Show 2B Standard-Examin- Saturday Oct 21 1989 er Sports -- NM State winless but trying 1- -5 0-- I Aggie Memorial Stadium His USU football team has dominated New Mexico State during the past nine meetings — as have most schools But these 6 Southern Aggies have shown the ability to move the ball this season and with the 1:30 pm game being their homecoming Shelton knows it could be a 4-- 3-- 0-- fight drill at the end of the first half 7 loss) and against UTEP (a through the last two ball games our offense has generated a lot of yardage a great deal of points and a lot of excitement" said prospects for the future “We are in the last year of our contract and what is going to happen in the evaluation process 1 have no idea I know every week we have been playing competitively" But the Northern Aggies haven’t exactly been blessed with wins this year either USU in the Big is overall and West Conference “Utah State has played against some very formidable opponents” Knoll said “Look at USC Illinois — those are very good teams Now as they get into the meat of their conference schedule and start going up against teams like Fullerton and New Mexico State I think you will see them blossom and really mature into a quality football 29-2- Knoll “We are happy with the offense Phil Vinson has played well and blossomed into the kind of QB we thought he should and could be” Shelton just hopes the offense can control the game and let the defense do the job when it has to “The key is going to be to get their offense off the field because they are going to peck away” Shelton said “This is an opportunity for us to put our offense on the field and let it do something so we can keep them on the sidelines Finally the winner of this game will get a definite shot in the arm “It will be Aggies against Agingies but a very tense game between two very hungry football teams” Knoll -1 -5 in his Knoll who is fourth year as NMSU’s coach liked Shelton’s assessment “I appreciate Coach Shelton and his coaches' evaluation I think it is accurate We are in a difficult situation here and a lot of people might have folded up tent and gone on home right now Our players haven’t and team” work hard every day” Offensively the Southern AgKnoll is in the last year of his gies are led by quarterback Phil Vinson who has completed contract “I look at the guy in the mirpasses for 1299 ror and realize we are doing the yards eight touchdowns and best job that we can with what nine interceptions so far this we have to work with” Knoll year said about his performance and “Ever since the 106-of-1- 96 two-minu- hard-foug- ht said te By TOM CHRISTENSEN Jim Woolverton StandardExammer Jim Woolverton has been on both the winning and losing sides When he quarterbacked Bonne- finding it difficult to adjust from a Ho ia ville High School’s football team he was a member of the 1986 and Laker squads that combined 4 for a record He passed for 4607 yards and 45 TDs for the Lakers during those two seasons Now Woolverton is in his second year as a member of New winning record to a losing one ’87 21-- redshirt freshman and a backup Phil behind starting signal-callVinson During his two years at er NMSU his team’s record is “It is difficult to adjust from winning most of your games to losing most of your games” said Woolverton in a phone interview from Las Cruces NM Vinson is a senior and Woolverton knows if he can improve enough he may get three years to try to turn this struggling Big West Conference program around “As far as the future I plan on staying down here" Woolverton said “I’ve got my roots here There is good education here and nice athletic facilities I will have three years (to start) if I take advantage of the opportunity” Woolverton had hoped to play basketball in college but when those opportunities didn’t come through he decided to leave home and attend NMSU “My collegiate basketball hopes in high school didn’t turn out how I would have liked” he said “I chose New Mexico State because of its business program and the opportunity to play ball and it isn’t bad to wear shorts in January either” It has been hard for Woolverton to be on the losing end of most games but he says the Aggies are just a “step away" from winning “The most difficult thing to adjust to is that hard work usually brings about good ends” Woolverton said “The bottom line is we just haven’t won a game It isn’t from a lack of effort but again it is the intangibles of winning “Yes we are improving as a team Our offense had really come around We just need to find the intangibles that will make us a winning team I have found out there is a fine line between winning and losing” Woolverton also isn’t sure - staff r PALO ALTO Calif — It’s been a long stretch for the University of Utah football team but ' the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter The Utes who have played five of their first seven games of the 1989 season on the road close out the stretch with a game against Stanford today The road game Utah’s sixth in eight tries is the