre Dame Is Being Continued

THE COLLEGES

Bleary-eyed Bottom Ten selectors, banned from attending NCAA (as well as SPCA) events, were still tuned to CBS early today, waiting to see the last play of the Notre Dame-USC game. Operating in shifts, the selectors alternately napped on mattresses and kept an eye on the giant-screen (12-inch) television set at Bottom Ten Central in Waco, Tex.

USC is leading, 37-35, and unless Notre Dame (4-6) can find some way to score, the Irish will move ahead of Texas of El Austin (5-6) into the No. 2 position. The selectors were heartened by one report that the last play may be run off at the beginning of Saturday’s Army-Navy game.

Woeful Columbia (0-1986) had already clinched the Bottom Ten championship and will have its name engraved on the plastic Perpetual Bottom Ten trophy, temporarily on display in Art’s Pawn Shop in East Hollywood, Calif.

Elsewhere, Arizona (0-1) won the Bottom Ten title (Far East Division) by falling to Stanford, 24-29, at Tokyo in the Coca-Cola Bowl (the new Coke, not the classic variety). Stanford band members were prohibited from indulging in their usual pregame Tokyo breakfast of sake and doughnuts.

The Rankings:

Team, Record Last Loss Next Loss 1. Columbia (0-10) Idle Idle 2. Texas (5-6) 3-16, Texas A&M; Hiring 3. Nicklaus ($0) Skins Game Driving range 4. Houston (1-10) 13-14, Rice Idle 5. Arizona (0-1)* 24-29, Stanford N. Carolina 6. (Tie) CBS Last Play Stay Tuned 7. USC (?) ** Auburn 8. Notre Dame (?) ** Idle 9. Cal (2-9) Idle Hiring 10. Bosworth (0-1) Outland Heisman

11. Duke (4-7); 12. Illinois (4-7); 13. The other USC (South Carolina) (3-6-2); 14. Alabumble (0 for Sugar Bowl); 15. Princeton (2-8); 16. Purdon’t (3-8); 17. BYU (7-4, and what a killer schedule); 18. Write-in (your chance to nail your least favorite team with a Bottom Ten rating); 19. Georgia Tech (5-5-1); 20. Pentagon (Army, Navy, Air Force, VMI) (14-23).

*Record in Japan.

**CBS broke for a commercial; be right back.

NOT THE CRUMMY GAME OF THE YEAR: Army (5-5) vs. Navy (3-7) (due to unprecedented criticism last year, this traditional has been dropped as Crummy Game of the Year).

THE PROS

Indianapolis (0-13) maintained its lead in the Publishers Clearinghouse Vinny Testaverde Sweepstakes, but the Dolts’ remarkable string of losses was overshadowed by the continuing violence problem in the NFL.

After vicious shots on the field by Charles Martin (Green Bay) and Otis Wilson (Chicago), Cincinnati Coach Sam Wyche tried to wrestle a microphone away from a Denver radio reporter. Later, Wyche explained that it was all a misunderstanding--he just wants to break into the radio business badly.

The Packers’ Martin, out on appeal, did not show up for the Detroit game wearing a towel bearing the numbers of his opponent’s offensive stars, as he did against Chicago. But, then, No. 10 Detroit has no offensive stars.

Hardly better off are the lowly New Jersey Jets (losers of two straight) and Dallas Cowboys (four setbacks in five games). A wave of panic has subsided in Baltimore, where every street leading into the city was blockaded late Sunday night as the result of rumors that the Dolts were sneaking out of Indianapolis and coming back.

The Rankings:

Team, Record Last Loss Next Loss 1. Dallas (7-6) 14-31, Seattle Rams 2. Indy 344* 3-17, San Diego Atlanta 3. Bay (Tampa) (2-11) 13-45, Minnesota Chicago 4. C. Martin 2 Games Idle 5. N.J. Jets (10-3) 3-17, Rams San Fr’isco

6. Houston (3-10); 7. Bay (Green) (3-10); 8. Miami (Fla.) (6-7); 9. St. Louis (3-10); 10. Detroit (5-8).

*Sunday’s loss came 344 days after last victory.

CRUMMY GAME OF THE WEEK: Miami (Fla.) (6-7) at New Orleans (6-7).

FREEWAY SERIES CHAMPION: Philadelphia’s Buddy Ryan, owner of wins over both the Rams and the Lost Raiders.

IT COULD HAPPEN TO ANYONE: “He lost control and the vehicle was propelled into the air a little bit. He was talking and didn’t realize it until he hit a stump,” said Foxboro (Mass.) Sgt. William Graham, explaining how Patriot wide receiver Irving Fryar crashed into a tree while talking on his car telephone to his wife.