Notes on a Scorecard - Sept. 24, 1990

Now aren’t you glad that the Raiders decided to stay? Without them, Los Angeles wouldn’t have an unbeaten football team, college or pro. . . .

It would make no sense for the Raiders to deal a high draft choice to New Orleans for quarterback Bobby Hebert. Jay Schroeder is doing OK. Besides, Hebert is a finesse kind of passer who probably wouldn’t fit in a long-ball offense. . . .

Of course, it’s defense that is mostly responsible for the Raiders being 3-0. Shades of the 11 Angry Men of 1967. The only touchdown they’ve allowed in three games this season was John L. Williams’ two-yard run in the third quarter in Seattle. . . .

I hope Pittsburghers aren’t abstaining until the Steeler offense scores a touchdown for new offensive coordinator Joe Walton. . . .

At 11:20 a.m. Sunday, a couple of hundred people dressed in silver and black chanted “Raiders, Raiders,” as Al Davis emerged from a limousine outside the Coliseum press box. . . .

The crowd of 50,657 wasn’t all that terrific for the first home game since Davis announced that the Raiders were staying in L.A., but ticket brokers are asking big numbers for the clash of unbeatens between the Raiders and Chicago Bears Sunday at the Coliseum. . . . Schroeder made so few mistakes that he didn’t get booed until midway in the third quarter when he overthrew Tim Brown. . . .

The Raiders have to find a way to get Brown more involved in the offense.

Maybe that loud Anaheim Stadium crowd threw the Rams off their normal game. . . .

Think Philadelphia quarterback Randall Cunningham, the former Santa Barbara High star, was psyched up about his return to Southern California? . . .

So much for the possibility that the San Francisco 49ers would help the injury-plagued Rams by getting off to a slow start. . . .

I don’t think the Denver Broncos are going to have to worry about being slaughtered in the Super Bowl again this season. . . .

Bill Parcells will never hear the end of it if Lawrence Taylor’s hamstring injury turns out to be serious. He was hurt on the final play of the game after being re-inserted with the New York Giants winning over Miami, 20-3. . . .

The last thing you expect from a Larry Smith-coached team is for it to lose its composure, but that’s what USC did Saturday in Seattle. . . .

Among the most telling statistics were the 13 penalties for 111 yards handed the Trojans. . . .

And whatever happened to USC’s rushing game? Washington leads the nation in rush defense, but the Trojans couldn’t open holes for Ricky Ervins against Syracuse or Penn State, either. . . .

Charge Washington Coach Don James with inciting a crowd. Early in the week, he said it wouldn’t bother him a bit if Todd Marinovich’s signals couldn’t be heard all day Saturday. . . .

It was so hot in Husky Stadium that fans were installed behind the Washington bench to cool off the players. . . .

The Huskies, who were on a crusade against USC, can’t be expected to play near-perfect football again this season. However, the Pac-10 schedule is kind to them. They play Oregon, California, Arizona

and UCLA at home and Arizona State, Stanford and Washington State on the road.

New Michigan Coach Gary Moeller has one thing Bo Schembechler lacked--an imagination. . . .

That was a funny game in Ann Arbor. Michigan dominated early, closed fast, and prevailed, 38-15, but you believe UCLA Coach Terry Donahue when he says he kept thinking that the Bruins were going to win the game. . . .

More imaginative play-calling on those occasions when the Bruins got deep into Wolverine territory would have helped. . . .

Luck of the Irish? You must have plenty of skill and poise, too, to win as many close, come-from-behind games as Notre Dame does. . . .

Only an injury would keep BYU quarterback Ty Detmer from winning the Heisman Trophy. . . .

If Howard Griffith hadn’t scored eight touchdowns, Southern Illinois might have beaten Illinois. . . .

Only NCAA 1-A team in the Southland to win Saturday was George Allen’s Cal State Long Beach 49ers. . . .

Longshot Home At Last’s victory in the Louisiana Super Derby confirmed the suspicion that this year’s 3-year-old crop is weak. . . .

What a terrific sports town Toronto is. All those years of Maple Leaf hockey sellouts and now the Blue Jays break the baseball attendance record. . . .

Don Mattingly sure looks different without his mustache. . . .

The San Diego Padres rarely have been kind to the Dodgers. They usually give them fits in head-to-head competition. And when the Dodgers needed help from San Diego over the weekend against Cincinnati, they got none. . . .

But, really, who can complain about the kind of season the Dodgers have had without Orel Hershiser?