College Football Spotlight

YOU PUT YOUR DUKES UP AGAINST ANYBODY NOW

Duke in postseason play? Happens every year. Oh, you mean football.

After enduring trashings and thrashings at the hands of Virginia for the last five years, Spence Fischer and No. 23 Duke finally ended the futility with a 28-25 victory over the 13th-ranked Cavaliers.

What does it all mean? Duke Coach Fred Goldsmith thinks he knows.

“We’re going to a bowl, there’s no doubt about that,” Goldsmith said. “I know the bowls that are still out there for Duke University right now and they’re all very good.

“And when you’ve been at Rice for five years, baby, they’re all major now.”

Fischer ran for two touchdowns and passed for one as the Blue Devils (8-1) had to rally Duke from a first-half deficit after it began to look like another beating. In the previous five games, Virginia (6-2) outscored the Blue Devils, 232-59.

The Blue Devils and Cavaliers have been bitter rivals since sharing the Atlantic Coast Conference championship in 1989. Then-Duke coach Steve Spurrier made disparaging comments about Virginia’s failure that season to beat defending league champion Clemson while the Blue Devils upset the Tigers, backing Spurrier’s argument that Duke should have had the title to itself.

FOOTBALL: A STRANGE GAME

Matt Ballard, the interim head football coach at Morehead State for more than a year, was hired full-time Saturday despite his team’s 0-9 record.

SUDDEN HEROES

--Warrick Franklin made a game-saving tackle as Rice held off Southern Methodist, 17-10. On fourth down at the Rice 9 with four seconds left, SMU’s Jacques Smith caught a pass but was stopped at the 2 by Franklin as time ran out.

--North Texas’ Jeff Graham kicked a 32-yard field goal with two seconds left to lift the Eagles to a 33-33 tie with Stephen F. Austin.

--Steve Videtich, who earlier missed a conversion, kicked a 35-yard field goal with six seconds left to give North Carolina State a 47-45 victory over Maryland.

BEARCATS BEAR DOWN (IT BEARS WATCHING)

Take heart, oh Cincinnati, you Queen City, you mighty metropolis on the Ohio River. You actually have a team in town that can win a football game. Here’s the kind of score you’ve been looking for so long. . . .

University of Cincinnati 28, Troy State 24.

Jermaine Sturkie ran five yards for the go-ahead touchdown and Robert Garnet preserved the Bearcats’ lead with an interception with 40 seconds to play as Cincinnati won its first game of the season.

What it all means is simple: The Bengals need to schedule Troy State.

BEVO FEELS BAD TOO

Somewhere, Darrell Royal and Earl Campbell and all the guys who had burnt orange steer heads painted on their white helmets are frowning.

Texas A&M;’s 34-10 victory over Texas at Memorial Stadium in Austin was the Aggies’ fourth in a row over the Longhorns. It was A&M;’s 10th victory over Texas in the last 11 meetings of their 101-game rivalry.

Chicken fried steaks will be flown at half-staff in Austin this week.

MAYBE HE SHOULD TRY THREATENING TO STAY

Iowa State got bounced by Kansas State, 38-20, in Iowa State’s first game since Coach Jim Walden announced he was quitting at the end of the year.

Walden, who announced on Thursday that he would step down, dropped to 28-55-3 in eight years at Iowa State.

At least he is not going quietly. In the first half, furious that Kansas State did not get called for roughing the passer, Walden rushed onto the field to argue with officials and drew a 15-yard penalty.

“We haven’t won a game, and as far as I’m concerned I haven’t seen one officiating crew my team wasn’t better than,” said Walden, noting that lame-duck coaches cannot be disciplined for badmouthing officials.

“Today was the most hideous thing I’ve ever seen. To let a player slam-dunk one of my players--that would be a violation in the wrestling rink.”

YOU PUT YOUR RIGHT FOOT IN, YOU PUT . . .

How do you play defense? It’s a secret in West Lafayette, Ind. Don’t ask Purdue Coach Jim Colletto, who thinks he knows what is wrong with the Boilermakers after watching Michigan gain 498 yards in a 21-point Wolverine victory.

Said Colletto: “We can’t get lined up right, we can’t tackle. On defense we are not good at all.”

THE VIEW ISN’T GREAT OVER AT PRAIRIE VIEW

Before Prairie View A&M; played Tarleton State, Prairie View Coach Ron Beard said the Panthers were favored to win, despite the fact that his team had lost 43 consecutive games.

