COLLEGE FOOTBALL SPOTLIGHT : NOT MEANT TO BE

It was supposed to be a celebration of success and failure when Grambling played host to Prairie View A&M; next week in Grambling, La.

But the Tigers failed to do their part by losing to Central State of Ohio, 16-14, thus depriving Coach Eddie Robinson of his 399th victory.

Robinson was hoping to go for an unprecedented No. 400 next week against Prairie View, which will be facing its 51st consecutive defeat, a college football low-watermark.

The Panthers lost to Tarleton State in Stephenville, Tex., 44-6, for their 50th consecutive defeat. That tied college football’s all-time record held by Macalester, the Division III school from Minnesota that struggled from 1974-80.

BUT HOW DOES HE REALLY FEEL?

Shawn Parnell from Compton played at Carson High and El Camino College, but he isn’t what you’d call a hometown fan. The night before the USC game in Tucson, the Arizona defensive back was asked about playing against the Trojans and seeing some familiar faces.

“I don’t like USC at all,” he said. “I can’t stand USC. I used to like certain players on the team, [but] I can’t stand them.

“They’re arrogant . . . USC has a great deal of tradition, but their tradition is in the past. They have to think about what they have, not what their tradition had. A lot of their players like to talk off the field when I’m back home. It kind of gets to you a little bit.”

Just a little.

IT WAS BOUND TO HAPPEN

When Notre Dame’s Paul Grasmanis blocked Phil Dawson’s point-after kick it was the first time the Texas kicker missed a PAT since he was a freshman in high school. The sophomore had tied the Texas record with his 54th PAT in a row earlier in the game.

SEE YA

Dave Dickenson completed 26 of 38 passes for 383 yards and a school record six touchdowns as No. 6 Montana embarrassed Big Sky Conference rival No. 3 Boise State, 54-28, in a Division 1-AA game in Missoula.

Boise State, last season’s national runners-up, is moving to Division 1-A when it joins the Big West next year. Mike Bouchee, Montana inside linebacker who had 11 tackles, told Kim Briggeman of the Missoulian:

“In a way, it’s too bad because they are the kind of opponent that brings out the best in you. But if they’re going to leave there’s no better way to send them off.”

NOTEWORTHY

John Gagliardi of St. John’s of Minnesota moved past Pop Warner into third place on college football’s career coaching victory list with a 41-14 victory over Augsburg at Collegeville, Minn. Gagliardi (320-98-10) needs four victories to pass Bear Bryant for second place behind Grambling’s Eddie Robinson, who has 398. . . . Rich Lemon’s streak of 17 consecutive 100-yard rushing games ended in Bucknell’s 20-3 loss to Princeton. Lemon, who was three shy of the NCAA Division I-AA record for consecutive 100-yard rushing games, had 15 yards in 13 carries. . . . Bonner Cunnings, St. Mary’s (Calif.) quarterback, tied a school record of four touchdowns set by Jim Deatrice, who scored four rushing touchdowns against Loyola Marymount in 1973.

Troy Davis scored five touchdowns to tie an Iowa State record and became the first Cyclone to run for more than 300 yards in a 57-30 victory over Nevada Las Vegas. Davis, the nation’s leading rusher, carried 36 times for 302 yards in less than three quarters to break the school record of 291 he set in this year’s opener. . . . Darnell Autry rushed for 190 yards--53 more than Air Force, the nation’s No. 3 rushing team entering the game--in Northwestern’s 30-6 victory over the Falcons. . . . Mississippi State wide receiver Eric Moulds caught a school record 15 passes for 183 yards and a touchdown in a 52-14 loss to Tennessee. . . . Alex Vandyke caught a school-record 18 passes for 207 yards and a touchdown in Nevada’s 49-35 loss to Toledo.

QUOTEWORTHY

Virginia Coach George Welsh, the day before his Cavaliers won for the first time in 19 games at Clemson’s Death Valley: “There’s no curse.”

Pacific tackle Jason Evans, who needed a reality check after the Tigers were defeated by Nebraska, 49-7: “Everybody expects us to lose, but we go into every game thinking we’re going to win.”

Robert Holcombe of Illinois, who after averaging about 25 carries a game, rushed 49 times for 130 yards and a touchdown in a 7-0 victory over East Carolina: “They just kept giving it to me.”

Virginia Tech’s J.C. Price, who had three sacks in Hokies’ 13-7 victory over Miami: “It didn’t matter to me if I had to chase [Hurricane quarterback Ryan Clement] all the way to the parking lot when he was trying to go to the bathroom, I would have done it.”

Army fullback John Conroy, talking about rushing against Washington: “Anybody could have run through those holes. I have a busted-up ankle and I still made it.”

