COLLEGE FOOTBALL REPORT / WEEKDAY UPDATE : UCLA : Alert Play Could Have Backfired

UCLA kicker Brad Daluiso’s extra point try was blocked in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s 32-31 victory over Stanford after quarterback Tommy Maddox, the holder, fumbled the snap. Maddox alertly picked up the ball and passed to tight end Rick Daly for a two-point conversion and a 29-28 lead.

However, if a Cardinal player had retrieved the ball and carried it to the other end zone, Stanford would have scored two points under a rule that was enacted last year.

Asked if he thought of that possibility at the time, UCLA Coach Terry Donahue said: “I knew about the rule, but it wasn’t on my mind at the time. I’m not going to talk about what was on my mind.”

USC First Start Nothing to Sneeze At As the high school football player of the year in Arizona two years ago, Mike Salmon was hampered by bronchitis and pollen allergies, although he said it is not true, as is written in the USC media guide, that he carried an inhaler in his sock during games.

But on the eve of his first start for the Trojans Saturday against Penn State, it was the freshman cornerback’s stomach that troubled him most. He couldn’t keep food down.

“Probably nerves,” said Bobby April, who coaches the Trojans’ secondary.

A converted split end who was moved to safety last spring, Salmon was moved again to cornerback about a week before the season, when doctors advised sophomore DeChon Burns to quit the team because of a congenital spinal defect.

Bothered by his allergies only rarely since his move to California, Salmon said he prefers free safety to cornerback. “I feel more comfortable there,” he said, “but whatever it takes to get on the field . . . “

Washington Coach Don James called on Husky fans to yell themselves hoarse Saturday when Washington plays fifth-ranked USC at Husky Stadium. “We need their help,” James told reporters in Seattle. “I say that because I was looking at the tape (Sunday) night and (USC) had a real critical goal-line stand (against Penn State) and the scoreboard in the Coliseum said, ‘More Noise.’ They were calling for it.

“It wouldn’t bother me if Todd Marinovich didn’t hear a cadence all day long.”

Marinovich, on his sprained left wrist: “It feels like somebody pounded on it last night with a bat.”

AROUND THE NATION Colorado Drops to 20th in Poll Notre Dame remained No. 1 in the Associated Press poll Monday after its season-opening victory over Michigan, while Colorado dropped out of the top 10 after losing to Illinois.

Colorado fell from ninth to 20th--its lowest ranking since last year’s preseason poll--after losing, 23-22. Illinois rose six spots to No. 15.

The Fighting Irish, who rallied to beat the Wolverines, 28-24, Saturday night, received 44 first-place votes and 1,480 points from a nationwide panel of sportswriters and broadcasters.

Florida State got 10 first-place votes and moved past Auburn into second after beating Georgia Southern, 48-6. Auburn, which beat Mississippi, 24-10, received four first-place votes.

Brigham Young rose one spot to No. 4 after overcoming a 22-point halftime deficit to beat Washington State, 50-36. Also moving up a notch were USC, to No. 5, and Tennessee, to No. 6. (USC dropped from No. 4 to No. 5 in the United Press International poll of coaches.)

Michigan fell from No. 4 to No. 7. Nebraska, which had the week off, remained No. 8, ahead of No. 9 Miami and No. 10 Virginia.