THE PACIFIC 10 : ROUNDUP : Illinois Mistakes Costly as Arizona Pulls Upset, 28-16

Arizona converted Illinois turnovers into two early touchdowns, and Art Greathouse’s one-yard run ended a late comeback bid as the Wildcats beat the 11th-ranked Illini, 28-16, Saturday night at Tucson.

Michael Bates scored Arizona’s first touchdown on a three-yard run two plays after Wildcat cornerback Todd Burden blocked Forry Wells’ punt and Bobby Roland recovered at the Illini 11.

Illinois’ next possession ended when Wildcat safety Richard Holt intercepted Jason Verduzco’s pass at the Illini 43. Mario Hampton went the last yard for a touchdown to cap an 11-play drive.

Doug Higgins kicked the first of his three field goals, a 37-yarder, to get Illinois on the board, but a 24-yard “fumblerooskie” run by guard Rick Warren padded the Arizona advantage to 21-3.

Verduzco, a sophomore making his first college start in place of top NFL draft pick Jeff George, improved after the shaky start.

He threw a 12-yard scoring pass to Elbert Turner to cut Arizona’s lead to 21-10 at the half, then led second-half drives capped by Higgins’ field goals of 29 yards in the third period and 33 in the fourth.

The latter kick reduced the Arizona advantage to 21-16, but the Wildcats then drove 74 yards, using 6:41, to put the game out of reach on Greathouse’s run.

Washington 20, San Jose State 17--For the second time in three seasons, San Jose State gave 20th-ranked Washington all it could handle at Husky Stadium in Seattle.

In 1988, Washington scored a touchdown with 1:31 left to beat San Jose State, 35-31.

“Anyone who schedules San Jose State has made a big mistake,” Husky tailback Greg Lewis said. “We weren’t prepared at all.”

The Washington offense sputtered through much of the game.

Sophomore Mark Brunell, making his debut as the starting quarterback, completed only seven of 27 passes for 66 yards and one touchdown. He had one pass intercepted and was sacked four times.

The score was tied, 10-10, after three quarters. Mike Dodd’s 26-yard field goal and Beno Bryant’s 52-yard punt return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter enabled Washington (1-0) to pull away from the stubborn Spartans.

The Huskies drove 76 yards in 11 plays in 5:38 to position Dodd for his tie-breaking field goal. Lewis, who rushed 23 times for 157 yards, had a 34-yard run during the drive.

After the Spartans (0-1-1) failed to make a first down, Negrey punted 37 yards to Bryant at the Washington 48, and the sophomore from Dorsey High in Los Angeles returned it for a touchdown.

California 28, Wisconsin 12--John Hardy returned an interception 100 yards for a touchdown just before halftime as the Bears won at Madison, Wis.

Hardy, a senior from Muir High in Pasadena, picked off a pass after it was deflected by Cal’s Ray Sanders, and ran down the sidelines, giving the Golden Bears a 21-6 lead with 39 seconds left in the first half.

The return, tying a Cal record set in 1940 by Jim Jurkovich, stopped a Wisconsin drive from its own 20 to the Golden Bears’ eight and capped a 21-point second quarter for California.

Hardy’s long-distance return also made Barry Alvarez a loser in his first game as Wisconsin’s coach. Alvarez was an assistant coach at Notre Dame the past three seasons.

Hardy ended up lying in the end zone after his long run, totally exhausted.

“I was already winded,” Hardy said. “The last 30 yards I thought I was going to get in, so I slowed it up. I didn’t have much left anyway. I wanted to celebrate but I couldn’t.”

Wisconsin quarterback Tony Lowery, playing his first game after sitting out last season, threw the pass intercepted by Hardy.

Wisconsin got its only touchdown with 4:14 left in the third quarter as Kevin Ellison’s one-yard run capped an eight-play, 64-yard drive.

That cut the Cal lead to 21-12, but the Golden Bears came back on a 75-yard drive with Russell White, a sophomore from Crespi High in Van Nuys, scoring from the one with 13:14 to play.

Arizona State 34, Baylor 13--Redshirt freshman tailback George Montgomery had two of Arizona State’s four rushing touchdowns as the Sun Devils rediscovered their ground game at Tempe, Ariz.

Arizona State, which had 1,233 net yards rushing all last season, had 271 against Baylor--158 of it by halftime en route to a 27-7 lead.

Sun Devil quarterback Paul Justin completed 10 of 18 passes for 131 yards but was intercepted three times, one coming in the Baylor end zone late in the first half.

Kansas 38, Oregon State 12--Chip Hilleary threw scoring passes of 28 and 42 yards and ran 11 yards for his first collegiate touchdown as the Jayhawks beat the Beavers at Lawrence, Ka.

Kansas, beaten 59-10 by Virginia last week in its season opener, held the Beavers (0-2) to 39 yards in the first half while taking command of the game. The Jayhawk defense sacked Beaver quarterbacks eight times for 54 yards in losses.

Hilleary, a sophomore, put the Jayhawks on top with an 11-yard run less than five minutes into the game after Roger Robben blocked an Oregon State punt and Kansas took possession on the Beaver 17.

Wyoming 34, Washington State 13--The Cougars, after taking a 6-0 lead, gave up 27 straight points to lose to the Cowboys at Pullman, Wash.

Neither team generated much offense in what had been billed as a passing battle. The loss was the first for WSU in a non-conference game since Colorado defeated the Cougars in 1987, and snapped a two-game winning streak over Wyoming.

The Cowboys improved to 2-0.