CHIPS OFF THE OLD BLOCKERS

There were the “Seven Mules” and “Four Horsemen” of Notre Dame, but St. Mary’s 34-14 victory over Columbia in New York on Saturday recalls the halcyon days 50 years ago when the Gaels attracted crowds of up to 50,000 to the Polo Grounds to face Fordham’s “Seven Blocks of Granite.” One of those blocks from the mid-30s was legendary NFL coach Vince Lombardi. The line’s coach at one time was Frank Leahy, who went on to lead Boston College and Notre Dame.

MAKES SENSE TO US

Chuck Shelton, University of Pacific coach, did not need a Ph.D. in molecular physics to figure this out:

“I’m smart enough not to hold my kids responsible for losing to Nebraska,” he said.

That’s good, because after losing, 70-21, last season, the Tigers fell to form in Lincoln, losing to the No. 2 Cornhuskers, 49-7.

ADD SENSE

The Pacific Tigers, from now on known as the Traveling Mercenaries, also scheduled Arizona, Oregon and Fresno State this season. Including Nebraska, the revenue from the away games is about $840,000 for Pacific.

“The alternative is to eliminate scholarships or call assistant coaches in and fire them,” Shelton said.

But with the record Shelton is compiling by scheduling overmatched opponents, he might be the first on the firing block.

Didn’t Cal State Fullerton try this rout, er route, before giving up football altogether?

TRYING TO MAKE SENSE

Central Florida, following Pacific’s office planning, scheduled top-ranked Florida State. Rationalization came from Coach Gene McDowell, who while drooling over the $225,000 payday, said, “You’d like to be a contender when you play a team like this, but hopefully this is a preview of better and bigger days ahead.”

‘CANES IN PAIN

Miami’s president might have ignored the advice of the pundits from Sports Illustrated, who earlier this year asked that the Hurricane football program be dismantled because of a variety of flagrant rules violations and other disreputable behavior.

As it turns out, though, Miami is not the same college football team feared for the past decade. These Hurricanes were blown out by UCLA in the season opener, and now we know how good the Bruins are.

So perhaps it wasn’t surprising that Virginia Tech, yes Virginia Tech, scored its first victory over Miami in 13 meetings stretching to 1953.

“We are satisfied, but know we could have put the game away earlier,” Frank Beamer, the Hokies’ coach, said after a 13-7 victory.

Ouch!

CALL TO ARMS

Jim Lambright, Washington coach, sounded sincere before the Huskies played host to Army, but after escaping with a 21-13 victory, it appears his players weren’t listening.

Lambright said he expected a close game against the overmatched Cadets because:

“When you play an Army, when you play any academy school, you better understand that every one of these guys is going to be a try-hard guy who is being taught to die for his country.”

All that rhetoric did not seem to help.

“We took this game way too lightly,” said Damon Huard, Washington’s quarterback.

LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE

The start of the second half of the Florida A&M-Tennessee; State football game at Orlando was delayed briefly because of lightning. It was the second lightning delay of the game. The first occurred with 7:52 remaining in the first quarter.

NOW WHAT?

So, does No. 3 Texas A&M;’s 29-21 loss to Colorado mean an end to the season?

If R.C. Slocum, the Aggies’ coach, is to be believed, it does.

“If we have any aspirations beyond winning the conference championship, then this game becomes a must game,” he said before the loss.

It appears the Aggies will have to be content with trying to win the Southwest Conference championship one more time before it disappears into the Texas sagebrush.

KEEP TALKING

John Ryan, Pittsburgh quarterback, said before the Panthers were trounced by Ohio State, 54-14, “We’re tired of talking about winning. We want to win.”

--Compiled by Elliott Almond, Bob Cuomo and Emilio Garcia-Ruiz.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

TOP PERFORMERS

PASSING

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Player Comp. Att. Yds. TD MAXWELL, Nevada 38 57 434 2 LEDBETTER, New Mexico St. 27 37 379 2 FOUTS, Utah 27 49 358 2 HOWARD, LSU 14 23 356 4 BROWN, Texas 19 33 326 4 BARNES, California 16 20 305 3 TANEYHILL, South Carolina 26 44 304 3 CUMMINGS, Maryland 19 27 299 2 HOYING, Ohio St. 15 24 296 5

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RUSHING

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Player Carries Yards TD DAVIS, Iowa St. 36 302 5 WILLIAMS, Kentucky 40 299 4 OLIVO, Missouri 38 222 3 DARKINS, Minnesota 34 206 1 D. AUTRY, Northwestern 37 190 2 TAIT, Toledo 31 176 2 BENNING, Nebraska 10 173 3 CONROY, Army 24 166 0 GREENE, Michigan St. 16 156 3

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RECEIVING

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Player No. Yards TD VANDYKE, Nevada 18 207 1 BATTAGLIA, Rutgers 13 184 3 McLEMORE, Oregon 11 176 0 GLENN, Ohio St. 9 253 4 LEWIS, Maryland 9 205 1 WILSON, LSU 9 201 3 JOHNSON, USC 9 112 1 ENGRAM, Penn St. 8 175 3 HARRIS, Wyoming 8 160 4

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