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Show I: ?! V c o a Financial Markets B4 D Local Business B6 D Comics B7 i c the Saturday, October 19, 1995 Daily Herald Tulsa not ready to Dye again Braves' paraaimg may By MIKE PHILLIPS The Miami Herald TULSA, Okla. The University of Tulsa vows if that if the Golden Hurricane fail to upset No. 18 BYU, it won't be due to dying at the hands and feet of James Dye. BYU's No. 2 ranked (nationalk ly) punt returner picked up a bouncing punt a year ago in Pro-y-o and returned it 75 yards to set up a BYU touchdown that killed the Golden Hurricane team. f I A M Js Sick Harmon JNjw Sidelines Tulsa Coach Davft Rader punting to Dye can be disaster. A year ago they knew this and let a punt go his way and paid for it Today Tulsa won't let Dye get his hands on the football. ! The Cougars and Tulsa kick-o- ff is 7 p.m. (MST) and will be televised live on ESPN2 (cable). Dye is averaging 22.3 yards per return, better than the 21 .9 he averaged per attempt in 1995 when he led the nation. And he bad a TD return nullified by a clipping penalty in the Arkansas State game back in September. "He doesn't even need to step out there on punt returns," said Rader this week. "He's not going to touch it." After the 45-3- 5 loss to BYU in Provo, Rader called Dye the best punt returner he had ever seen. And Rader has personally seen return men like Barry Sanders, Devin Williams, Leeland McElroy and Brian Mitchell during his nine years as head coach. . When asked about his comment this week in Tulsa, Rader stood by his observation. "No question. Because of his ability to make people miss. He catches the ball easily. It's like there's no fear, there's no threat that he's going to drop it. And he has such confidence. And he has speed...He has speed." Today's game with Tulsa is crucial for the Cougars who now are in the thick of a WAC title and bowl bid chase any loss could cost them a bowl game appearance in December. So how good do Cougar fans have it when it comes to watching BYU play on television? Imague being a Tulsa fan. This meager ESPN2 exposure today is a. big, big deal in Oklahoma. The last time Tulsa appeared on live television in prime time was Oct. 2, 1986 when Tulsa beat 20-1- 0 before a crowd of 11,988 in Skelly Stadium. Imagine in Provo if the last prime time live television game you saw of La Veil Edwards' team was when Bob Jensen and Sean Covey were quarterbacks. The predictions: Notre Dame 45, Air Force 21: Falcons will end up 3- - 3 after the weekend as quarterback Beau Morgan will meet a defense suited to stopping his magic. Wyoming 45, Fresno State 32: Josh Wallwork will do what Michael Fouts of Utah did to the just rip. If Bulldog secondary FSU keeps turning the ball over, this could get ugly fast. Utah 21, Texas Christian 17: The Utes should be healed enough to avoid another UTEP scare at home. SMU 21, Rice 20: A renewed rivalry with similar results in recent years. The Mustangs offense could cause Rice major problems. Colorado State 28, San Jose State 21: Sonny Lubick is great after a loss and getting the Spartans in Ft. Collins on a cold, windy day will salve all the Ram disaploss. pointment over the Tulsa San Diego State 34, New Mexico 21: Billy Blanton, the nation's leading passer, could have.anothcr big day if he avoids the Lobo pass rush. UNLV 32, Hawaii 30: Could this be the one? The Rebels need a win and this is the best chance they'll have this season. BYU 38, Tulsa 17: Don't panic when Tulsa eets on the board lead. first and takes a BYU's defense will wear down the Golden Hurricane to a very small wind. i es i : first-quart- er The New York NEW YORK Yankees are about to enter a Brave New World, where few American League teams have ventured. It's strange there, a little distortand above all ed, a bit askew else cruel and unfair. Forget everything you know major-leagu- e about pitching, because this is another dimension. Think about the best pitcher you the very' have faced all season best. Now think of facing that pitcher today, tomorrow and the next day. That s what if s like to face the Atlanta Braves, who won the Would Series a year ago because one