PACIFIC 10 ROUNDUP : Cal Gives Miami a Battle for a While, but Loses

Craig Erickson completed 32 of 47 passes for 467 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Miami Hurricanes to a 52-24 victory over California Saturday at Berkeley.

Miami (1-1), coming off a 28-21 loss to BYU, lost four fumbles to Cal, had a field-goal attempt blocked and allowed Cal’s Russell White to return a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown.

In spite of the miscues, Miami piled up 599 yards on offense and set a team record for passing yards.

Still, Cal was within a touchdown, 31-24, with less than a quarter to play.

Cal quarterback Mike Pawlawski, who completed 28 of 43 passes for 245 yards and a touchdown, said of Miami: “There are better teams that don’t talk as much, and they’re awful dancers (after touchdowns). They talk a lot tougher than they are.”

Wesley Carroll, Randy Bethel, Randal Hill and Leonard Conley each caught touchdown passes for the Hurricanes.

Miami still needed a fourth-quarter defensive stand and a muffed snap on a California punt before finally putting away the Golden Bears (1-1).

Miami, leading 31-21, forced Cal to settle for Robbie Keene’s 25-yard field goal with 12:58 left in the game after the Golden Bears had first and goal at the three.

Cal’s next possession ended with Keene dropping the snap on a punt attempt at the Bears’ one. Steve McGuire scored on the next play to give Miami a 38-24 lead. The Hurricanes added Conley’s touchdown reception and Darryl Spencer’s 38-yard run after a fumble recovery.

In the first half, Erickson completed 13 consecutive passes and was 23 of 32 for 370 yards. He drove the Hurricanes to touchdowns after each of California’s first-half scores.

Craig Erickson racked up the second-highest total for passing yards in a game by a Miami quarterback, outdistanced only by Gino Torretta’s 468 yards against San Jose State last year. Erickson’s halftime total would have ranked seventh on the same list.

Oregon 55, Idaho 23--This victory at Eugene, Ore., might have been the costliest blowout in Oregon football history.

The Ducks lost star receiver Tony Hargain and starting fullback Brandon Jumper for the season.

Hargain, Oregon’s big-play threat who caught 10 passes for 206 yards in the Ducks’ season-opening victory over San Diego State, suffered a fractured left kneecap in the first quarter in what Coach Rich Brooks called “one of the freakiest things I’ve ever seen.”

The Oregon senior leaped into the air trying to snag a pass from Bill Musgrave, then tumbled to the turf on his back. There was no contact on the play.

“He wasn’t hit. He didn’t land on it. He just jumped and tore it apart,” Brooks said.

Hargain is expected to undergo surgery today.

Jumper’s injury was especially upsetting to Brooks. The big fullback had run out of bounds at the end of a 43-yard gain when he was pushed from behind by Idaho’s Kris McCall. Jumper tried to avoid a training table and tore ligaments in his right knee. He said he probably would undergo surgery next week.

McCall was called for a personal foul and ejected from the game because of the play.

Backup fullback Juan Shedrick also missed much of the contest with an ankle injury and is questionable for next weekend’s game.

Oregon (2-0) rushed for 398 yards, just five short of the school record. Tailbacks Ngalu Kelemeni and Sean Burwell led the way with 149 and 126 yards, respectively. It was the Ducks’ highest-scoring game since 1973.

Nevada Las Vegas 45, Oregon State 20--This could be a long season for the Beavers, who are 0-3. Oregon State led, 14-12, at halftime, but fumbled the ball away on its first six possessions in the second half, and the Rebels turned five of the miscues into scores.

The Beavers previously lost to Montana, 22-15, and Kansas, 38-12.

For UNLV, the victory at Corvallis, Ore., was the first under its new coach, Jim Strong. The Rebels had lost to Southwestern Missouri State, 31-24, and Houston, 37-9.

Kennan McCardell caught three touchdown passes and Marvin Eastman ran for a pair of scores to lead the Rebels, who won on the road for the first time since 1988.

No. 20 Arizona 25, New Mexico 10--The Lobos weren’t pushovers for the Wildcats at Albuquerque, leading, 7-5, at halftime and trailing only 12-10 late in the third quarter.

Arizona quarterback Ronald Veal broke open the game with two one-yard scoring runs.

Arizona improved to 2-0; New Mexico fell to 1-2.

New Mexico led at halftime on an 18-yard scoring pass from Jeremy Leach to freshman Carl Winston, but the Lobos managed only a 27-yard field goal by David Margolis in the second half.

Leach, who had thrown 157 passes without an interception, was picked off three times, and he was sacked four times.

The Wildcats, who got a safety in the second quarter when Mike Parker tackled New Mexico halfback Andre Wooten in the end zone, drove 44 yards and 21 yards for Veal’s two touchdowns. The second Veal touchdown was set up by a Reggie Johnson’s recovery of a Leach fumble.

No. 25 Arizona State 31, Colorado State 20--Paul Justin threw for 274 yards and two touchdowns and safety Nathan LaDuke returned an interception 92 yards for another score as the Sun Devils (2-0) won at Tempe, Ariz.

The Sun Devils are 19-1 in the 40-year-old series against the Rams, including a 15-0 record in Tempe. Colorado State (2-1) hasn’t beaten Arizona State since a 25-14 victory achieved during a blizzard at Ft. Collins in 1977.

The Rams, trailing 15-7 at halftime, trailed only 21-14 after Tony Alford’s two-yard touchdown run with 2:53 remaining in the third quarter.