• "Soldiers' Field, Cambridge MA, is surrounded by a dreary, dilapidated stadium; from factory chimneys near it long pennants of smoke twist in the wind and mark the low sky. Into the stadium last week there drifted a drooling drizzle and a cold, odorous draught. North Carolina, accustomed to warm blue afternoons, grew as stiff as a dying hare. Harvard backs called Gilligan and French fooled Carolina ends called Sapp and Presson so well that Harvard won 20-0."
• "As elusive as a god, Chris Cagle of the Army tempted Providence to catch him while he, proceeding in a mysterious way, kept out of reach. Chris Cagle, together with his soldiers, scored 44 points and made Providence seem inadequate."
• Yale avenged its only defeat of 1927 by dowing Georgia 21-6 at New Haven. The Elis' Garvey scored twice on long runs.
• "Bucknell's Halicki covered his ugly broken nose with an even uglier protective framework. He then proceeded to make a touchdown, despite Penn State's wild Wolf, who came scampering and sniffing in his tracks." That was the only score in a 6-0 victory.
• In a Big Apple rivalry, New York University crushed Fordham 34-7. "Magpie N.Y.U. students pulled down the goal posts."
• In other Eastern games, "Rutgers died for Holy Cross 46-0" and "Princeton and Virginia came to naught to naught."
• "[Republican presidential candidate] Herbert Hoover Jr., Vice President Dawes, Mayors Walker of New York City and Thompson of Chicago, Secretary of the Navy Wilbur, Governor Len Small of Illinois, were a tiny fraction of the largest crowd in U.S. football history (117,000). They sat at Soldier Field, Chicago. They saw Colerick take a pass from Niemiec, causing Notre Dame to sink the Navy 7-0."
• "When Mayes McLain, Cherokee Indian, played for Haskell he scored 253 points in the 1926 season. Mayes McLain kicked, passed, plowed, ran, bowled over, tackled, for Iowa. Mayes McLain carried the ball 22 times for an average gain of five yards. Thus Iowa licked Chicago 13-0."
• "Wisconsin took on Cornell College (Iowa) and Dakota Aggies on the same day, drubbed both of them."
• "Montana's substitute Worden picked up a fumble and scampered 90 yards for a TD. But Nebraska won, 26-6."
• "While California was nosing out Washington State, California's southern branch [UCLA] was being trounced by Stanford. Still another institution, the University of Southern California, defeated St. Mary's 19-6."
• "Georgia Tech, many times the comet of the South, won from Tulane 12-0."
• "Vanderbilt out-tussled Texas 13-12."
• LSU scored its second straight romp over an in-state school. Last week it was Southwestern Louisiana Institute 46-0. This week, Louisiana College, 41-0.

