It’s Plane Truth: BYU Struggling in Air

Brigham Young lost to Washington on Saturday, 20-10, but at least BYU made it to Seattle for the game.

That particular outcome was in doubt for a few seconds Friday when BYU’s charter plane was forced to make an evasive dive to dodge a military jet near Boise, Ida.

BYU Coach LaVell Edwards’ reaction: “It was no big deal.”

Perhaps Edwards was busy diagraming ways to revive the Cougars’ once vaunted passing game and mistook the incident for turbulence.

Others did not.

“When we took the dive, I looked down and we were already close to the ground,” said Kirt Kimball, BYU’s team physician. “We were so close, I could see cow biscuits in a field.”

The pilot of the WinAir 727 told the team a cockpit radar alarm ordered him to dive 500 feet to dodge an A-10 Warthog. All the players were wearing seat belts, as the charter was preparing to land in Boise.

Offensive lineman Matt Johnson, who was sitting by a window, said the military plane turned and headed toward BYU’s charter.

“You could see the shadow of the jet on the wing as it also turned and peeled off,” linebacker Rob Morris said.

BYU’s plane was late leaving Salt Lake City because it exceeded weight limits. Fuel was removed before it left, forcing the charter to make an unscheduled stop in Boise for additional fuel before heading to Seattle.

The additional stop meant the charter had to travel near the Mountain Home Air Force Base and the Boise National Guard’s Gowen Field.

Mountain Home command post officials said there are no A-10 Warthogs at the base, but that the planes are flown by the National Guard.

“By the time this hits the paper, it will be a full-fledged dogfight in the skies,” said Rondo Fehlberg, BYU’s athletic director.

B.M.O.C.

Ron Dayne is the big cheese in Wisconsin this week. Just ask him.

Dayne, the Badgers’ 250-pound junior tailback, gained 108 yards against Nevada Las Vegas to break Wisconsin’s career rushing record of 3,709 yards set by Billy Marek in 32 games from 1973-75. Dayne has 3,785 yards in 26 games.

Dayne, who rushed for an NCAA freshman record 2,109 yards in 1996 and 1,457 last year, entered the game 33 yards shy of Marek’s mark.

He darted past Marek with a two-yard gain on his third carry.

Afterward, Dayne and Varek embraced.

“It was nice getting to meet him for the first time,” Dayne said. “A lot of people said he was big. If he was big, I must be humongous.”

BURNING LOVE

Pittsburgh cornerback Tray Crayton had planned to marry his girlfriend hours after the Panthers’ game against Penn State.

But in the middle of last week, Crayton decided to delay the ceremony until May.

Maybe he had a premonition.

Pitt was leading the Nittany Lions, 13-6, before Chafie Fields beat Crayton and scored on a 60-yard touchdown pass play in the third quarter that sent Penn State on its way to a 20-13 victory at Pittsburgh.

HOME, SWEET HOME

After spending all of last season on the road because of construction on its new stadium, Princeton finally played a home game Saturday against Cornell.

A sellout crowd of 27,800 was on hand at the new $45-million Princeton Stadium, Princeton’s first sellout since 1964.

The emotion was almost too much for the Princeton players to handle.

“As the week [leading up to the game] went on, our players got tighter and tighter,” Princeton Coach Steve Tosches said. “It’s hard to tell someone to relax when they know there is going to be such an emotional pitch.”

It was emotional all right. And the Tigers parlayed every ounce of that energy into two field goals and a stirring 6-0 victory.

WHAT ABOUT ELECTRIC FOOTBALL?

Princeton’s victory spoiled the debut of Cornell Coach Pete Mangurian, whose team was hurt by penalties, mistakes and turnovers.

Mangurian spent the last 10 seasons in the NFL as an assistant coach.

“In pro football, college football and high school football, you can’t make mistakes against good teams and expect to win.”

BATTLE OF THE BANDS

A brawl erupted among members of the Southern University and Prairie View A&M; marching bands at halftime in Beaumont, Texas, when one band began its performance before the other was off the field.

At least three people were taken to a hospital, including a member of the Prairie View band who reportedly was hit in the face with a musical instrument, officials said.