third consecutive week the Utes have been away from home The game gets under way at 2 pm (MDT) “Some of you have been wondering if we’re remodeling our stadium the way we’re never at home” Ute Coach Jim Fassel joked earlier this week Ironically there was some concern over whether Stanford Stadi- urn would be ready for the game Tuesday’s major earthquake and the subsequent aftershocks that rocked the San Francisco Bay area over the past few days put the issue in question but it was decided late Wednesday to go ahead with the scheduled contest as the Palo Alto area had suffered minimal damage Interestingly Sunday’s NFL San Francisco 49ers-NePatriots game originally w Eng-lan- ds 1- -5 2-- 31-1- 7-- 172-of-3- scheduled to be held in San FranCandlestick Park has been moved and will be played in Stanford Stadium on Sunday Fassel could be understood if he’s hoping some of the winning magic of Joe Montana & Co can rub oft on his Utes Of course Stanford Coach Denny Green may be hoping the cisco's damaged you" Ellison a first team cornerback Ellison went down with a severe knee injury and his loss left Ault with an men secondary “When we lost Bernard it forced us to make three position Hockey standings) as a back-u- p goaltend-e- r I have to set my expectations higher and play my best every time out It’s really disappoint- s biggest setback of a week ago involved Bernard an all-fres- h- From IB over- and force a time period For the second time in nine days Salt Lake went into a shootout after overtime failed to alter things The Rivermen’s Doug Evans Michel Mongeau Kevin Miehm and Jim Vesey all got shots past Eagles’ goalie Wayne Cowley in the shootout while Salt Lake shooters Rich Chernomaz Tim Sweeney and Marc Bureau were successful against Joseph “I don’t know if they got the best of me in the shootout and I don’t know if I was ever there I really got abused in the shoo-touCowley said “Even though this goes down as a tie and not a loss (in the 4-- 4 - 2-- 1- shooting gallery for Wildcat quarterback Ryan Schmidt and his receivers Schmidt has thrown for 1516 yards and six touchdowns while his primary receiver tight end Peter Macon leads all receivers with 53 catches But Arslanian doesn’t buy the notion that UNR’s secondary has become that vulnerable Not with Nevada-Reno’" I KICKOFF: 2 pm today (MDT) No TV KALL 910 AM I 5 overall UTAH RECORD: Western Athletic Conference Pac-1- 0 overall STANFORD RECORD: Conference LAST MEETING: 1924: Stanford 30 Utah 0 x SERIES RECORD: Stanford leads 0 KEY MATCHUPS: Stanford likes to pass but the Cardinal is unsettled at loss to Washington State last quarterback using three in its 3 week This week's starter Brian Johnson is a junior who’s been beaten up lately — with a sprained right shoulder and a knee bruise He's 5 as a Cardinal starter at QB Stanford QBs have been sacked 29 times for losses of 192 yards in six games As always Utah QB Scott Mitchell will need the help of his supporting cast — but junior running back Clifton Smith has been hot as of late averaging 51 yards per run B NOTEBOOK: The game is a homecoming for Ute Coach Jim Fassel It was during this who was an assistant at Stanford from 1979-8- 3 stretch that he coached current NFL star John Elway The latest on Mitchell Fassel's current quarterback: At least one TO pass in 18 straight games fourth in the NCAA in total offense third in the WAC — averaging 3177 yards a contest For the season Mitchell is passing good for 2321 yards and 25 touchdowns in just seven games switches" said Ault “When you lose a guy the quality of Bernard it forces you to do things" Theoretically the changes should turn today’s game into a Weber From IB ing a big play on LUTAHIAUSTANFORD five-minu- te t" ing “Peoria had five good guys come down (on the shootout) and it’s a pure guessing game Every way I went they went the other way You can’t force the he can hold it (the shooter until you're dead in the puck) water" said Cowley “Nothing surprises me in this game" Salt Lake Coach Bob Francis replied when asked if he was stunned that Peoria came into Acord Arena and took two straight games from the Eagles and stretched their winning streak to four games — all of those wins coming on the road “There was more flow to to- night's game (as opposed to Wednesday night's when Peoria took a 2 win) and more good 3-- same thing about the Cardinal Stanford in overall and -5 the -3 hasn’t been having a good year The sole Cardinal win 7 came in an win over Oregon in late September Since then Stanford played well but faded in a 7 loss to No ranked Notre Dame and never de3 got out of the gate in a bacle at Washington State Pac-1- 0 18-1- 27-1- 1 -- 31-1- the crafty Ault at the controls “The way I see it the game is still our strength (WSCs offensive line) against their strength (UNR’s defensive line)" said Ar- -' slanian “Then it’s youth (WSC’s young receivers) against youth (Reno’s young secondary)” Who wins that battle? Who has the edge? “Whoever plays best" said Ar- slanian Two other matters concern Ault — Weber’s