• Southern Cal, the unanimous #1 in the AP poll, had no trouble with Oregon 28-6. However, TB O.J. Simpson limped off early in Q3 with what is hoped is not a serious injury. His replacement, Steve Grady, gained 108y and a TD in the second half. Since The Juice had only 63y on 23 carries, he was not the leading ball carrier for the Trojans. The Ducks didn't dent the Coliseum scoreboard until the last two minutes.
• #3 Colorado's 10-game winning streak ended on their home field at the hands of Oklahoma State 10-7. OSU's only TD came at the end of a 69y march with the opening KO. QB Ronnie Johnson scored from the 7. The Cowboys added a FG in Q3, enough to withstand CU's TD with less than ten minutes left.
• #4 Tennessee survived a nail-biter over the visiting LSU Tigers. Karl Kremser booted a 33y FG with 1:05 to play to break a 14-14 tie. But LSU's FB Eddie Ray threw a surprise 16y pass to help set up Roy Hurd's 36y FG try which went wide right. QB Dewey Warren didn't start because of injuries but came off the bench to hit 41y and 14y passes to set up his own 7y TD scramble. Then LB Jimmy Glover's INT of Tiger QB Nelson Stokley halted a threat shortly before halftime. Tennessee then went 80y, scoring on TB Walter Chadwick's 6y somersault. However, Sammy Grezaffi returned the ensuing KO 100y to make the score 14-7 at the break. After going without a first down in Q3, LSU drove 80y to tie the game in the last period on Stokley's 14y run. UT came right back for the winning FG.
• #8 Wyoming edged Arizona State 15-13 in Tempe. The 7-0 Cowboys opened with QB Paul Toscano's 63y TD bomb to WR Gene Huey in Q1. K Jerry DePoyster missed the PAT but added a 38y FG later for a 9-0 lead. After an ASU TD, DePoyster struck again to make it 12-7 in Q4. Then FB Max Anderson ran 99y to put the Sun Devils in front 13-12 after a 2-point pass failed. But DePoyster's record 30th career FG from the 26 won it.
• #9 Houston lost its second game of the season. Ole Miss prevailed 14-13 on the basis on a missed conversion. The visiting Cougars struck first on little Don Bean's 74y punt return in Q1. Then Rebel QB Bruce Newell tied it before halftime on a 28y pass to E Mac Haik. Tom Paciorek intercepted two UM passes deep in his own territory to maintain the tie. However, Newell hit TE Hank Shows for a Q3 TD. Cougar QB Dick Woodward connected on a 42y TD in Q4 but Ken Hebert missed the PAT.
• After finishing 5-6 last year, Ohio State was only 2-2 this season. But the Buckeyes' slow start got worse as 2-4 Illinois won the Illibuck Trophy for only the third time in the last 14 tries – and in Columbus to boot. HB Dave Jackson dove over from the 1-foot line with 34 seconds for a 17-13 win. WR Dean Volkman, transferred to QB because of injuries, led the winning drive with passes of 7, 16, and 14 to WR John Wright. Woody Hayes' O had eaten up eight minutes of Q4 with an 18-play, 65y drive to take a 13-10 lead, succeeding on fourth down three times along the way.
• In another Big Ten clash, Minnesota won the Little Brown Jug with a 20-15 win over Michigan in Minneapolis. Gopher QB Curt Wilson ran for two TDs and passed for a third to gain revenge for last season's 49-0 shellacking in Ann Arbor. Bump Elliott's Wolverines fell to 1-5 despite leading 15-0 until Minnesota scored with only 0:49 left in the first half. With the score 15-13, the Gophers found themselves on the Michigan 3 with 4th-and-two and 5:40 left. Coach Murrary Warmath was persuaded by his assistants to go for it, and Wilson rewarded his faith by faking a handoff and zipping outside to score. However, the visitors didn't go down without a fight, reaching the Gopher 21 before four passes by QB Dennis Brown fell incomplete. Then George Hoey's punt return almost made paydirt, but the punter shoved him out of bounds at the 26 when Hoey didn't cut to the center of the field. The Gopher D sacked Brown twice to preserve the victory
• Eastern Independents Penn State and Syracuse staged their annual clash. QB Tom Sherman of the visiting Nittany Lions hit TE Ted Kwalick to key a 22-14 PSU lead at the half. But Larry Csonka, alternating between HB and FB, sparked a second half surge by the Orangemen. Csonka's second TD made the score 22-20 but a two-point pass was dropped. This forced Syracuse to take chances that resulted in an EZ INT by DB Tim Montgomery and another INT that LB Dennis Onknotz returned 53y for the clinching TD.
• Virginia Tech succeeded in winning its seventh straight game for the first time since 1918. West Virginia was the victim, 20-7 in Morgantown. Ron Davidson's 73y punt return set up a 2y TD plunge as the Hokies built a 20-0 lead.
• What a difference a year makes. After meeting late in November of 1966 as the #1 and #2 teams in The Game of the Century, Michigan State and Notre Dame had five losses between them as they clashed at South Bend. The Irish prevailed 24-12, thanks primarily to FB Jeff Zimmerman who gained 135 on 20 carries with 2 TDs. One of the scores came on a 30y pass from QB Terry Hanratty for a 17-0 halftime edge. But the injury-riddled Spartans rallied for two Q4 TDs despite having six additional players suspended for curfew violations.
• Rookie coach Chuck Fairbanks watched his undefeated Oklahoma Sooners throttle Missouri 7-0 in Columbia. He must have wondered if it was enough to get his squad in the Top 20. The Tigers held the nation's top rushing attack to only 150y, over 100 below its average. But the Sooner D pitched its third shutout of the season. The key play of the game was OU QB Bobby Warmack's 51y pass to TE Steve Zabel to the 7 to set up the game's only score.