of the greatest offensive teams ever assembled a Cleveland Indians team that won 100 of 144 games and hit .291 and belted 207 homers (equates to 232 in a 162-gacould hit no betseason) ter than .179 and could score no more than 19 runs in six games. "They both have good teams, real good teams." says St. Louis third baseman Gary Gaetti. who played 15 seasons in the American League before coming home to the Cardinals this season. "They both have good hitters and good pitching, but the Braves are going to match up well no matter who they play. They are going to have the edge no matter what because of their pitching." That's the edge that counts in baseball. Ask anyone and they'll tell you Atlanta is the favorite, because of John Smoltz. Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine arguably as good as any three pitchers on the planet. But this World Series iias something else something missing for 1 5 years. This World Series has the Yankees and Yankee Stadium. Just listen to the Braves the talk world champion Braves about the place. "I was just there once," says Smoltz, who will open the Series Saturday night barring a postponement because of heav y rain in the forecast. "I was with up with S ecies key lb Detroit, and I w as just there shagging balls in the outfield. But 1 won't forget it. Pitching in the World Series in Yankee Stadium is going to be something special. It's going to be exciting for me." "I can't wait." says Braves manager Bobby Cox. who admitted Thursday night that he "got chills" listening to "New York, New York" being played after the Braves beat the Cardinals in Game 7 to win their fourth pennant of the decade. The Yankees haven't been in a World Series since 1981. the year Chipper Jones was jn fourth grade and Andruw Jones was turning 4. And after 15 years, you can be sure America and the Bronx will . Orem's Jon Barlow might have earned a new nickname Friday after wearing American Fork receiver Toby Christensen like a glove. Tiger coach Paul Clark figured Barlow's play was a key to No. 5 Orem's 20-- 7 Region Four victory over the No. 3 Cavemen. "I've said all along Jon Barlow is one of the best defensive backs in the state," Clark said. Christensen had been averaging six catches and 80 yards a game. Barlow limited him to two catches for 20 yards. Still, Barlow wasn't willing to take credit for the victory. "1 don't think any individuals stood out," he said, "All our defensive backs played excellent." Of course, Orem's offense also played a major role in the victory. Austin Berge and Jared Harper were the key players there. Berge rushed for 66 yards, passed for 124 and a touchdown and even one he threw. He caught a pass corralled the errant ball after American Fork's Jake Shoff deflected it. Harper rushed for 85 yards. and had three pass receptions for 76 yards. "Jared Harper had an absolutely super game." Clark said. "Austin Berge did a great job, too. he had two or three big runs besides his passing." Barlow also had a solid offensive game, with a nine-yar- d touchdown run and a seven-yar- d pass reception to add to his resume. Orem took control early. After stuffing the Cavemen on their first offensive series, the Tigers started from their 36. They moved to paydirt in nine plays with Barlow going the final nine, executing a nice spin move to American escape a Fork defense. Harper had a run reception and a in the series. In the opening moments of the second quarter, American Fork marched from its 20 to the Orem By JOHN MOSSMAN AP Sports Writer f M Thanks to expansion, the Western Athletic Conference has seven conference games on the weekend its most ever. The schedule of activity should finally flurry lend some shape to the races in the Pacific and Mountain divisions. No. 23 Wyoming puts its 0 oveiall and 4-- 0 WAC records on the line in Laramie against Fresno in a key Pacific . State (2-matchup. In the Mountain. No. 24 Utah (5-entertains Texas Christian (2-while No. 18 travels Brigham Young (6-to Tulsa (3-"Wyoming is a great football team and they deserve their ranking." Fresno coach Jim Sweeney said. "They've got a huge offensive line. (Josh) Wallwork is a tremendous