Notes on a Scorecard - Sept. 12, 1995

I predict that the Los Angeles football Dodgers will stage a fourth-quarter comeback to defeat the Oakland Raiders, 21-17, and win the AFC title at Walter O’Malley Stadium in 2003. . . .

“The difference was those boisterous L.A. fans,” Al Davis will say. . . .

Would you rather have no NFL teams or two such as the winless New York Giants and Jets, who blew big leads Sunday and lost in overtime? . . .

The two most improbable unbeaten teams in the league, St. Louis and Cincinnati, might stay that way for at least another week. The Rams play at Carolina and the Bengals at Seattle on Sunday. . . .

NBC, which showed Dallas-Denver here and not San Diego-Seattle, apparently has no plans to make the Chargers a pseudo-home team for L.A. fans. . . .

Perhaps the most impressive thing about Miami’s 20-3 victory over New England was that the Dolphins did it on the road on a day when Dan Marino passed for only 193 yards and one touchdown. . . .

Penn State’s three lost fumbles against Texas Tech were only one fewer than the Nittany Lions’ total last season. . . .

According to the NCAA, Michigan State has the toughest Division I-A football schedule in the nation. UCLA’s is No. 11. . . .

Tony Boselli’s replacement at the important left tackle position, John Michels, helped to keep USC quarterbacks well protected during the victory over San Jose State. . . .

Pacific 10 Conference coaches like to boast about the depth of the league, but Oregon State’s loss to Pacific was an embarrassment. . . .

Let’s see what happens to Notre Dame now that Lou Holtz is on the disabled list. . . .

Tom Osborne, who always prided himself on running a clean program, must be crushed by the recent turn of events at Nebraska. . . .

Former USC Coach Larry Smith on taunting and showboating: “We’ve been watching too much World Wrestling Federation. That’s what it is, too much National Football League and WWF.” . . .

Unfortunately, Smith’s Missouri Tigers didn’t get much chance to celebrate Saturday during a loss to Bowling Green. . . .

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Former USC All-American Lisa Leslie will conduct two free basketball clinics for girls ages 6-7 Sept. 23 at Morningside High in Inglewood and Sept. 24 at Compton College from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. . . .

U.S. Open tennis champions Pete Sampras and Steffi Graf both were underdogs in their title matches. . . .

Next up for Sampras is an exhibition against John McEnroe Thursday at the Forum. . . .

The Ryder Cup has become a bigger deal than the Davis Cup. . . .

Look-a-likes: Delino DeShields and Nick Van Exel. . . .

Fred Claire’s best moves in a long time were acquiring Chad Fonville and reacquiring Brett Butler. . . .

It is probably a long shot, but the Dodgers should bring Butler back for another season. He’s improving with age. . . .

I’d like to see a throwing contest between right fielders Raul Mondesi of the Dodgers and Larry Walker of Colorado before the next All-Star game. . . .

The second Sunday afternoon in September at Anaheim Stadium wasn’t much different from when the Rams played there. A small, quiet crowd watched the home team, the Angels, lose. . . .

The election of King Coach Larry Robinson into the Hockey Hall of Fame was a no-brainer. . . .

Dean Chance, the former Angel who won the American League Cy Young Award in 1964, has become vice-president of one of boxing’s newer alphabet groups, the International Boxing Council. . . .

The crowd of 7,200 for the Oscar De La Hoya-Genaro Hernandez fight was disappointing, but a De La Hoya-Julio Cesar Chavez match, tentatively scheduled for May 5, would fill any venue in Las Vegas. . . .

Eric Esch, a.k.a. Butterbean, the 310-pound heavyweight who won his 10th consecutive fight Saturday, has slimmed down considerably from his tough-man contest days when he scaled as much as as 400. “The weight limit was 400,” he said. “For my first fight, I had to take off 20 pounds.” . . .

Time of possession last Thursday: Bethel, Tenn. 30:28, Tennessee-Martin 29:32. Final score: Tennessee-Martin 97, Bethel, 7.