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Show Thursday Quarterback SUSC vs. Adams St. If ever there has been a perpetual monkey wrench in the gears or a perpetual fly in the soup tor Southern Utah State College's football program that continual problem has been Adams State College of Alamosa, Colo. "I don't like to think how many times Adams State has spoiled a good football season for us," Jack Bishop, SUSC's head coach, admits. The Thunderbirds get a great chance to change that situation Saturday - when they travel to Alamosa for a 1 p.m. showdown with the always-strong Indians. SUSC, which will be gambling its leadership for the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in the game, has never beaten the Indians at Alamosa. But, the Thunderbirds have already done some things this year that they've never - done before: --In their history as a four-yeaar college, the T-Birds T-Birds had never opened the season with three consecutive vicotries.Only three times in history have the 'Birds won three RMAC games in a row. -Never, until last week had SUSC clicked off 500 yards rushing in a single game. "Our offense came into its own. With our variety of running backs and the offensive options open to us, we should continue to be a good offenisve team," Bishop says. -- Only once before have the T-Birds accumulated ac-cumulated as many as 597 yards total offense in one game; that's the total last week in the 44-3 romp of Mesa. "I've said it before, and I'll say it agian," Bishop says, "This is the game we've got to win to stay on track for the kind of season we really want." Conference statistics indicate that Saturday's clash may be a classic offense against defense struggle. The T-Birds lead the league in total offense; they rank 2.3 yards per game ahead of the powerful Southern Colorado team. Adams State ranks ninth (last) in the RMAC total offense. SUSC is the second most prolific rushing team; Adams State is seventh. In the air, SUSC gains more yards per game than all but two conference schools; Adams State again ranks seventh. Defensively, the statistics tell a different story. Adams State ranks as second stingiest against the pass, fourth toughest against the rush, and second in overall defense. SUSC is third defensively against the pass, sixth against the rush, and fourth in overall defense. Bishop describes Adams State as a very good defensive team with excellent : speed and quickness. "Offensively, they run a veer and they control the ball very well. Wayne McGinn, who was all-conference last year, does much of their running, and he's a good one. Mark Buderus is quarterbacking the team for the third year. They lost only five seniors from last year, so Adams should have a good season." Cedar vs. Carbon . i Cedar High School won't be taking it easy against its next opponent, thougn carbon dwells in the cellar of Region Six and has yet to win a game in 1980. "Our scouts have been impressed with Carbon," assessed Head Coach Dave Jenson. "It looks like they have some exceptional talent. They just haven't gotten it together yet." Among Carbon team members, Jenson said, is a halfback who won last year's 100-yard dash championship. "They also have a new quarterback quar-terback who is supposed to be a good athlete," Jenson added. Offensively, Carbon will run a veer, a set Jenson said has given his team more trouble than other offenses. "This quarterback has a good arm, but they haven't thrown well against other teams this year. They do have fine receivers with good speed." Defensively, Jenson expects Carbon to put a lot of pressure on the run. "They also play receivers real tight. If a team executes properly, it could go deep on them. We will try and go deep, but then, we've tried to go deep on everyone." Jenson summarized his team's chances: "It will be no easy ballgame, unlike what many people think. Carbon will be at least as physical as Dixie, but I don't know if they'll be as sound fundamentally." fun-damentally." Last year, Cedar fell x.'hind the Dinos 13-0 in he first six minutes, jefore coming back to win 21-13. Entering the game, the Redmen are averaging 16.6 points per outing, third in the conference. Carbon is dead last in offense, coming up with just 6.8 points per game. Defensively, Cedar is tops in the conference, yielding just 9.6 points per game; Carbon again rates last, giving up over 25 points per match. The Dinos are coming off a 27-6 trouncing at the hands of Spanish Fork, a squad earlier defeated by Cedar 13-7. Parowan vs. Beaver There's not much that could be said about Parowan's Friday night matchup with Beaver in Beaver, except they know they'll have their work cut out for them. The Beavers are just 3-2 3-2 on the year, with those two losses coming to 2-A contender Hurricane, and both in close fashion. The Salt Lake City newspapers still think enough of the Beavers to rate them as the number one 1-A team in the state, despite their two losses. "That number one rating speaks well for their reputation," said Head Coach Scott Doubek. "We face a supreme challenge, They have a lot of talent, and they size up quite a bit bigger physically than we do." The Beavers have had some success with their passing game this year, and Doubek said his Rams will "need to stop it, or at least slow it down to be competitive." Doubek said his team will continue to so with what has been most successful for them this year-the running game. "If there is any inexperience inex-perience on Beaver's . team, it is in the offensive and defensive lines. We'll try and take advantage of that." Doubek hopes the "visiting field advantage" ad-vantage" will help Parowan. "For some reason, we usually play Beaver pretty well up there, better than in Parowan. In any event, the kids know what's facing them." The Beavers are potent offensively, averaging 26.2 points per game. Defensively, though, the Beavers have given up just 11 points less than the Rams over the first five games. |