OCR Text |
Show c Travel C10 Sunday, Oct. 30, 1994 The Daily Herald m 7c5 Dick v -- a r"7 """" y w a ?7 m : "Snake." One known as the famed Are Cougars better out suitcases? Flat. As in no peaks or valleys; having no elevation; lying extended at full length; having little depth or thickness; without variation; having little or no sparkle; not clear or full; emptied of air; without gloss. Flat-linas in a hospital heart monitor, signifying lack of electrical activity. All dictionary jargon. Saturday BYU brought the jargon to life. On a picturesque perfect autumn day for football in Cougar Stadium d Saturday, BYU 's football team appeared in uniform on the field in body, but was in spirit. There in front of friends, family and a regional television audience, an Arizona State team inspired by the loss of nine starters and embarrassing 5 record kicked collective cat tail all over the field. Before intermission, a BYU homecoming crowd of 65,208 might as well have witnessed a kennel of dogs on the turf building doggie castles than what they were served. At least the castles would have had peaks, spires and provided a speed bump for the visitors from the Pac-1Disgruntled and moaning fans began heading for exits with 10 minutes left on the clock. Why a BYU team that had earned 10 straight road wins including forays at Fresno State and Notre Dame could come out so flat, so unemotional, so was a mystery to all. Even La Veil Edwards. His team has been a terror when playing out of suitcases. BYU has not lost a road game since 1992 in Hawaii. But this season aftir returning from Hawaii and Air Force, they lost to CSU at home. Then after returning from wins in Fresno, South Bend and El Paso, they lose to ASU at home. Get the trend. "It goes against what we saw in practice all week. We had great practices. I don't know what it was," said the veteran coach. "I don't know why we came out flat," said quarterback John Walsh. "It is a mystery," said guard Evan Pilgrim. "I can't explain it," said receiver Tim Nowatzke "I don't know why," said defensive lineman Greg Pitts. What is even more disturbing is a BYU trend of losing at home something Edwards is not used to in his 23 years. Of BYU's last 10 home games, the Cougars have dropped half, including losses in Provo to ASU, Colorado State, Utah, Fresno State and Notre Dame the past two seasons. All losses looked the same: TYU came out flat, uninspired am' 'lad no intensity. Granted BYU hasn't exactly scheduled Idaho State and Idaho in inviting the Irish, UCLA. ASU and Penn Slate to Cougar Stadium. But this is a place the Cougars did beat Miami. The Cougars have been just shadows of themselves at times at home. Edwards said BYU was not Dame experiencing a post-Notwin letdown. Walsh agreed. "Anybody can beat anybody else on any given Saturday." But , Walsh is 8 as a starter in Provo. Pilgrim said on BYU road trips the team is together as a unit, away from school, distractions, family, friends, and can primarily focus on football. "There may be something to that. It (losing at home) hasn't been a problem for just this team but guys on this team for several years now . ' ' Distractions at home? BYU has 32 married players. Edwards is concerned enough about the trend he told players he would look into measures to help. Some of those measures may be to do what most college football teams routinely do. Utah does it. Heck, even some high school teams in Texas do it: Put the team up in a local hotel for home games, or at least seclude the team 24 hours before kickoff. That way players aren't leaving honey-do- s e: 20th-ranke- -T 2-- 0. re 4-- (See HARMON, Page C2) t k'mm I When Arizona State quarterback Jake Plummer was just a kid he idolized Oakland Raider quarterback Kenny Stabler who was Sports Editor of 0y evils destroy By DICK HARMON Daily Herald Sports Editor Harmon Y Ft' day his older brother saw Jake reading a book about Stabler and nicknamed his brother "Jake the Snake." Saturday in a Provo stadium famous for displaying the talents of e college quarterbacks, Jake "The Snake," had the best day of his career, leading the Sun big-tim- ntr tiL )?: win Devils to an impressive 36-1- 5 over BYU before a frustrated Cougar homecoming crowd of 65,208. For the Cougars ), the loss to ASU (3-brought back memories of the 1960s when the Sun Devils ruled the WAC and routinely beat BYU like a drum. When trailing 35-- 7 with two minutes to play, it was the worst whipping at home for jp. (7-2- 5) the Cougars (other than the beating by Notre Dame last 1973 when since' you got it year) 25-poi- nt -- ASU whipped BYU 49-1- 7. "They were very inspired," said BYU coach LaVell Edwards of the Sun Devils. "We were not as inspired and didn't play as well as I thought we would based on prac- tice." For Plummer, a 52 percent season passer who snaked his way out of sacks, lobbed touch passes over BYU defenders, and rifled darts