Backup System Is Operational

Two are hurt. One has volunteered to play defense after losing his starting job. Another has fallen from first-string to third-string.

Job security is fleeting for quarterbacks in the Mountain West Conference.

Because of injuries and inefficiency, Air Force, New Mexico, San Diego State and Wyoming have been forced to juggle quarterbacks through the season’s first month. The results have been mixed.

Air Force beat Navy, 19-14, Saturday despite being without the services of starting quarterback Cale Bonds, who sprained his ankle last week.

Backup Mike Thiessen ran for 108 yards and a touchdown in Saturday’s game. Thiessen, making his first career start, put the Falcons ahead to stay with a 53-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.

Thiessen lost six yards in seven carries in the first half as Air Force managed only 67 yards in offense. But the junior ran for 109 yards in the third quarter alone, including the touchdown run up the middle that put the Falcons up, 12-7.

New Mexico’s situation is the most peculiar. While some schools around the nation have adopted a trendy two-quarterback system, the Lobos took the idea to another extreme.

With starter Eric Jaworsky struggling, New Mexico Coach Rocky Long has experimented with freshman Justin Mobley and junior Sean Stein. Long benched Jaworsky and Stein completed 16 of 26 passes for 154 yards during Saturday’s 24-21 victory over San Diego State.

“We were trying to rotate three quarterbacks, and that’s way too many to get ready,” Long said. “The best situation for us is to use two and try to get those two ready, because none of them have proved that they are the quarterback.”

San Diego State Coach Ted Tollner benched starter Brian Russell in favor of junior-college transfer Jack Hawley after the team’s second game. Russell last week asked Tollner if he could try playing safety for the Aztecs.

“If I had thought he had no chance to contribute over there I would have told him,” Tollner said. “How long it takes and whether he ever does, I don’t know, but he has enough ingredients that he can.”

An injury to Jay Stoner temporarily spared Wyoming from a quarterback controversy heading into this week’s 35-32 loss to Nevada Las Vegas. And that controversy probably came to a screeching halt after the game. The Cowboys turned to sophomore Matt Swanson, who had thrown six touchdown passes in four games, and Swanson threw four interceptions in the loss.

ALSO MISSING: AN 8-FOOT FIRE HYDRANT

Smokey, the University of Tennessee’s 6 1/2-foot bluetick hound mascot, is missing.

Actually, it’s just the costume.

Adam DeVault, who for four years has pranced, danced and flipped along the sidelines in the $3,500 outfit, discovered the costume stolen from his apartment just hours after the Tennessee-Auburn game last Saturday, but didn’t say anything about it until Thursday.

“It’s really made me sick,” said DeVault, a 23-year-old graduate student.

The costume was the only thing missing, he said. The thief apparently entered through an unlocked balcony door after midnight.

Susie Gorman-Aierstok, who oversees the cheerleaders, dance team and Tennessee Hostess program, said she didn’t want to say anything about the disappearance of the 12-year-old outfit until now.

“We were afraid that if it got out, they would just throw it away,” she said.

Now she’s appealing for the return of the costume with no questions asked.

TELL US WHAT YOU REALLY THINK

Bud Withers of the Seattle Times, writing on the Pac-10: “There is no hiding it. The league is awful this season. From the first drive in August, when Penn State exposed Arizona’s poor tackling on its way to a 41-7 victory, this season has been a disaster for the Pac-10.

“Not to say things can’t improve or the league won’t redeem itself in bowl games, but nearing the midway point of the season the Pac-10 is playing football like it wants to be known as a softball conference.”

HE HASN’T SAID BOO ALL YEAR

You know your team is fated to win when your backup quarterback comes in the game, his name is T.D, and his first touchdown pass goes to a guy named Boo.

T.D. Croshaw replaced injured Darnell Arceneaux and threw four touchdowns passes to lead Utah to a 42-0 victory over Louisiana Monroe.

Croshaw blew the game open with third-quarter touchdown passes to Boo Bendinger (12 yards) and Steve Smith (49 yards) to make the score 35-0.

The oft-injured Arceneaux aggravated a previous sprain in his right foot after a 14-yard scramble on Utah’s next possession.

In this initial meeting between the schools, Utah recorded its first shutout since a 66-0 defeat of Idaho State in 1994. Louisiana Monroe, which competes as a Division I-A independent, was known as Northeastern Louisiana before this season.

THESE GUYS LOVE TO STREAK

When Mount Union defeated Heidelberg, 66-0, on Saturday night, it tied the NCAA record 47-game winning streak set by the 1953-57 Oklahoma Sooners. And the players on those Sooner teams aren’t too upset by that.

“You’ll never forget this accomplishment and you’ll realize just how significant it was the older you get,” said Joseph Oujesky, a lineman on the last three of the five teams involved in the Oklahoma record.

“I’ve seen this team play on television in the Division III championship game and they’ve got a lot to be proud of.”

Members of those record-setting Sooner teams were contacted to talk about their experiences under coach Bud Wilkinson.

“I’m sure they know everybody’s gunning for them, but if they play as hard while the streak continues as they did to get to this point, there’s no telling how far they’ll go,” said Ken Northcutt, also a lineman with the 1955-57 Sooners.

No one else has come within 10 games of the Oklahoma record since it was set.

Recalling the streak’s end, a 7-0 loss to Notre Dame, Jakie Sandefer, who was a starting halfback in 1957, said, “There was total devastation in the stadium. People didn’t move for a long time after the game and neither did we.”

“But I’ll never forget Coach Wilkinson’s words after the game. He told us, ‘I want to congratulate you. This is a record that will never be broken by a major college team. The only ones who never lose are the ones who never play.’

“So far, he’s been right. And even if Mount Union breaks the record, they play at a different level than we did.”

Mount Union can break the record next week at home against Otterbein.

The northeast Ohio school, founded by the Methodist Church, has just 2,000 students and doesn’t give out scholarships for sports.

Yet, its recent results are staggering:

* Mount Union is 111-6-1 during the 90s.

* Coach Larry Kehres has the best winning percentage of any coach in college football history with a 143-16-3 record--a .910 mark.

* Its last loss came on Dec. 2, 1995, 20-17 to Wisconsin La Crosse in the national semifinals.

--Compiled by Houston Mitchell