Sammy Grezaffi

Murray Warmath

Ted Kwalick

Steve Zabel

As usual, QBs took the spotlight.

• 5'9" 185 lb sophomore Jason Verduzco has big shoes to fill at Illinois since Jeff George turned pro last spring after his junior season and became the #1 pick in the NFL draft. After John Mackovic's Illini lost on the road at Arizona 28-16 last week, Verduzco led a come-from-behind 23-22 upset of #9 Colorado in the home opener. Little Jason hit 23-29 for 222 and 2 TDs, including five straight passes in a march capped by FB Howard Griffith's one-yard plunge with 1:18 to play for the win.
• "QB sensation" Ty Detmer, who led #5 Brigham Young to a shocking win over Miami last week, worried that his teammates were still basking in the glow of that upset. The first half against Washington State proved him right. Facing a 29-7 deficit, Coach La Vell Edwards, a former Mormon bishop, delivered a stern sermon in the locker room. Detmer then led a 36-point Q4 blitz to win 50-36. Ty finished with 5 TD passes and 448 yd. He increased to 15 his NCAA record for consecutive games with 300 yd in the air.
• "Robo QB" Todd Marinovich, so named because his father engineered him from the cradle to be a passer, went 22-34/240/TD as USC defeated visiting Penn State 19-14. Joe Paterno thus lost his opening two games for only the second time in his 25 year career as a head coach. His own QB, Tony Sacca, threw 16-34/243/TD/2 INTs. In Q4, trailing 19-7, Lion TB Gary Brown raced 32 and 8y to the Trojan 1 but was removed to keep him fresh in the heat. After three runs were stuffed, a fourth-down pass was blocked. PSU did score five minutes later but it wasn't enough.
• Notre Dame opened its season with sophomore QB Rick Mirer leading the fourth straight win over Michigan. Mirer threw the winning 18y TD to WR Adrian Jarrell with 1:40 to electrify the South Bend crowd. The tally completed a comeback from 24-14 down. The Wolverines enjoyed two TD catches by Desmond Howard from QB Elvis Grbac (17-30/190/2TD). TB Jon Vaughn ran for 201y in the losing cause.
• UCLA's freshman QB Tommy Maddox passed 5-5/71y in a little more than a minute to set up a last-second FG to upend Stanford 32-31. For the game, Maddox was 13-20/244/2TD.
• Washington QB Mark Brunell was only 11-24/150/TD/INT but ran for 76y, including a 47y TD scamper in Q1. The Huskies defeated Purdue in West Lafayette 20-14.
  
  

Other games:

• Army celebrated the kickoff of its centennial season. The glory days of WWII – three straight national championships ('44-'46) – have been replaced by 20 years with only eight winning seasons. Nevertheless, 5'8" 190 lb Mike Mayweather has put his name in the annals of West Point greats. He finished 1989 with a school-record 1,177y and a career 2,961, besting the immortal Glenn Davis's total by 4. He slashed through Holy Cross for 127y and 2 TD in a 24-7 victory.
• Kansas State took a giant stride under second-year coach Bill Snyder. The Wildcats defeated their first Division I-A foe since 1986 with a victory over New Mexico State 52-7. KSU is now 2-0 for the first time since 1982. The fans obeyed Snyder's admonition: "I don't want our people to tear down goalposts for doing mediocre things."
• Gannon, a Division III school in Erie PA, won its first game in 40 years. No, the school hasn't been that inept. The Knights dropped football following the 1950 season and went 0-7 last year after resuming the sport.
  
• Another school that has revived football is Division II Cumberland in Lebanon TN. If the name sounds familiar, it's because the school is in the record books for the 222-0 loss to Georgia Tech in 1916, the worst in NCAA history. The Bulldogs lost only 38-0 Saturday to Campbellsville (KY).

Ty Detmer

Desmond Howard

Mark Brunell

Bill Snyder