BIG TEN ROUNDUP : Verduzco Leads Illini Over Colorado

Sophomore quarterback Jason Verduzco completed 23 of 29 passes for 222 yards and led No. 21 Illinois to a 23-22 victory over No. 9 Colorado Saturday at Champaign, Ill.

Verduzco completed five of five passes during the closing drive to set up the game-winning touchdown, a one-yard dive by Howard Griffith with 1:18 to play.

Illinois Coach John Mackovic said Verduzco’s performance in the final drive was “as good as you can get.”

Illinois battled back from a 17-3 deficit to tie the score late in the third quarter, but Colorado regained the lead with a safety just before the quarter ended.

Then Jim Harper put the Buffaloes up, 22-17, with a 26-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter.

After Griffith’s one-yard scoring plunge, Verduzco missed his two-point conversion pass to Elbert Turner.

Illinois evened its record at 1-1, while Colorado fell to 1-1-1.

“We feel absolutely elated about the game--it had so many twists and turns,” Mackovic said. “I thought it would be an exciting game, but little did I really know what might happen.”

Colorado Coach Bill McCartney said: “Our defense played well enough to win, we just didn’t have enough offense. We didn’t get it done.”

Illinois tied the score, 17-17, when Shawn Max made a fingertip catch of a four-yard pass from Verduzco in the end zone.

Colorado took a 19-17 lead when Greg Biekert tackled Griffith in the end zone two plays after Colorado kicker Tom Rouen punted 65 yards to the Illini one.

Minnesota 20, Iowa State 16--Quarterback Scott Schaffner, benched last week, replaced injured Marquel Fleetwood and threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Grant with 2:12 to play to give the Gophers a nonconference victory at Minneapolis.

Minnesota (1-1) rallied from 13-0 and 16-13 deficits to avert its first 0-2 start since 1972.

For Iowa State (1-1), tailback Blaise Bryant, a junior college transfer from Golden West College in Huntington Beach, and quarterback Chris Pedersen were injured.

Bryant, the fourth-leading rusher in NCAA Division I last year with 1,516 yards, suffered a deep bruise in his right shoulder and had to leave in the second quarter with 69 yards. Pedersen sustained possible ligament damage to his right knee during the Cyclones’ final drive.

Iowa State, from the Big Eight, is 0-19-1 against the Gophers since last winning in 1898. Coach Jim Walden is 0-10 against Big Ten schools.

Schaffner, Minnesota’s starting quarterback the last two seasons and the first game of 1990, was replaced by Fleetwood with the Gophers trailing, 19-0, last week. Fleetwood almost pulled out the victory before Minnesota lost, 35-29, to Utah on a 91-yard return of a blocked field goal as time expired.

On the Gophers’ winning drive Saturday, Fleetwood completed six of seven passes for 53 yards--including a 27-yarder to John Lewis on fourth and five--and ran twice for six yards. But after he suffered leg cramps, Schaffner entered, rolled right, and hit the wide-open Grant.

Still, the Cyclones almost won. On fourth and six from Minnesota’s 28 with 23 seconds left, Derek Fisher tackled Chris Spencer two feet short of the first down after Spencer had caught a pass from Bob Utter.

Indiana 45, Kentucky 24--Rob Turner scored on a 64-yard punt return, Vaughn Dunbar ran for two touchdowns and Steve Goodrich went 27 yards for another score in a 28-point onslaught in the fourth quarter that carried the Hoosiers to a season-opening nonconference victory at Lexington, Ky.

Indiana, which scored the first 17 points of the game before letting Kentucky get even, went up 24-17 on Dunbar’s 11-yard run with 11:55 remaining in the game. Trent Green passed 10 yards to Scott McGowan at the Kentucky 11 on fourth and three to keep the drive alive.

Kentucky (1-2) punted on its next possession. Turner took the ball on his own 36, broke three tackles and ran down the right side for the touchdown to give Indiana a 31-17 lead with 10:20 to go.

Dunbar added a one-yard run at 6:10 and Steve Goodrich went 27 yards off left tackle at 1:48 to complete Indiana’s decisive fourth-quarter offensive explosion.

Indiana went up 17-0 midway through the second quarter on Scott Bonnell’s 24-yard field goal, Green’s 53-yard pass to Eddie Thomas and Green’s eight-yard run.

Kentucky rallied to trail, 17-7, on Freddie Maggard’s 11-yard pass to John Bolden with 3:45 remaining in the half.

Doug Pelfrey kicked a 25-yard field goal and Al Baker scored on a one-yard dive over the middle as Kentucky pulled even at 17-17 with 2:55 left in the third quarter.

Maggard added a 41-yard touchdown pass to Bolden with 12 seconds left in the game to complete the scoring.

Duke 27, Northwestern 24--The Wildcats lost their 13th consecutive game as Dave Brown’s nine-yard touchdown pass to Marc Mays with 38 seconds remaining gave the Blue Devils a nonconference victory at Evanston, Ill.

It was the 15th opening-day loss by Northwestern and the sixth straight dealt to the Wildcats by the Blue Devils, who improved their record to 1-1 after losing to South Carolina, 21-10, two weeks ago.

The winning touchdown capped an 80-yard drive after Northwestern had taken a 24-20 lead on a 24-yard touchdown run by Eric Dixon. Brown, who did not start, completed seven passes in the winning drive.

Brown, who replaced starting quarterback Billy Ray in the second quarter, completed 23 of 33 passes for 278 yards and two touchdowns.

Northwestern quarterback Len Williams, a sophomore making his first collegiate appearance, completed 23 of 31 passes for for 231 yards.

Iowa 63, Cincinnati 10--Quarterback Matt Rodgers scored three touchdowns on runs as the Hawkeyes downed the error-prone and outmanned Bearcats in a nonconference game at Iowa City.

The Hawkeyes scored four second-quarter touchdowns, two of them the result of Cincinnati turnovers, and three more in the third quarter as they handed the Bearcats their third loss in as many games.

Wisconsin 24, Ball State 7--Tailback Robert Williams rushed for 114 yards in 10 carries and scored two second-quarter touchdowns to lead the Badgers to a nonconference victory at Madison, Wis.

Williams scored on his first carry, a 23-yard run with 13:15 left in the second quarter. He scored again from one yard out nine minutes later, giving the Badgers (1-1) a 14-0 lead over the Cardinals of the Mid-American Conference.