revived running at- tack and the recent history of scoring opportunities It was a little more wide open and we started out well getting it (the puck) deep Peoria adjusted to that but then we were able to get it deep again It’s no secret that if we’re going to be successful we have to get it deep" he said "For his first start I thought Joseph moved pretty well But the way things were going in the shootout (as both teams’ first three shooters were all successful) I thought we were going to be here all night" said Thomas Peoria finally scored its first power-plagoal after being n adbut it took a vantage to get the job done y two-ma- With the score tied 3 midway through the third period the Eagles’ Ken Sabourin was whistled with a major g penalty and received a game misconduct in the 3-- five-minu- cross-checkin- te “We’re hoping we’re getting better though” Green said this week “We’ve had a lot of injuries which I think has affected our team to a certain extent We’re a team that’s playing with a lot of young players” Those young players are getting beaten in nearly every statistical category: Stanford is allowing 141 yards rushing per game gaining only 572 The Cardinal is getting 8 in the total ofbeaten fensive yardage department And Stanford is getting outscored by an average of 257-16- 7 per game Of course if at least some of that sounds like today’s other team it’s only coincidence The Utes too have been rattled by their inexperience and injuries “We’re not a lot different from them" Fassel said of the Cardinal “We match up very well with them at the speed and the skill positions and we’re both playing a lot of young kids right now” Stanford features quarterback for 594 Brian Johnson y yards and one touchdown) receiver Ed McCaffery (33 catches 572 yards three TDs) and a healthy amount of respect for Utah despite the fact that the Utes are surrendering 4901 yards per game overall ar 4--35 big-pla- this series After being given up for dead WSC running backs George Jackson and Geoff Mitchd ell enjoyed games “Last week was a good indication of what a team they (Weber State) can be" said Ault “That’s pretty dog gone good when you rush for 316 yards and score 42 points in the second half” The Wildcats have won the last two meetings of these teams We5 ber State won at Reno in 1987 and won a 1 thriller last year in Ogden 100-yar- 38-1- 37-3- process after leaving Peoria’s Kelly Chase lying prone on the ice Chase was carried off on a stretcher but was deemed later to just have back spasms The Rivermen’s Mongeau scored one with second which remaining in the gave Peoria a 3 lead Salt Lake then successfully killed off the power play 4-- five-minu- te “Peoria capitalized and scored one we couldn’t let them have another Our guys became focused and killed off the major" said Francis "But we still seem to be concerned with things we really have no control over like a referee's whistle W'e have to focus our concentration in the right areas We have gone through spells where we’ve lost our composure and those periods have been five-minu- te improving” Woolverton said “That is all I’m able to say about that" Woolverton would like nothing more than to have NMSU finally break into the win column today against Utah State “It would be nice even if we didn’t win another game" Woolverton said “I would like us to win this one so I can have some bragging rights when 1 go home next summer” Woolverton is also locking forward to seeing former Lakers’ teammate David Balls who is a backup outside linebacker for Utah State this season behind Tauteoli For the time being however in a Woolverton is backup role “Phil is a good athlete If he helps the team I can’t complain” Woolverton said “It is hard to be a back-u- p quarterback but I am still developing as a college player It is a whole new game on the college level” Pi-li- ki semi-conte- nt Woolverton just hopes his Ag- gies can take that step into the elusive win column “We are but a step away from winning and it is a good opportunity to have as a quarterback" he said “We have good community support They were excited when we kept it close against UTEP (Texas-E- l Paso) It would be nice to see the reaction when we start winning games “If you could even win three or four games it will turn a lot of heads and take the pressure off” TEXASiEllRASOiATlBYU KICKOFF: 1 :30 pm today No TV KSL 1 1 60 AM Western Athletic Conference 2-- 5 overall UTEP RECORD: BYU RECORD: 3-- 0 Western Athletic Conference 5-- 1 overall LAST MEETING: 1988: BYU 31 Texas-E- l Paso 27 SERIES RECORD: BYU leads 20-6-- 1 KEY MATCHUPS: BYU quarterback Ty Detmer No 2 in the nation in total offense and passing efficiency and the Cougars' revamped running attack tests a UTEP defense which has allowed opponents an average of 457 yards total offense and 30 points per game However in thair losses to Air Force Arkansas and Utah the Miners gave up an average of 44 points per game UTEP's offense averaging only 114 yards per game on the ground faces a fierce Cougar defensive unit which