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Show Page THE HERALD. Provo I'tah. Sundav. November 9. 1980 What's happening on the national scene, state and local sports, columns and opinions Sports Texm Comeback Foils Short Bimh f Marion Dunn Redd, Titensor 41-2- 3 hard-earne- Texas State. Quarterback Jim McMahon was surrounded by Players were going and to coming from the showers. Center Bart Oates. who is establishing himself as one of the premier pivotmen in the WAC, talked with his father, a friend and coach Norm Chow about the knockout punch he took from Eagle defensive tackle Tony Elliott. "He hit me right on the chin and I can't remember anything about it," Oates said. Well, Moore did well to worry about BYU's defense because it was the Cougar defensive unit that paved the way for the big win over the Mean Green. North Texas State figured to be tough defensively. "They have been a good defensive team for a long time now," BYU coach LaVell Edwards said after the game. "They had Mean Joe Green and a bunch of good defensive players. We knew they would be strong defensively, but our defense outdid them today " The foul also went unnoticed by the officials but it was flagrant. It happened in the fourth quarter when BYU had the ball and a drive going. McMahon had just hit wide receiver Danny Plater advance putting the for a ball on the North Texas 29. On the next play McMahon dropped back to pass and Oates battled Elliott fiercely. Elliott grabbed Oates' face mask, pulled him toward him and followed with a solid punch to the jaw that knocked Oates out cold and out of the game. The big end from Westminster, Calif., was marked for greatness when he transferred from UCLA after returning from an LDS Church mission three years ago. As a redshirt in 1978 he terrorized BYU in practice sessions and now he is doing the same to Cougar opponents. Saturday he had six unassisted tackjes. five of them for losses, was in on four assisted tackles and sacked Stevenson twice. Redd, who stands out at a position where BYU has had some great stars in recent years, also played havoc with the Mean Green. The big linebacker from Ogden is an expert fisherman and Satur Edwards has said publicly that he isn't going to rate this year's e scale until team on his after the season and that makes sense. But it isn't premature to say that two BYU defensemen must rate a perfect 10 and could well be the best to play at their positions in the Long Blue line. The two are defensive end Glen Titensor and linebacker Glen Redd. They were absolutely devastating Saturday. Titensor simply exploded through the line to get at the Mean Green player with the ball and when Titensor all-tim- On the play McMahon was sacked by safetyman wasn't destroying NTS, Redd was. On the second play from scrimmage, NTS quarterback Joe Stevenson bounced the ball off a teammate's helmet and Titensor grabbed it to give the offense position for the first score of the game. But the play by Titensor that I remember best came later, when the warriors from Denton were threatening to pull dangerously close to the Brighams. On this play Stevenson dropped back to pass and was getting ready to fire the ball to a receiver only to be rudely interrupted by Titensor who came exploding between two blockers, stretched his arms and embraced Stevenson six yards behind the line of scrimmage. It was a gieat example of the way Titensor played all afternoon. Texas, for the high mountain country and the battle with BYU's ranked eleven. North Texas State coach Jerry Moore told everyone who would listen that it was the Cougars' defense that worried him. "The BYU defense is overlooked," Moore said. "They do a good job of keeping other people out of the end zone and getting the ball for the offense to score 50. 60 and 70 points." BYU's dressing room was confusion as usual after Saturday's win over North d Phil loss and the Cougars eventually had to settle for a field goal by Kurt Gunther. Broadus for a That punch by Elliott wasn't caught by the officials and even'it couldn't take away from what d was a battle between two fine defensive teams. Before his team left Denton. hard-nose- Out-Mea- the Green n day he kept snagging North Texas running backs. Redd also had six unassisted tackles in the game and his No. 41 could be spotted all over the field. Both young men preferred to talk about the coming game with Colorado State instead of NTS. g "North is a good, team, but I'm already excited about Colorado State," Redd said. "The CSU game is for everything. They are playing good football and it should be a great game." Titensor echoed Redd's statements. Pausing to autograph a program for a young fan, Titensor said he thought Stevenson was a little timid Saturday, then talked about the Rams. "Next week is going to be a big one. Colorado State is playing well and they'll come after us. It is what the whole year is about. I'm already getting excited about it." What BYU needed Saturday was a hard game and North Texas State gave them that. The hitting was hard on both sides although the Cougars might have been looking a week ahead. North Texas State pulled a lot of tricks Saturday, a long lateral on a kickoff. a fake punt, and some trickery in the backfield where Stevenson handed off, then took a pitchback and threw a pass. That means nothing Ram coach Jarkis Arslanian tries next week should come as a surprise. It was just the kind of tuneup for the Rams that BYU