College Football SPOTLIGHT

WELCOME TO NEBRASKA, HOME OF QUARTERBACKS

And who ever said Nebraska was only good for shifty running backs? Or beefy linemen whose idea of a good restaurant is a silo and who comb their hair with pitchforks?

Yes, ol’ Quarterback U. has come through again. Forced to go to their third quarterback, the Cornhuskers rolled over Oklahoma State, 32-3, in their Big Eight opener at Lincoln.

Matt Turman, a sophomore walk-on who started the fall as a third-teamer, opened the second half and drove Nebraska to two touchdowns in its first three possessions.

Turman’s time arrived when Coach Tom Osborne was forced to pull Brook Berringer, who was starting for Tommie Frazier. Berringer took over last week against Wyoming when Frazier (Quarterback No. 1), was hospitalized with a blood clot.

But Berringer suffered a partially collapsed lung against Wyoming. An X-ray at halftime Saturday showed some damage to his lung, so out went Berringer (Quarterback No. 2) and in came Turman (Quarterback No. 3).

FOOTBALL TELLS PUNTER: ‘BEAM ME UP , SCOTTI!’

The award for Worst Kicked Ball of the Day goes to SMU punter Anthony Scotti. Standing in his end zone, Scotti knuckled a punt that hit at the 10-yard line and bounced back through the Mustangs’ end zone for a safety. Baylor went on to win, 44-10, at Waco.

THAT’S A LOT OF CANDLES

Let’s all wish a Happy 500th to the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Conn. The 500th college football game at the stadium was played Saturday. Alas, Yale fell to Lehigh, 36-32, as Lehigh’s Bob Aylsworth set a Yale Bowl record with 454 yards passing.

ONE TOTALLY BUFF SCHEDULE

Oil up that remote control. Channel surfers, wax your converter boxes. Dudes and Dudettes, check out next weekend’s schedule: No. 1 Florida vs. No. 9 Auburn; No. 2 Nebraska vs. No. 19 Kansas State; No. 4 Penn State vs. No. 7 Michigan; No. 5 Colorado vs. No. 16 Oklahoma and No. 6 Arizona vs. No. 22 Washington St.

CALL THEM HEAVYWEIGHTS, NO MATTER WHAT DIVISION

Doubtless here’s something you think about: Can the best Division I-AA team beat the best Division II team?

Saturday it could. Youngstown State (I-AA champ) beat North Alabama (Division II champ), 17-14. It was only the second meeting between defending Division I-AA and Division II champions. The only previous one was in 1982 when Boise State, the I-AA champ, beat Division II winner Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 17-6.

IT’S TOO, TOO, TOO, TOO, TOO BAD

Boston College 30, Notre Dame 11.

“We’re very, very, very, very, very disappointed,” Irish Coach Lou Holtz said.

NUMBERS, NUMBERS: (SOME OF THEM REALLY UGLY)

--Navy, which lost by 22 points to Air Force, came in averaging only 60.5 yards per game rushing, but the Middies finished with minus-6 net yards on the ground. Maybe they should stay away from land and try . . . . the water.

--Colorado’s 38-23 victory over Missouri was the 10th consecutive time Missouri has lost to Colorado.

--UCLA (2-4, 0-3 in the Pac-10) has been outscored 133-38 in consecutive losses to Nebraska, Washington State, Washington and Cal.

--Pace University, a Division II school in Pleasantville, N.Y., broke a 15-game losing streak with a victory over I-AA Iona. Mike Maceranka from Laguna Hills High made his first start at quarterback. Obviously, he set the pace for Pace.

--Columbia’s unbeaten streak reached three games, its longest in more than 20 years, after a victory over Fordham that came on the sixth anniversary of the end of Columbia’s 44-game losing streak.

--Auburn extended its Division I-A winning streak to 17 with a 42-18 rout of Mississippi.

--West Texas A&M;’s Grady Benton passed for 451 yards and seven touchdowns in a 70-44 victory over Western New Mexico. But the Arizona State transfer was outdone by Alfred Montez, who passed for 614 yards and four touchdowns for Western New Mexico. Benton completed 33 of 48 passes and Montez 39 of 63 as the teams combined for 1,494 yards.

--Army’s 1-4 start is its worst since opening the 1974 season 1-5.

--Valdosta State quarterback Chris Hatcher became the career touchdown pass leader in Division II as he threw five in a 38-7 victory over New Haven. Hatcher’s 94 scoring passes broke the mark of 93 set by Doug Williams, who played at Grambling from 1974-77.