passer and they're tremendously well stocked at the receiver position. (Marcus) Harris is a bona I don't think fide the ends they . defensive have they had a year ago, but they're awful- v. 7-- 27-ya- rd 1 Scouting report for Tulsa, as the 'Golden Hurricane comes into Provo for its first WAC matchup against BYU: 1. Don't try the Cougars' riht side when Amy Steele and Korie Rogers are on the front row. 2. Don't try the Cougars' left side when Steele and Gale Johnson are front row. 3. Don't try the Cougar's left side when Rachel Greene and Anna-Len- a Smith are front row. 4. Don't try the Cougars' right side when Greene and Rogers are front row. 5. The middle doesn't have much room, either. In a nutshell - don't try the Cougars at the net at all try to serve aces. At least, that's what the Rice Owls found out Friday when they attempted to get the ball past any part of the Cougar team at the net. The Cougars totaled 14 team blocks (one solo block and 26 assists) en route to an easy 15-15-- 7 15-victory over the Owls at the Smith Fieldhogse. 1, 3, 3-- 1. 3. 2-- 1. 2. ( 3& It r t I m - ly g(Kxl. "We will be hard pressed to beat them down there (in Laramie). It's the best football team I've ever seen Wyoming have, and that includes Paul Roach's teams." Wyoming, whose w inning streak is the longest in the nation, ranks second nationally in both passing offense (381 yards per game) and total offense (533). Fresno State has won two straight games for the first time since winning three in a row to start the 1995 season. TCU ended a three-gam- e losing streak by blanking Texas-E- l Paso 18-- 0 last week, while Utah was 10-ga- Daily Herald PhotoJohn Blodgett Orem defenders in the first quarter Friday. The Tigers beat the Cavemen 20-7- . "It was just a matter of watchOrem's second touchdown ing his belly button," Barlow said came on Adam Leifson's three-yar- d of his success. "I've been looking dash run follow ing a forward to the game since last by Berge late in the first half. Its year when they beat us. I look final score came on a forward to challenges." pass from Berge to Jason Kukahiko two minutes into the Obviously, his teammates relished the challenge and met it, final quarter. too. Orem improved to 1 in American Fork scored with league play and 2 overall, tied 9:02 left in the game when Kelley with Brighton atop the league punched in from the one. The American Fork standings. (See OREM, Page B2) dropped to 2 and 6-- American Fork quarterback Isaac Kelley is sacked by Orem's Jackson Linford amidst a host of other 19 before running out of downs, Quarterback Isaac Kelley connected with Ryan Slater three times for 49 yards in the drive. Slater was injured when Orem scored with four minutes to go in the first half. He apparently suffered a concussion and medical personnel advised that he be kept out of the game as a precaution. With Barlow getting to know Christensen intimately, that loss hurt. 34-ya- rd idle. 5-- 6-- 4-- Every Cougar except one who played on the front row had at least one block assist in a n a'ch where BYU held the visiting Owls to a .045 hitting percentage. "They (Rice didn't have much of a chance," observed BYU coach Elaine Michaelis when evaluating her team's performance. "I thought we played extremely well. Of course, they weren't one of the teams that was supposed to be real- ly challenging, but we played so well that we just didn't give them much of a chance at anything. "Our blocking was awesome, our service gahie was working. We could have played a little better defense, but there really weren't very many balls that got through." There really weren't. The Cougars had only 30 digs total in the three games, but as Michaelis pointed out, there weren't a lot of digs to be had - not when Steele had one solo block and nine block assists, when Rogers had eight block assists and Greene and Johnson had three apiece. And not when Helen Hjorth had three aces and about a dozen more that resulted in bad passes from Rice and easy BYU points. Smith -- couple of big kills from Steele and Smith Johnson. Leading 10-served three straight points, including an ace. Hjorth's cross court kill moved BYU to game