So much for Beard’s career as an oddsmaker. Prairie View lost to Tarleton, 70-20, to tie the NCAA Division I-AA record of 44 consecutive defeats.

Prairie View, which has been outscored, 408-87, this season, can break its losing streak tie with Columbia by losing to Jackson State next Saturday.

“They may be losers on the football field,” Beard said, “but they’re winners in every other way.”

Linebacker Alfonse Provo wants a degree to make his mother proud. Cory Fregia and Kevin Garner wanted a chance to play football, even if it meant not getting a scholarship. The school offers no football scholarships.

Since beating Mississippi Valley State, 21-12, on Oct. 28, 1989, the Panthers have been outscored 1,889-267. They’ve lost by 92-0 (Alabama State, 1991), 66-0 (Grambling this year), 63-0 (Alcorn State, 1992) and 61-0 (Southwest Missouri State, 1991).

Defensive lineman Kevin Garner says fan support is lukewarm.

“Half of them are with us,” he said, “and the other half come to the games so they can hassle us on Monday.”

THIS BROOK ROLLS ALONG AND SO DOES NEBRASKA

Tommie who?

Brook Berringer, Tommie Frazier’s replacement as Nebraska’s quarterback, completed 13 of 18 passes for 267 yards in a 45-17 wipeout of Kansas in Lincoln. It was the most passing yards for a Cornhusker since Vince Ferragamo had 264 against Miami in 1976.

YOU GRADING DOWN LIONS OR MERELY NITTANY PICKING?

Let’s see, last week Penn State won by 59 points and fell from No. 1 to No. 2 in the AP poll. On Saturday, Penn State won by six points over Indiana, so how much is the Nittany Lions’ latest victory going to cost them?

Penn State Coach Joe Paterno says it matters not one whit.

“We don’t care about the polls,” he said. “All I care about is taking one game at a time.”

Uh, that’s all they let you take, Joe, no matter what your team is ranked.

HE’S GLAD THESE COWBOYS CAN’T PLAY

Colorado didn’t exactly dominate Oklahoma State at Boulder, Colo, but the Buffaloes won anyway, 17-3. Rashaan Salaam said he was thankful Colorado was only playing Oklahoma State. Instead of?

Said Salaam: “Somebody else tough. It could’ve been a different outcome.”

GET PAUL SIMON: 50 WAYS TO LEAVE A LOSER

Mississippi fans, it wasn’t bad enough that Memphis scored on a two-yard touchdown pass with four seconds left to beat your team, 17-16.

You’ve got Memphis winning for the first time in Oxford, Miss., since the series began 73 years ago.

You’ve got Memphis quarterback Joe Borich, successful on only seven of 24 passes for 55 yards before throwing the winning touchdown pass.

You’ve got a taunting penalty setting up the winning touchdown after Memphis was halted for the 11th time on third down.

Sorry, there’s more. Mississippi blew its lead in a ghastly way. Quarterback Josh Nelson, who was 10 of 21 for 166 yards, attempted three passes in the second half. Two were intercepted, the other was incomplete.

NOTEWORTHY

--Auburn’s 38-21 victory over East Carolina was it’s 20th in a row, the nation’s longest winning streak.

--Brian Pruitt rushed for five touchdowns and a school-record 356 yards and also set a Mid-American Conference record with 435 all-purpose yards as Central Michigan defeated Toledo, 45-27. Pruitt has 1,749 yards rushing this season, breaking the MAC single-season record of 1,668 yards set by Western Michigan’s Shawn Faulkner in 1983.

--Grambling State Coach Eddie Robinson edged closer to his 400th win as the 9-0 Tigers preserved their perfect season with a 51-24 victory over Alabama State at Grambling, La. Robinson has 397 victories.

--The 54,463 who watched Oklahoma’s 30-13 victory over Missouri was the Sooners’ smallest home crowd since 1971.

--Michigan’s Tyrone Wheatley moved into second place on the school’s career rushing list with 148 yards in a 45-23 victory over Purdue. Wheatley passed Butch Woolfolk in bringing his career total to 3,916. Jamie Morris set the school record of 4,393 yards between 1984 and 1987.

--Coe College running back Carey Bender broke the NCAA career scoring record when he had four touchdowns in a 42-35 victory over Cornell, Iowa. Bender has 480 points from 78 touchdowns and six two-point conversions. The previous record was 474 points, set from 1982-85 by Joe Dudek of Plymouth (N.H.) State, like Coe, a Division III school.