AND THEY DIDN’T ENJOY IT

After watching his team lose to Virginia Tech, 41-13, Temple Coach Ron Dickerson said: “We got manhandled today.”

Hokiehandled?

AIR McNAIR UPDATE

Steve McNair of Division I-AA Alcorn State threw four touchdown passes in a 28-21 victory over Texas Southern at Lorman, Miss. McNair’s current statistics--passing: 175 of 235 for 2,317 yards, 23 touchdowns, 10 interceptions; rushing: 64 carries for 565 yards and three touchdowns.

McNair owns the NCAA Division I-AA career total offense record. He is closing in on the NCAA overall record, held by 1990 Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer, of 14,665 yards. Detmer’s record was set at Brigham Young from 1988-91.

FYI: ALCORN

McNair and his Alcorn State teammates play at Jack Spinks Stadium in Lorman. It is named after the former Alcorn player and coach who was the first black Mississippian drafted by the NFL. He died Sept. 29.

GATORS WORK ON DEFENSE, TUNE UP THEIR BLANDNESS

The top-ranked Florida Gators talked about how tough their defense was after smacking LSU, 42-18. OK, it was fine, especially Anthone Lott’s 88-yard return of an interception.

With Auburn next, it’s just that Florida needs to brush up a little on its quotes.

Quarterback Terry Dean threw his 18th touchdown pass, then hid behind the cliches.

“That will be the biggest game for us to this point,” Dean said. “We will have to play our very best to beat them.”

Ugh.

A SINGLE BLOCK OF GRANITE MAKES A NICE STONE WALL

Texas’ 17-10 victory over Oklahoma was preserved by a Longhorn nose guard who stopped Oklahoma’s James Allen short of the goal line on fourth and goal from the three-yard line with less than a minute to go.

The nose tackle is named Stonie. Stonie Clark. He weighs 343 pounds.

HE SURE KNEW THE WAY TO GET PAST SAN JOSE

Napoleon Kaufman’s 254 yards rushing against San Jose State were the most by a Washington running back since Hugh McElhenny ran for 296 yards against Washington State in 1956.

Said Washington Coach Jim Lambright: “That’s about the most impressive speed show that he could end up putting on out there.”

Said San Jose State Coach John Ralston: “When you talk about speed, that is the ultimate on speed.”

Kaufman was philosophical after scoring on runs of 91, 3 and 76 yards.

“I never worry about getting caught from behind,” he said. “I just take off running. They either catch me or I end in the (end) zone.”

GRAMBLING STILL RAMBLING

After knocking off Mississippi Valley State, 24-7, Grambling (5-0) continued to build on Coach Eddie Robinson’s record. He is college football’s all-time winningest coach with 339 victories.

IT’S A GEOGRAPHY PROBLEM: ILLINOIS AT HOME IN OHIO

Did Ohio State Coach John Cooper’s grip on his job get a little shakier after Illinois romped over his team at Columbus?

As the Illinois players left Ohio Stadium with a 24-10 victory over the 17th-ranked Buckeyes, they yelled, “This is our home.”

Sure looks that way.

It was Illinois’ fourth consecutive victory at Ohio Stadium. Not since Illinois won its sixth in a row at Columbus in 1929 has a team won more than three consecutive games on Ohio State’s home field.

Ohio State came in averaging 219 yards a game on the ground but was limited to 134.

MIGHTIER THAN THE PENN? NOBODY ON THIS BIG DAY

Penn’s 51-point victory over Holy Cross (59-8) was its biggest margin of victory in 30 years. Not only that, the Quakers won their 15th consecutive game, the longest winning streak in Division I-AA football.

Not only that, but Penn (3-0) rolled up a school-record 34 first downs. Not only that, but Penn pulled all its offensive starters in the second half.

HAIL TO THE CHIEF . . . . . . . . I MEAN OLD NO. 48

Former President Gerald Ford watched Michigan defeat Michigan State at Ann Arbor. The Wolverines retired Ford’s No. 48 jersey in ceremonies at halftime. Ford played center at Michigan in 1934.

ON WISCONSIN

Wisconsin’s Terrell Fletcher had never rushed for, oh, 186 yards in a game before. That is until he got to play against Northwestern.

Fletcher rushed 26 times for a career-high 186 yards and scored three touchdowns in a 46-14 victory over Northwestern. Fletcher’s partner in the Wisconsin backfield, Brent Moss, gained 145 yards, his 16th consecutive game of more than 100 yards.

It was the third time this season that Moss and Fletcher had rushed for 100 yards in the same game.