block point, and a Steele-Hjort- h gave BYU the game. Using several substitutes, the Cougars took a 0 lead in game three. Rice came back w ith a Dar-c- y Cruikshank-Monik- a Bickert block, a kill from Rebecca Case and an ace from Cruikshank to trail But from there,. Johnson just and Midgley put in some good serves and the Cougars ran off sevage. Game one was all BYU as the en straight points to lead 13-Steele's kill and a Rice hitting Cougars were nearly perfect, committing only one error in the game. error gave BYU the game and Steele-Roger- s match. k fun were blocks got BYU going, and with having "They the Cougars up 4-- 1 , Hjorth stepped tonight," Michaelis said. "I think to the service line and served the they are starting to feel all right game out That run included two about themselves. That could carry aces and two other serves that them the rest of the season. They resulted directly in points, a are getting that confidence that n block, a nice dump they need." The win moved the Cougars to from Smith and an emphatic kill 6 on the year, 4-- 1 in the WAC from Steele on a slide set. Game two was more of the Mountain Division. Rice fell to The Cougars take on and same. The Cougars blasted to a 10- -' lead, getting blocks from Greene, Tulsa tonight at 7 p.m. in the Smith Rogers, Smith and Steele and a Ficldhouse. and Wendy Midgley also had an ace, and just about every Cougar had several serves that gave the Cougars easy chances for points. On the offensive side, Steele was as awesome as she was on defense. The junior had 12 kills and only two errors for a .500 hitting percentage. Rogers added six kills with no errors and hit .545, while Johnson had five kills and no errors for a .357 average. The Cougars hit .369 as a team as Smith came up with 33 assists and a .471 setting percent- TCU coach Pat Sullivan has not been encouraged by watching game film this week. "I watched three games this morning, and they (Utah) created enough turnovers to last a whole year." Sullivan said. "Their fulld Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afalback is bigger than any defensive linemen we've got. They're very solid on both sides of the ball. Coach (Ron) McBride has" done a tremendous job with that program." was McBride equally impressed by the Horned Frogs' shutout of UTEP. "They didn't give UTEP any- thing and tixk the run away and forced them into a throwing game," '. McBride said. "I think UTEP got : only seven first do.vns. That's the i hardest I've seen them play." e win- BYU, riding a ning streak, heads into hostile ter ritory in Tulsa, where the Golden Hurricane are fresh off a 20-1upset of Colorado State. It was" Tulsa's third straight win. "They look very impressive,; especially on defense," BYU; coach La Veil Edwards said. ; BYU ranks fourth in the nation; in passing (361) and sixth in total; offense, and Steve Sarkisian nationally in both passing efficiency and total offense. In other WAC games on Satur- -' day, San Diego State plays at New Mexico, Southern Methodist visits Rice, and San Jose State travels to Colorado Slate. In a battle of have-notvisits Hawaii ). UNLV (0-(275-poun- 2. Stingy Cougars stew Owls in three games By DOROTHY KNOELL The Daily Herald Assistant Sports Editor 2-- 1) 3. y. hard-chargi- (See BRAVES, Page B2 has full tank Saturday all-sta- te matter-of-factl- well-reste- WAC now, urem caeYensive maies shut American Fork down, 20-- 7 By BOB HUDSON The Daily Herald Assistant Sports Editor be ready for a series covered in pinstripes. "It's going to be wild and hostile." said Chipper Jones, who has never plaved in Yankee Stadium. "I think it will be great to play in Yankee Stadium." And there's the question about d who is better off. the Yanks, who beat up Baltimore in five, or the Braves, who had to come back from a hole just to stay alive. "Last ear we were the ones who waited on the Indians." Chipper Jones said. "That week off really got to us. I would rather have it this way. I think we're glad 2, 5-- 6-- 5. 5. Back-to-bac- Steele-Johnso- a) four-gam- 4. s, (1-6- 9-- 8-- 3-- 3. 1 Air Force visits No. 8 Notre Dame in the lone game of the week. is idle. Texas-E- l Paso |