It’s Early October and Buckeyes Are Blackeyes

The Colleges Since football is such a game of momentum, the Bottom Ten selectors felt it important to study all the action in October, pour the statistics into a computer and attempt to determine important trends.

October, it turns out, has been a particularly disastrous month for the Ohio State Blackeyes, who have failed to win in that period and given up an average of 31 points per game. Talk about a weak kicking game: When a ball was snapped over Blackeye punter Jeff Bohlman’s head Saturday, he attempted to soccer-kick it out of the end zone but came up short and Illinois fell on it for a touchdown.

Meanwhile, No. 3 Louisiana State has been saddled with the weakest offense in the nation, having failed to score a single touchdown in October.

Then there’s Lamar University, which may make Mr. Blackwell’s list after showing up to play Arizona State in Tempe without its football pants. The team had to borrow more than 50 pairs from the Sun Devils and then lost, 13-24. Not bad considering there was no time to consult a tailor.

THE OCTOBER RANKINGS

Team, Record Last Loss Next Loss 1. Ohio St. (0-1) 12-31, Illinois Indiana 2. Pitt (0-1) 31-34, Bost. Col. Notre Dame 3. LSU (0-1) 6-19, Florida Auburn 4. Wash. (0-1) 17-24, UCLA Arizona State 5. Arizona (0-1) 15-38, USC Idle 6. Lamar* (0-1) Pants Jerseys? 7. Maryland (0-1) 9-20, Syracuse Georgia Tech 8. Minnehaha (0-1) 10-14, Purdue Northwestern 9. Ga. Tech (0-1) 6-14, N.C. St. Maryland 10. Stanford (0-1) 14-42, Not. Dame San Jose State

11. Tennessee (0-1); 12. Iowa State (0-1); 13. (Tie) Iowa (0-0-1) and Michigan State (0-0-1); 15. Auburn’s schedule (played four winless opponents in last four week); 16. Wisconsin (0-1) ; 17.-18. Washington & Lee (0-1); 19. Your selection here; 20. The Miamis (Fla., Ohio, North Dakota) (1-1).

*Lamar who?

ROUT OF THE WEEK: Oregon State (3-2) over UCLA (4-0) (A shaken UCLA Coach Terry Donahue: “I would say that this is the best Oregon State team that I can remember. It is vastly superior to the one which beat us in 1978.”)

CRUMMY GAME OF THE WEEK: Georgia Tech (1-3) vs. Maryland (2-2).

QUOTEBOOK: ABC scoreboard host Al Trautwig, on the Indiana Hoosiers: “We look forward to seeing them on ABC (Saturday).” (Speak for yourself, Al.)

LEAVE THE BAD JOKES TO THE BOTTOM TEN: The Associated Press poll this week ranks Southwestern Louisiana as the 35th best team in the nation, and Ball State, No. 36.

The Pros The dust was thick in the gravel pits of Irwindale as the Jay Schroeder era came to an end in a 4-interception, 21-45 loss to Cincinnati. In fact, club officials privately denied that his name rhymes with “Raider.”

And things weren’t any better down the freeway where Tempe’s Al Del Greco shocked the Los Angeles Lambs with two field goals in a 41-27 Cardinal victory. The Lambs rushed no one on either attempt, figuring that Del Greco would attempt an end run as he did on a recent Monday night game.

Somewhat in the spirit of Del Greco’s fabled dash, Buffalo’s Ronnie Harmon tried an end sweep against Chicago Sunday and lost 24 yards. Harmon finished the game with minus 24 yards gained and, if given, additional playing time, could conceivably reach the magic minus-1,000-yard rushing plateau by the end of the year.

Due to a rare alignment of the planets, Tampa entered last Sunday’s game as a favorite for the fifth time in four years. Of course, Tampa was playing Green. Tampa, whose only two wins are over Green, voiced delight over the creation of its new division, which will enable the Bays to play each other 16 times next year.

THE OCTOBER RANKINGS BAY/LAKE DIVISION

Team, Record Last Loss Next Loss 1. Green (0-1) 24-27, Tampa New England 2. Minnesota (0-1) 7-24, Miami (Fla.) Tampa 3. Tampa (1-0) Def. Green, 27-24 Minnesota

LAND DIVISION

Team, Record Last Loss Next Loss 1. Irwindale (0-1) 21-45, Cincinnati Miami (Fla.) 2. L.A. Lambs (0-1) 27-41, Phoenix Atlantis 3. Washington (0-1) 23-24, N.J. Giants Dallas 4. Dallas (0-1) 17-20, New Orl. Washington 5. Pitt (0-1) 9-23, Cleveland Phoenix

6. Dickersons (0-1); 7. Detroit (0-1); 8. Atlantis (0-1); 9. San Diego (0-1); 10. Buffalo (0-1).

CRUMMY GAME OF THE WEEK: Washington (2-3) at Dallas (2-3). (The big question: Can the Cowboys surpass the crowd of 39,702 they drew against Atlantis?)

SPECIAL CITATION: In the midst of the NFL’s efforts to end its drug problem, Cowboy President Louisiana Schramm announced that he might be interested in signing defrocked Olympic sprinter Ben Johnson.