Northwestern Simply Smashing

There’s smash-mouth football, and then there’s another variety that might be called we’d-like-to-smash-you-in-the-mouth with a football.

Northwestern players engaged in the former during its 19-17 Big Ten Conference victory over No. 12 Michigan State, and sounded like they wanted to try some of the latter afterward.

“The defense came out and hit them in the mouth early and showed them what the game was going to be like, and the offense rammed the ball down their throats,” Northwestern receiver Brian Musso said.

Previously unbeaten Michigan State had feasted on mediocre opponents, outscoring them 185-54. And several Wildcats felt the Spartans were looking past Northwestern to next week’s game against Michigan.

“What do they think? They think we don’t read the newspaper?” defensive end Casey Dailey said of comments made during the week by Michigan State players. “If you think you’re good enough to say those things and come out and prove them, by all means . . . but apparently they’re not.”

SMASH MOUTH, PART II

Don’t blame Cale Bonds for No. 18 Air Force’s 20-17 loss to Fresno State.

It could be hazardous to your health.

Bonds, a sophomore quarterback making his first college start in place of injured Blane Morgan, had three passes intercepted, including his first and last attempts of the game. He also fumbled twice.

Air Force linebacker Steve Fernandez was fighting mad at the suggestion that Bonds cost the Falcons the game.

“If anybody blames this [loss] on Cale, I’ll punch them square in the middle of their face,” Fernandez said.

BRUIN BASHER

At the start of the USC-Notre Dame telecast, NBC commentator Bob Trumpy said, “There is no other football team to talk about in Los Angeles--there is UCLA, but that’s a basketball school--and the Rams and Raiders are gone.”

Broadcast partner Charlie Jones said, “You just alienated half the city of Los Angeles with that statement.”

Trumpy: “I got other things to worry about.”

Has Trumpy, who lives in Cincinnati, checked the rankings? And does he know which school is 6-0 in the USC-UCLA series over the past six years?

HIP, HIP, HOORAY

Ohio State had little difficulty in handling Indiana, 31-0, yet an Ohio Stadium crowd of 92,368 still went home disappointed.

The Buckeyes built a 21-0 halftime lead and didn’t allow Indiana inside the Ohio State 30. So the biggest cheers came whenever the scoreboard flashed potential upsets of top-ranked Penn State or No. 5 Michigan.

Even Ohio State Coach John Cooper joined in. He was caught by a camera asking if Penn State’s 15-3 deficit at home to Minnesota was in the fourth quarter.

“I could see what was happening,” Cooper said. “I could hear the crowd.”

But Penn State ended up pulling out a 16-15 win at home and Michigan overcame a 21-7 deficit to beat Iowa 28-24 at home.

AIR SCHMITZ

North Carolina kicker Brian Schmitz drilled a 51-yard field goal in a driving rainstorm midway through the third quarter to spark the No. 4 Tar Heels in their 20-7 victory over North Carolina State.

After the field goal, the longest for the Tar Heels since 1987, Schmitz leaped toward the North Carolina sideline, a move that earned the 160-pound kicker some good-natured ribbing from his teammates.

“Some of the boys around here don’t believe I can throw down dunks and stuff, so I guess I had to show them a little bit,” Schmitz said.

GETTING HER KICKS

Liz Heaston of Willamette University became the first woman to play in a college football game when she kicked two extra points in Willamette’s 27-0 victory over Linfield College at Salem, Ore.

Heaston, a standout on the school’s women’s soccer team, was recruited by football coach Dan Hawkins to kick extra points for the Bearcats, who entered Saturday’s game ranked No. 5 in the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics.

Officials from both the NCAA and the NAIA couldn’t find record of a woman playing in a regular-season game. Heather Sue Mercer kicked a game-winning 28-yard field goal in Duke’s spring scrimmage in 1995, but she didn’t make the team. She has filed a sex discrimination lawsuit against Coach Fred Goldsmith. That same season, Kathy Klop suited up for Louisville, but she didn’t get into the game.

LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN

Before his third-ranked Seminoles played host to No. 21 Georgia Tech in an Atlantic Coast Conference game, Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden talked about the resurgent Yellow Jacket program.

“When I first got in this conference (in 1992) there was no doubt in my mind that the two biggest rivalries for us were going to be Georgia Tech and Clemson,” Bowden said. “It hasn’t happened yet, but if Tech keeps coming like they’re coming it’ll be soon.”

Maybe in the next millennium.

Florida State’s 38-0 victory was its sixth in a row against the Yellow Jackets. The Seminoles are 43-1 in ACC play with their only blemish a 1995 defeat at Virginia.

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THE PLAYMAKERS

RUSHING

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Player, Team No. Yds. TD EDGERRIN JAMES, Miami 33 271 3 RICKY WILLIAMS, Texas 23 235 2 TRAVIS PRENTICE, Miami, Ohio 30 203 4 JUAN JOHNSON, Utah 32 190 1 OMARI WALKER, Bos. College 24 185 3

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PASSING

*--*

Player, Team Att. Comp. Yds. TD CHARLIE BATCH, E. Mich. 23 20 439 3 TIM COUCH, Kentucky 43 34 428 6 THAD BUSBY, Florida St. 47 30 399 3 MIKE McMAHON, Rutgers 42 26 386 1 JASON MAAS, Oregon 36 20 369 3 JUSTIN VEDDER, California 45 26 351 3 ORTEGE JENKINS, Arizona 46 22 348 1 STEWART PATRIDGE, Miss. 43 27 346 2 RYAN LEAF, Wash. St. 21 13 332 5 B. KUKLICK, Wake Forest 41 26 330 3 JOSE DAVIS, Kent 53 26 327 2 RYAN CLEMENT, Miami 35 27 323 2 BILLY DICKEN, Purdue 22 16 311 3

*--*

RECEIVING

*--*

Player, Team No. Yds. TD EUGENE BAKER, Kent 11 109 0 PASCAL VOLZ, New Mexico 10 149 3 RANDY MOSS, Marshall 10 147 1 BOBBY SHAW, California 9 158 1 BLAKE SPENCE, Oregon 6 214 1

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Compiled by Gary Klein and Larry Stewart