The fight reportedly began as the Southern band was marching onto the field. At the same time, Prairie View’s band was heading for the sideline.

As the bands marched past each other, fighting broke out and lasted about 20 minutes before Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies and Lamar University police brought things under control.

Southern won, 37-7, extending Prairie View’s record losing streak to 80 games.

HEISMAN HANDICAP

1. Quarterback Tim Couch, Kentucky: Completed 38 of 53 passes for 301 yards and one touchdown, but had four passes intercepted in a win over Indiana.

2. Running back Ricky Williams, Texas: Limited to 43 yards rushing in loss to Kansas State.

3. QB Daunte Culpepper, Central Florida: Completed 30 of 47 passes for 368 yards but only one touchdown and had pass intercepted in loss to Purdue.

4. QB Cade McNown, UCLA: Passed for 315 yards and a touchdown with one interception in victory over Houston.

5. QB Donovan McNabb, Syracuse: Completed eight of 12 passes for 119 yards and a touchdown in 70-14 win over Rutgers.

6. RB Ron Dayne, Wisconsin: Gained 108 yards but did not score in victory over Nevada Las Vegas.

7. QB Michael Bishop, Kansas State: Passed for 182 yards and two touchdowns, rushed for 41 yards and a touchdown in victory over Texas.

8. QB Brock Huard, Washington: Completed 16 of 33 passes for 178 yards and a touchdown, but had two passes intercepted in win over BYU.

9. QB Chris Weinke, Florida State: Passed for 241 yards and three touchdowns in victory over Duke.

10. WR Tim Alexander, Oregon State: OK, he’s the weekly longshot. USC can give you 100 reasons why.

NOTABLES

David Allen of Kansas State, who had touchdown returns of 63 yards against Indiana State and 69 yards against Northern Illinois, returned a punt 93 yards for a touchdown against Texas on Saturday. Allen, a 5-foot-9, 185-pound sophomore, has already broken the school career record of 625 punt return yards.

Washington State’s 24-16 victory over Idaho marked the Cougars’ 14th consecutive victory in a series that began in 1894 and which WSU leads 63-14-3. Idaho, located eight miles from the Washington State campus, last won in 1965. The two schools had not played since 1989. But the series resumed this year because Idaho moved up from Division I-AA to Division I-A.

D’Andre Hardeman, Texas A&M;’s leading rusher, has been suspended indefinitely, Coach R.C. Slocum said after the 17th-ranked Aggies beat Southern Mississippi. No reason was given for the suspension, which was announced before the game. Hardeman, a senior, rushed for 105 yards and had all four of the Aggies’ rushing touchdowns in the first two games.

Army beat Cincinnati, 37-20, in the Cadets’ first conference game in their 109-year history. Army is 1-0 in Conference USA.

*

Compiled by Gary Klein

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

SATURDAY’S LEADERS

PASSING

*--*

Player, Team Att Cmp Yds TD JAMIE BARNETTE, N.C. St. 55 24 469 3 D. CULPEPPER, C. Florida 47 30 368 1 JOSE DAVIS, Kent 43 26 359 2 WALT CHURCH, E. Michigan 42 32 343 2 TIM RATTAY, La. Tech 26 16 333 5 CADE McNOWN, UCLA 32 17 315 1 TODD HUSAK, Stanford 38 23 313 1 AARON BROOKS, Virginia 34 21 310 1 RONALD CURRY, N. Carolina 34 19 304 2 TIM COUCH, Kentucky 53 38 301 1 STEVE BIRNBAUM, Wash. St. 33 14 299 2 CHRIS WALLACE, Toledo 30 17 284 5

*--*

RUSHING

*--*

Player, Team No Yds TD RICKY WILLIAMS, Texas Tech 42 244 2 MICHAEL WILEY, Ohio St. 24 209 2 DARREN DAVIS, Iowa St. 28 200 3 MIKE CLOUD, Boston College 27 196 3 RECEIVING Player, Team No Yds TD EUGENE BAKER, Kent 13 227 2 TORRY HOLT, N. Carolina St. 11 255 2 DARNELL McDONALD, Kansas St. 11 159 2 CHAD PLUMMER, Cincinnati 11 128 0 NIAN TAYLOR, Washington St. 8 254 3

*--*