COLLEGE FOOTBALL ROUNDUP : Fumbling, Bumbling Arizona Holds On

Freshman reserve Kevin Schmidtke was trying to set up a game-winning field goal Thursday night in Atlanta.

Instead, he scored on a six-yard run--his sixth consecutive carry for the final 26 yards--with 29 seconds remaining as No. 7 Arizona overcame three lost fumbles and penalties to edge Georgia Tech, 19-14, in their season openers.

“I was thinking in my mind I wanted to score, but I was just trying to get close enough in the middle of the field for a field goal,” Schmidtke said.

While the Wildcat offense was sputtering, the “Desert Swarm” defense came up with four sacks and a blocked field goal to hold off the Yellow Jackets.

Schmidtke had 92 yards in 17 carries and Ontiwaun Carter had 151 yards in 30 attempts.

“When you win in that environment, I think you’ve really helped your team because we made a lot of mistakes,” Arizona Coach Dick Tomey said.

Georgia Tech had taken a 14-13 lead on Tommy Luginbill’s 22-yard pass to Charlie Simmons with 10:56 left.

Arizona had taken a 10-7 lead with 7:57 left in the first half on White’s one-yard run after a 20-yard punt return by Dice to the Georgia Tech 29.

Kansas 35, Houston 13--Asheiki Preston directed Kansas on three consecutive scoring drives to start the game and the Jayhawks went on to rout the Cougars in Houston.

Preston completed 14 of 17 passes for 167 yards and he also rushed for 51 yards in five carries before leaving the game early in the fourth quarter.

June Henley, who set a freshman rushing record of 1,127 yards last season, ran 23 yards to the Houston five-yard line before Preston’s four-yard pass to tight end Jim Moore opened the scoring.

L.T. Levine then scored on a four-yard run followed by Mark Sanders’ four-yard run in the second quarter, stretching the lead to 21-0 at halftime.

North Carolina State 20, Bowling Green 15--Carlos King injected some life into a sluggish ground game in the second half and the Wolfpack won at Raleigh, N.C., for its seventh straight season-opening victory.

King, a redshirt freshman, ran for 74 yards in the second half after North Carolina State was limited to 48 yards on the ground in the first against a defense ranked seventh in the nation last season.

The Wolfpack led, 20-9, late and appeared to have the game wrapped up. But Steve Ayers blocked a punt and Chioke Bradley returned it 43 yards for a score with 4:08 left.

Eddie Goines, who moved into third place on the Wolfpack’s career receiving yardage list with 1,836, made a key 23-yard catch in the final drive as the Wolfpack ran out the clock. Goines finished with six catches for 109 yards.

The Wolfpack opened the scoring with Terry Harvey’s two-yard touchdown on a broken pass play. Rob Brown scored on a two-yard run and Steve Videtich’s two field goals accounted for the 20 first-half points.

Oklahoma State 31, Northern Illinois 14--David Thompson rushed for 147 yards and three touchdowns for the Cowboys at De Kalb, Ill. Northern Illinois cut the Oklahoma State lead to 21-14 before the Cowboys pulled away for good.