has allowed just 99 yards rushing per game 7 NOTEBOOK: UTEP led last year’s game at Provo before BYU 7 rallied and won it on Detmer's touchdown pass to Fred BYU beat the Whittingham with four minutes remaining From 1971-8- 4 Miners 14 consecutive times Since joining the WAC in 1968 UTEP is 8 against the Cougars UTEP's last win in the series came in 1985 6 at when the Miners upset national champion BYU El Paso UTEP first-yeCoach David Lee 35 enters today’s BYU coach in the country homecoming game as the youngest Division 27-1- 31-2- 344-316- (47-of-- if he will finish his college career with the same coaching staff NMSU Coach Mike Knoll is in the final contract with year of his four-yerecord a “As far as I know our athletic director is going to base his decision on how well he feels our program is coming around and Utes itching to head toward home Standard-Examine- losing There is a fine line between winning Mexico State’s football team as a “First they play hard” said Shelton “It’s a program that has their kids right now playing very hard “When Mike (Knoll) went down there a few years ago there was nothing — nothing to build on They had no athletes no morale nothing I remember because I interviewed for that 4-- 0-- ‘ I State University Coach Chuck Shelton is wary of today’s Big West Conference venture into job" KICKOFF: I NM — Utah tougher-than-expect- faces Aggies end Ex-Lak- er 1:30 pm today u m No TV 1 490 AM630 AM 1 UTAH STATE RECORD: overall Big West Conference 2 NEW MEXICO STATE RECORD: Big West Conference 6 overall LAST MEETING: 1988: Utah State 32 New Mexico State 20 I SERIES RECORD: Utah State leads 11-- 3 and has won the last 9 I KEY MATCHUPS: Even though New Mexico State is winless the Southern Aggies have been able to move the ball averaging 342 yards per game in total offense USU has only managed 227 yards per game Several players with Utah roots play for NMSU including former Bonneville High quarterback Jim Woolverton tackle Shawn Kaae of Logan strong safety Parker Ragsdale of St George and offensive guard Kelly Curtis of Springville I NOTEBOOK: New Mexico State's football program continues to struggle Including this year's 0--6 start the Southern Aggies' overall NMSU Coach Mike Knoll s record at the record in the 1980s is On the field the Southern Aggies Las Cruces NM school is have managed only won one league win in six years against Big West Conference opponents Utah State is 7 on the road in Big West games under Coach Chuck Shelton ’ Standard Examiner staff LAS CRUCES mist at u s uiailn 23-1- A BYU contenders Hawaii and Air Force with foe Oregon sandwiched in between From IB And Edwards says his team led passes for 1753 yards and 11 by Ty Detmer’s precision passing touchdowns this season gives the and a revamped rushing attack Miners some explosive offensive are playing together right now potential “Offensively we continue to “You give him (Menifee) a step make good improvement” Edor two and he has the potential wards said “Ty Detmer is having of making big gains” Edwards an excellent year and is making said “He’s an explosive runner" good decisions” BYU is ranked second nationalThe Cougars 0 in conference play and 1 overall with four ly in passing with 382 yards and straight wins cannot afford to is also second in total offense look past the decided underdog with 528 yards per game The Miners Cougars also are 11th in scoring After all it was UTEP that amoffense with 36 points pergame nabushed the and much of the credit goes to tional champions in 1985 the Detmer a sophomore signal-callWAC who has completed snapping BYU’s winning streak with a stunning passes for 2218 yards and 14 6 touchdowns upset at El Paso Under first-yeCoach David The Cougars newly awakened Lee who was hired to replace running game led by senior current Missouri Coach Bob Freddie Whittingham’s 342 yards Stull the Miners lost five of their on 56 carries keeps defenses first six games including league from concentrating on the vauntlosses to Air Force (43-2and ed BYU aerial attack Utah (50-4“The thing that’s probably helpBut they nearly rallied past ing us more than anything is Utah two weeks ago and had no we’re running the ball well" Edproblem beating New Mexico last wards said “Hopefully if we can Saturday keep our running attack coming “I think they’re solidified now" that’ll help us down the road beEdwards said “They started off cause there’s no question that the maybe trying to run the ball too toughest part of our schedule is much They had difficulty with yet to come" their pass protection for awhile BYU also has fielded an imBut they seem to have that proved defense each week led by straightened out a little bit the senior linebacker Bob Davis In last couple of games” last week’s 6 BYU victory After today’s duel with UTEP over Colorado State Davis had the Cougars play top WAC title four unassisted tackles ce 3-- 5-- then-defendi- er 25-ga- 133-of-2- 23-1- ar 6) 5) 45-1- ‘ DEER RIFLE RENTALS PHciS $1CQ0 1 w NtwTkn THE GIFT HOUSE 120 25th Stroot 394-89- 46 t |