COLLEGE FOOTBALL SPOTLIGHT : EASY GRIESE

With his father busy working the broadcast of another football game, sophomore quarterback Brian Griese, getting his first collegiate start, stepped up and guided Michigan to an easy victory over Miami of Ohio.

Griese, son of NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Bob Griese, subbed for starter Scott Dreisbach, who tore ligaments in his right thumb during practice Thursday. Griese was 10 for 13 for 157 yards in the first half, guiding the Wolverines to scores on their first five possessions.

His father worked the ABC broadcast of Ohio State’s victory over Notre Dame, and watched some of his son’s game on a monitor.

“He threw the ball well, and we expected him to throw the ball very well,” Michigan Coach Lloyd Carr said. “I thought he made one bad pass in the first half when he made a dangerous throw in the flat. But other than that, I thought he threw the ball crisply and his reads were good.”

AND HE’S NO JOHNNY OFF THE PICKLE RANCH, EITHER

Miami of Ohio Coach Randy Walker, however, indicated that, considering Griese’s pedigree and the relative inexperience of his defense, he was surprised Griese seemed to have trouble handling Miami’s pressure in the second half.

“He’s a guy that’s been in a lot of big arenas and stadiums because of his heritage,” Walker said. “I didn’t expect him to [fold] out there. We got a bunch of johnnies off the pickle ranch over here.”

SEPTEMBER SHOWDOWN?

It’s the matchup that almost always ends up in a mauling, but after this weekend, who can say Michigan vs. Northwestern next week won’t have major bowl impact? Well, some bowl impact, at least.

Michigan’s victory gave it a 5-0 record, its best start since it began the 1986 season with nine victories.

Meanwhile, Northwestern’s 31-7 victory in its Big Ten opener over Indiana on Saturday gave the Wildcats a 3-1 start for the first time since 1963.

Michigan and Northwestern, along with Wisconsin, sit atop the Big Ten standings, and Penn State is 0-1.

So, start up those Rose Bowl prognostications and figure out that Bowl Coalition chart: What could be better than Michigan vs. Northwestern, before 100,000 plus at Ann Arbor, Mich.?

And for those of you looking ahead, Northwestern plays Penn State Nov. 4.

TWO-WAY TURNAROUND

Louisiana State was coming off a 52-point performance a week earlier against Rice, and two weeks ago gave Auburn its first loss in the Terry Bowden era.

South Carolina had given up an average of 32 points in each of its four games this season going into this weekend, including Arkansas’ 51-21 rout three weeks ago.

So, what happened? LSU fumbled twice, was called for 10 penalties and managed only 90 yards rushing after gaining 154 yards a game coming in. And the Tigers barely salvaged a tie, 20-20, with a last-minute touchdown.

“We know we’re a good defense,” said Gamecock defensive lineman Maynard Caldwell, who had 2 1/2 sacks. “Everybody was putting us down. All we had to do was come together. We went out there today and proved it to them.”

WILD, WILDCATS

Kansas State Coach Bill Snyder didn’t sound all too impressed with the record he set Saturday when his Wildcats routed Northern Illinois, 44-0.

With the victory, Snyder won his 40th game, making him the school’s all-time coaching victory leader.

“To win 40 games and be the winningest coach at your school--I still haven’t figured out how that can happen yet,” Snyder said.

Snyder, who took over a program in 1989 that had only three victories the four previous seasons, improved his record to 40-31-1.

Mike Ahearn’s 39-12 mark from 1905-10 had stood as the record as Kansas State, struggling decade after decade, went on to become the only major college program with 500 losses.

MORE ON WILD, WILDCATS

Since coming from behind to beat Cincinnati, 23-21, on Sept. 9, Kansas State has scored 117 unanswered points. That includes a 67-0 blowout over Akron last week, and Saturday’s victory.

The Wildcats, who held Northern Illinois to six first downs and 84 yards, hadn’t had consecutive shutouts since 1973.

OVER HERE, AGAIN

The famed backfield tandem of Glenn Davis and Felix (Doc) Blanchard and a contingent of 52 alumni, in town for a short service at West Point Cemetery in honor of coach Earl (Red) Blaik, witnessed, and perhaps inspired, a big Army comeback.

The current Black Knights fought from 14 points behind in the second half to tie Rice, 21-21, on a field goal as time expired.

Blaik led Army to consecutive national championships in 1944-45.

CRASS CORSO

We’re sure he didn’t mean to provoke violence or wasn’t just sweet-talking the large Oklahoma crowd that gathered behind him during the telecast from Norman, Okla., but what was ESPN’s Lee Corso thinking Saturday morning?

Corso, his voice even louder than usual because of the constant whooping in the background, didn’t merely predict that Oklahoma would beat the Buffaloes by two touchdowns. The former Indiana coach actually forecast that Colorado quarterback John Hessler would be injured by the Sooners in the game, a statement that drew a large Sooner cheer.

Colorado lost its No. 1 quarterback, Koy Detmer, to a twisted knee last week against Texas A&M.; So, was Corso encouraging Oklahoma to severely dampen Colorado’s chances by intentionally injuring Hessler?

“He’ll be hit . . . legally,” Corso added. Not so big a cheer after that last part.