needed. hard-hittin- sk 1 ) I V f ' f s M :..L photo by Dennis Pattersoa Glen Redd flattens North Texas quarterback, Cougars Convert Eagle Tunovers, Then Hold On By BOB HUDSON Herald Sports Writer BYU capitalized on three fumbles for three quick touchdowns, then held on to defeat a stubborn North Texas team 3 in a football game Saturday. Ed St. Pierre recovered a North Texas bobble at the Eagle 34 to set up d the Cougars' first touchdown, a dive by Eric Lane with 12:34 left in the first quarter. An Jim McMahon to Lloyd Jones pass and a scamper by Lane were also key factors, Mike Jensen, a sophomore from Provo, set up the second BYU tally when he recovered an Eagle fumble on the ensuing kickoff. McMahon passed 17 yards to Scott Phillips before tossing 10 yards to Matt Braga for the score. Kurt Gunther missed the PAT after the first touchdown but Phillips converted for two after the second and it was BYU with less than four minutes gone in the game. ? wm. sans ar w mm". tar mm v x. i 41-2- it im; ? a v. i f sr , y v. from Provo, Gunther, a walk-o- n kicked a field goal on BYU's next possession, to push the Cougars' margin to 7 with 11:56 left in the game. That score was set up by a McMahon to Danny Plater pass. Both teams scored one more time with Stephenson going in from the five for the Eagles and Plater hauling in a pass from McMahon for the Cougars. Holmoe set up BYU's touchdown with an interception at mid-fiel34-1- one-yar- d. John Ramage, who prepped at Orem, closed out the Cougars' defensive effort with an interception on the final play of the game. Titensor led the Cougar defense with 37 points on six unassisted tackles, five of them for loss; four assists and two sacks. Kyle Whittingham, who played his high school ball at Provo, was next with 22 and Glen Redd had 21. Offensively McMahon completed 40 of 50 passes for 464 yards and three touchdowns while suffering three ing terceptions. His passing efficiency total dropped one point, from 173.00 to 171.90. Phillips caught eight passes for 72 yards. Plater and Lane caught six each, for 162 and 27, respectively and Scott Pettis and Brown had five each, for 58 and 47 respectively. Lloyd Jones and Homer Jones each had four catches and Braga had two. Lane rushed 13 times for 72 yards. The Cougars finished with 120 yards rushing. BYU improved its record to 1 on the season while North Texas slipped to 14-- 0 BYU got its final touchdown of the first half with 6:20 left when Lane scored from the one. Tom Holmoe set up that opportunity with a fumble recovery at the North Texas 10. North Texas climbed back into the on the game with a bit of razzle-dazzl- e ensuing kickoff. Greg Carter, hemmed in after a return, lateraled to Carlen Charleston on the other side of the field and Charleston raced 63 vards to the BYU 32. The Eagles ground out the remaining yards in seven plays with Ron Battle hauling in a pass from Joe Stephenson for the five-yar- NCAA-leadin- d six-yar- d touchdown. The Eagles missed an opportunity to close the margin a bit more when Mack Faggett recovered a Phillips fumble at the BYU 40 and the Cougar defense held. BYU then went on one of its more impressive marches, moving from its own 34 to the North Texas 12 before settling field goal by Gunther. for a That gave the Cougars a 24-- 7 edge with 13:07 left in the second quarter. North Texas came right back, moving from its 30 to the BYU 35 before Glen Titensor sacked Stephenson twice. A few moments later disaster struck the Cougars. David Morris blocked a Clay Brown punt and returned it 34 yards to the BYU nine. Malcolm Jones then covered the remaining yardage in two plays. Whit Smith's PAT made it 4 with 5:10 left in the first half. BYU opened the second half on a positive note as Via Sikahema returned the kickoff 47 yards. The Cougars sped to the Eagle 22 on a completion to Phillips and one for five yards to Homer Jones before Louis Haynes picked off a McMahon pass. The Eagles converted that turnover yard toss. With that catch Brown tied the school record held by Phil Odle and Mike Chronister. and And he has three games in which to break it. 8-- Next on the agenda for the Cougars is meeting with Colorado State in Cougar Stadium next Saturday. CSU is in league play while BYU is a NTS 77 BYf BYU Pte iYl Lane 1 41 run (kick failed) 10 pass from McMahon BY- U- Braga (Phillips rum BY- U- Lane run (Gunther kick) NT- S- Battle 6 pass from Stevenson (Smith kick) BYU FG Gunther 30 N- T- Jones 4 run (Smith kick) 1 J? M pt lstvX 24-1- NTS photo by Dennis Patterson Glenn Titensor prepares to drop North Texas' Joe Stephenson. Titensor scored 37 defensive points to lead Cougars Morris, who had come up with an in- - BYU's next series, but the Eagle of terception and a punt block earlier, got fense was unable to capitalize. another interception at midfield on BYU then demonstrated its ball con- - FG Smith 38 BY- U- Brown 2 pass from McMahon (Gunther kick) BY- U- FG Gunther 43 NT- S- Stevenson 5 run (kick failed) BY- U- Plater 42 pass from McMahon iGunther kick) A into a field goal, travelling from their own 23 to the BYU 21 before settling for Smith's with 10:01 left. i3 j Zl S 7 10 33 000. First downs Rushes-yard- Passing s NTS BYU 19 55-- 229 yards 92 81 Return yards 464 44 Passes trol offense, moving 88 vards in 13 Punts plays with Brown catching his 11th Fumbles-los- t touchdown pass of the season on a two- - Penalties-yard- s 21 27-- 13 0-3 0 5- -33 37- -45 2- -23 -3 0 2- 11- -in -1 |