to uncovered tight must have reminded him of film reviews of BYU at UTEP. That's when a 42 percent Miner passer named Shawn Gray completed 10 passes for 227 yards and three touchdowns on the Cougars. Plummer must have said: "Hey, I a slow-foote- d, end, it can do that too." Plummer had five more comple- tions (15 of 25) but those went for 327 yards and three touchdowns. His pass efficiency rating was a whopping 209. And his touchdown bomb to Mormon Keith Poole was the longest against BYU all season. "He was good and we were not," said BYU safety Cory Cook. For BYU's defense, which managed just one Dennis Simmons sack 83-ya- rd Herald PhotoPatrick J kioba loss the fourth quarter. quarterback John Walsh is manhandled by ASU's Ken Talanoa for a 1th nationally, on the day and was left on the field their crosshairs on BYU's second- - ter halftime, the phantom act for half the game by BYU's vacation- - ary: Six touchdown passes, 554 air two quarters proved an insur- - with three turnovers that led to mountable barrier for the No. 20- - ASU scores including an intercep- ing offense, it was the end of eight yards, just two sacks. bleak quarters of play. In two For BYU's offense, which ap- - ranked team. The Cougar offense, ranked (See GAME, Page C2) games opposing offenses have set peared in the stadium sometime af- BYU in four-yar- d 1 Arizona State kept BYU off balance all day d urday matchup with the Cougars, were happy with By DOROTHY KNOELL The Daily Herald 20th-ranke- Arizona State coach Bruce Snyder figured the flight back to Tempe would be something different. A nice something different. "How does this (win over BYU) rank?" he repeated the question that was posed by a reporter after his Sun Devils whipped BYU 36-1- 5 Saturday at Cougar Stadium. "Well, it's a good one let me tell you, it's just nice to think of a happy flight home. I can't remember many of those here at Arizona State. I feel good knowing we're going to have one of those light, happy flights home." To a man, the Sun Devils, with just two wins coming into the Sat Uflah think they had difficultly lining up against it, as is often the case when someone does something new." "I think we confused them a little with our three left, one right wideout set, our spread set," add By BOYD KARREN Special to The Daily Herald - At SALT LAKE CITY and enjoying the best season in University of Utah football history, the Utes could be staring at a Top 8-- 0, " ranking. There was no letdown from last week's huge win at Colorado State as the Utes put it together Saturday afternoon and demolished the visit52-ing Miners of Texas-E- l Paso "The kids played well from the very beginning," said Utah coach Ron McBride. "There was no letdown. The kids refocused themselves after the CSU game." 10 7. back Charlie Brown had the game of his life, 143 yards rushing for a career-higand four touchdowns. Ute quarterback Mike McCoy passed for 391 yardsand three touchdowns. ' "We played pretty well as a team," said McCoy. "This is the type of game we're capable of playing every week. I have to give all the credit in the worid to the offensive line, the way it held up for Charlie (Brown)." The Utes struck first, on a touch pass to Curtis Marsh from McCoy, just three minutes into the game. UTEP lit a drive of their own, but stalled at the Ute 20, and then botched the snap on a field goal attempt. McCoy nailed Derrick Marston and Marsh for tosses of 24 and 18 Branyards, setting up a don Pulsipher field goal. Brown's first touchdown ramble went for 27 yards. It was set up by a 21 yard toss to Claiborne from McCoy. 25-ya- rd -- Five seconds into the second quarter, Utah led 17-0. "The offensive line did a great the big and the made receivers job the said "That's McCoy. plays," way our offense should work. It's one of the best games our offense has played." Wait don't forget the defense. On the Miners' next possession, Utah defensive back Earnest Boyd intercepted Shawn Gray's pass, setting up Brown's third touchdown, a three-yar- third-and-1- 2 d sweep to the left. At this point, Utah led 24-0- . The Miners did manage a score before the half, when Gray went back to the air, hitting J.J. Rowlctt for passes of 33 yards, 17 yards, touchdown and then on a strike. 