Corso turned out to be completely wrong: Not only was Hessler unscathed (he threw five touchdown passes), but Colorado won, 38-17.

IS THAT WHY THEY ARE CALLED “SOONERS”?

Two thousand Oklahoma students found their way into Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Friday night to watch their football team in a walk through practice before the Colorado game.

TWO THE HARD WAY

It probably wasn’t quite Carl Lewis at his peak and it didn’t really mean much in the end, but California’s Marquis Smith ran 100 yards after picking up a blocked Arizona extra point, giving the Bears two points in the second quarter.

It was one of three blocked extra-point attempts by Cal in the game.

The Bears lost anyway, 20-15.

Arizona scored two points the traditional way, though, when Cal’s Je’Rod Cherry took the a kickoff in the end zone, stepped out and then stepped back and dropped to one knee for a safety.

INJURY REPORT

Two highly-regarded running backs suffered serious injuries in the final quarter of impressive performances.

Pittsburgh’s Billy West, returning from a three-week injury layoff, ran for 113 yards against Virginia Tech’s No. 2 ranked rushing defense, but broke his leg in the third quarter, an injury that will end his season. West, who ran for 1,358 yards in 1994, hadn’t played since separating a shoulder in Pitt’s opener.

Also, Indiana sophomore running back Alex Smith gained 136 yards in 23 carries for Indiana but was carried off the field on a stretcher with 9:32 left against Northwestern after he was tackled and suffered broken ribs.

STREAKS

Virginia beat Wake Forest, 35-17, and has won 12 in a row over the Demon Deacons by an average of 19 points, the longest current winning streak by one Atlantic Coast Conference team over another.

North Carolina State lost its fourth consecutively and third in a row at home, 43-22, to Clemson. The Wolfpack hadn’t lost three in a row at home since 1987, and hadn’t lost four in a row in six years.

MY, HOW TIME FLIES WHEN YOU DON’T SCORE 77 POINTS

Florida Coach Steve Spurrier was a little unnerved by how quickly his team’s 28-10 victory over Mississippi seemed to go. The game lasted 2 hours 45 minutes.

The Gators hadn’t scored fewer than 42 points this year, which means a lot of timeouts, kickoffs and game times wandering over the three-hour mark. Ole Miss, playing a clock-grinding ball-control offense, changed that, and kept the ball out of Florida quarterback Danny Wuerffel’s hands for much of the time.

“That’s about the shortest one we’ve ever played here,” Spurrier said. “I can’t ever remember a game where we had eight offensive possessions total.”

NOTEWORTHY

Quarterback Mike Groh was 21 of 34 for 335 yards and two touchdowns in Virginia’s 35-17 victory over Wake Forest. . . . Marc Washington rushed for a career-high 219 yards and three touchdowns on 29 carries in Princeton’s 34-23 victory at Colgate. . . . Brown’s Jason McCullough threw for 324 yards and a school-record five touchdowns as the Bears defeated Holy Cross, 37-14. . . . Darnell Autry gained 100 yards for the fifth consecutive game, rushing for 168 yards in 28 carries as Northwestern beat Indiana, 31-7.

Octavus Barnes had 211 receiving yards on eight catches and tied the North Carolina record with three touchdown receptions as the Tar Heels pounded Ohio University, 62-0. . . . Freshman Jerry Azumah rushed for a school-record 278 yards and scored two touchdowns to give New Hampshire a 35-14 victory over Lehigh. . . . Quarterback Tommie Frazier scored three touchdowns and freshman Ahman Green ran for 176 yards and a score to lead Nebraska to a 35-21 victory over Washington State. . . . Chris Berg threw four touchdown passes to Dedric Ward in leading Northern Iowa to a 38-7 victory over Western Illinois.

--Compiled by Bob Cuomo, Emilio Garcia-Ruiz and Tim Kawakami

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TOP PERFORMERS

PASSING

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Player Comp. Att. Yds. TD HARVEY, No. Carolina St. 30 54 395 3 HESSLER, Colorado 24 34 348 5 GROH, Virginia 21 34 335 2 PHILYAW, NE Louisiana 21 32 334 4 LEDBETTER, New Mexico St. 27 46 322 3 DRUCKENMILLER, Va. Tech 15 27 312 1 McNOWN, UCLA 18 22 306 1 DAVIS, Washington St. 20 37 278 2 HOYING, Ohio St. 14 22 272 4

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RUSHING

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Player Carries Yards TD GEORGE, Ohio St. 32 207 2 HILL, Arkansas 29 200 2 ALEXANDER, Oregon St. 24 182 2 McGEE, Mississippi St. 31 181 3 MITCHELL, Texas 19 180 2 GREEN, Nebraska 13 176 1 HEPPELL, W. Michigan 23 171 2 WILSON, Utah St. 31 166 3 D. AUTRY, Northwestern 28 162 2

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RECEIVING

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Player No. Yards TD JOHNSON, USC 13 171 1 SCOTT, Penn St. 13 110 1 WILLIAMS, NE Louisiana 12 167 3 KENNISON, LSU 9 129 0 LOCKETT, Kansas St. 9 116 2 DUMAS, Washington St. 9 100 0 BARNES, North Carolina 8 211 3 GUFFIE, No. Carolina St. 8 146 1 KENT, Tennessee 8 107 1

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