College Football : At BYU, Democrat Led Early but Fell Behind

Kickers having a reputation as flakes anyway, BYU Coach Lavell Edwards was especially concerned about the state of mind of one of his kickers for the Cougars’ game Nov. 12 against Air Force.

Jason Chaffetz, bucking the odds in the Republican stronghold of Utah, is state co-chairman for the Michael Dukakis campaign, and the game against Air Force at Colorado Springs, Colo., is the Cougars’ first after the Nov. 8 election.

Chaffetz’s half-brother is Dukakis’ adopted son, John, who is Kitty Dukakis’ son by a previous marriage to John Chaffetz. John Chaffetz is the natural father of both Jason Chaffetz and John Dukakis.

“So now our team is more involved politically than it has been in a number of years,” Edwards said. “There’s not a whole lot of Democrats around (Provo).”

Perhaps preoccupied by his campaign duties, Chaffetz missed field-goal attempts of 47 and 35 yards in BYU’s season-opening 24-14 loss at Wyoming Sept. 1 and lost his starting position to freshman Earl Kaufman.

The junior from Winter Park, Colo., is trying to win his job back, though, with an eye on the game at Air Force.

“I’d like nothing better than to have the commander-in-chief be on the other side,” he said.

One step up: Coach Dick Anderson of Rutgers, on the Scarlet Knights’ 17-13 upset victory last week over Michigan State, the defending Big Ten and Rose Bowl champion: “For at least one day in New Jersey, we were bigger than Bruce Springsteen.”

Speaking of Michigan State, the Spartans’ stunt 4-3 defense has been adopted by Vanderbilt.

Vanderbilt Coach Watson Brown sent his staff to East Lansing, Mich., last spring to learn the defense from Spartan Coach George Perles. Perles was the architect of the Steel Curtain defenses that helped the Pittsburgh Steelers win four Super Bowls.

“We totally took their package,” Brown said.

Coincidentally, the Commodores play Rutgers Saturday at East Rutherford, N.J.

Said Brown: “You spell the word misery when you go to Michigan State and put their defense in and (then) the team you’re fixing to play goes and beats them. That really makes you feel real good.”

When four banks of lights went out during a game between Troy State of Alabama, the defending National Collegiate Athletic Assn. Division II champion, and visiting Southeast Missouri State, the game eventually had to be moved to a nearby practice field.

However, the radio crew broadcasting the game back to Cape Girardeau, Mo., stayed in the press box and called the game with the aid of binoculars.

After much improvisation--both teams attempted to move the ball the same way because of an embankment just beyond one of the end zones--the game finally ended about 5 1/2 hours after it started, with Troy State winning, 26-13.

“Coaches are always saying that games are won on the practice field,” Tom Ensey, the Troy State sports information director, told Sports Illustrated. “Well, this is one game that really was.”

Nebraska quarterback Steve Taylor, on comparisons between him and Oklahoma’s Jamelle Holieway, told Don Heinrich’s College Football magazine: “I don’t think there’s any comparison. I’m bigger, faster, quicker and throw better.

“I hope it doesn’t come out wrong, but that’s how I feel deep down inside. You’ve got to believe in yourself, and I do.”

Said Notre Dame kicker Reggie Ho, a native of Kaneohe, Hawaii, who kicked four field goals last week in a 19-17 Irish victory over Michigan, including the game-winner with 1:13 left: “Winter (here) is horrible. But it doesn’t bother me that much. I spend most of my time in the library.”

Ho carries a 3.77 grade-point average as a premed student.

Riding the airwaves: For the 21st consecutive season, the Mutual Broadcasting System is carrying all Notre Dame games. The Irish can be heard on about 300 radio stations nationwide.

John Cooper made his debut as coach at Ohio State last Saturday, when the Buckeyes beat Syracuse, 26-9, but already the former Arizona State coach has criticized the Buckeye faithful.

“The fans have got to get behind the team,” Cooper said. “Don’t just sit there and cross your arms and say, ‘OK, Coach, show us what you’re going to do.’

“I thought a place like this, with 90,000 people, that everybody would be up on their feet for kickoffs. I thought the place would be roaring and making noise.

“The thing that disappointed me more than anything else is that the crowd needs to learn that when a team isn’t playing good is when you need support.

“You don’t need support when you make the great plays. But when the other team gets a drive going, or your defense is letting down a little or things aren’t going well for you offensively, that’s when you need help.”

Coach Don Nehlen of West Virginia, whose team defeated Cal State Fullerton, 45-10, last week, after beating Bowling Green in its opener, 62-14, apparently didn’t think much of those teams.

“Now the scrimmages are over and the wars begin,” Nehlen told reporters this week.