17-ya- rd "We knew they'd adjust to things at halftime, so we adjusted, too," said safety Thomas helped get everyone motivated, and practices had been intense all week. That translated into intense play on Saturday. "It was a mad race up front everyone really wanted to make the plays," he said. "We came out Talanoa said he had a little extra incentive in the game, since he was friends with BYU quarterback John Walsh from high school days and was related (cousins) to Cougar running back Mark Atuaia. "You can't let your friends offensive line," Snyder said. "Usually, you don't like to do that. 52-- 7 "Offensively, because you like to play as a unit, but it worked out for us this time. ' ' Defensive tackle Ken Talanoa said the shakeups in the depth chart hard." Sim- mons, who returned an interception for a touchdown in the first half. "So we kept mixing it up, and I think we rattled them." Some new faces on the offensive and defensive lines paid big dividends for ASU, too. "We had three new guys on the UTEP, 16-ya- have huge day h and then our fullback, Parnell Charles, split out left," Snyder said. "They hadn't seen that and I upends Brown, McCoy Utah running this one. Players and coaches said a good week of practices, fired-u- p players, a new scheme or two and a determination to basically treat the last four games of the year as a whole new season contributed to the Sun Devil win. "We had a new (offensive) set we hadn't shown before this game, with our three wideouts set right ed quarterback Jake Plummer, who 327 yards threw for a career-hig- h and three touchdowns. "It was like they didn't know if we were going to run or pass, and when they thought run, we passed, and when they thought pass, we ran. We mixed it up and kind of got them show you up. I was just pulling grass and staying low and beating my man (on the sacks)." he said, then added with a grin when asked if he had said anything to Walsh when he sacked him, "No. 1 didn "t say anything. I winked at him a few times, but he didn't say anything back. "Mark kind of ticked me off because he got that last touchdown. But overall, we just played really hard." "The offense came to play and the defense stepped in up," confirmed Simmons, who said his interception was an illustration of that, since everyone was doing their jobs and "I was covering, and I just stayed in the middle and the quarterback threw it right to me." Plummer said the Sun Devils felt this was a game that could be the (See ASU, Page C3) Glasson leads by one inspite of their defensive play, we showed some signs of being a decent football team." said UTEP coach Charlie SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -Bill Glasson needed only a hard-fouground of 71 to relead Saturday tain a in the third round of the S3 million Tour Championship. four But his erratic effort bogeys and as many birdies over the Olympic Club course opened the door to a host of potential challengers for Sunday's final 18 holes of the sea event. "I let a lot of people back in the tournament," Glasson said. "I think someone can still shoot 63 or 64, and I think somebody probably will." Chief among his challengers are veterans Fuzzy Zoeller and Mark McCumber, one stroke 205 off Glasson's total for 54 holes. And Greg Norman, bolstered insisted his by a 210 total is not too far back to catch up. "I knew I had to shoot in the mid-60- 's to get back in it. I did said Norman, who shot a that," 66. "Now, if I can shoot in the ht one-stro- Bailey. Utah scored twice more before the half ended, when Brown broke d loose for a run. and Mcfirst-dow- n on his audible Coy's d bomb own 38 turned into a to Claiborne. Utah led at the half, 38-"I told them at halftime that I wanted them to play consistently all four quarters," said McBride. "The key would be the first drive of the third quarter. We had to stop them right there." And they did. Boyd picked off but the his second pass of the day t. Ute offense went "I was a little disappointed because our offense didn't answer," said McBride. But the defense held UTEP to three-and-oagain, and the Utes stormed 75 yards downfield, scoring on Brown's one yard scamper, his fourth of the game giving Utah a 45-- 7 lead. McCoy hit Claiborne for one more touchdown pass, a nine-yar- d touch pass with 1:41 to go in the third quarter. The PAT made it 52-and the reserves came in for the fourth quarter. 43-yar- 62-yar- 7. three-and-ou- ut 7, son-endi- hole-in-on- e, round and you're worried about Greg Norman being five shots back, you're in a lot of trou- ble," McCumber, a two-tim- e winner this year, said after a birdie putt on the final hole closed out his 69. 15-fo- ot The Zoeller. easy-goin- g a four times this season, declined to make any predictions after strolling to a boge66. y-free "You never know what to expect," he said. "I've been knocking on the door a lot this year, but I seem to keep running into a buzz-saon Sunday. But they say if you keep knocking long enough, the door is going to open." U.S. Open champion Ernie Els of South Africa, Steve Low-er- y and career Brad Bryant finished three rounds at 207. Bryant moved up with a 67, while Els and Lowery each lost a shot to par with 72s. runner-u- p w non-winn- er I The group at 208 included Corey Pavin, John Huston and Jeff Maggert. Huston closed up with a 66, while Maggert and McCumber, however, took a different view. "If you're going into the last Norman called his ace with a on a 137-yahole, "a pivotal shot." mid-60- 's again tomorrow, have a chance to win it all. " Pavin each shot 70. rd |