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Show John Fbr Recorded Scores Call 1 800 Local 237 2025 6G2-435- Tribune Sports Editor SAN DIEGO How good is this Ohio State team which is favored over Brigham Young University in the Holiday Bowl Friday renight. An cord, with losses 8-- 3 to Stanford, Florida State and Wisconsin, may not be that impressive, and are those contend the Big 10 Confer- ence is not that tough as a league this year. On the other hand, Wisconsin, the No. 5 team in the conference with a 4 league record and an overall 5 mark, beat Kansas State of the Big 8 Conference in the Independence Bowl a week ago. I asked three veteran writers who have watched Buckeye football for years how they ranked this team. George Strode of the Columbus office of the Associated Press, said, At the start of the season, I figured this would be a great Buckeye team, then it got off wrong and had a lot of troubles, losing three of its first five games. The last six games produced the team I expected at the start of the sea season. Ed Chay of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, echoed the sentiments of this teams potentials to start the year, adding, Against Michigan, the Buckeyes played as well as any team I have seen from Ohio, State. Of course, the Buckeyes made no mistakes and Michigan was guilty of six turnovers, which meant a lot in the outcome of the game. 5-- 6-- Kaye Keeler, of the Columbus I dont care about the selections, you will not see a better backfield combination than fullback Vaughn Broadnax and tailback Tim Spencer, when it comes to doing what the offense calls for them to do under the Ohio State philosophy. paper, added, Spencer may be the most underrated running back in the country, yet he is behind only Archie Griffin in career yards gained as a Buckeye. e And even Griffin, the Heisman winner, didnt have a. total like Spencer had to close out the season. Spencer gained 151 yards in the victory over Illinois, 187 yards two-tim- six-ga- rushing against Indiana, 168 against Purdue, 133 against Minnesota, 190 against Northwestern and 124 against Michigan. He finished with a 5.4-yar- d average and 12 touchdowns for the year, with a career total of 3,445 yards and 34 touchdowns, Kessler said. Joggers Understand Earle Bruce, the Ohio State admits he almost lost a - chance for a good season condition--1 ally. Broadnax, our fullback, missed several games during our slump ! when he suffered from shin splints, the coach admitted. -- ' As any distance runner can tell ' you, shin splints are as painful as - any injury you can have, and they are caused by the pounding on the hard surface. 1 Without Broadnax to block, .' Spencer failed to gain 100 yards in' 'each of those three games, Bruce added. And it was the fault of my ; coach, - ; summer running-conditionin- g program. We have certain times we ex- -' pect the various positions to be able to run for the quarter and half-mil- e runs when they report after the summer running program. Any player who fails to meet those minimum times must run extra laps on the track after practice. Broadnax couldnt meet our minimum times for the fullbacks and he ran a lot of penalty laps after practice. It was there he developed the painful shin splints. Our mistake was in establishing minimum times for a fullback, forgetting that Vaughn is and weighs 252 pounds, the coach added wryly. Cougars Seek Happy Holid By Dick Rosetta Tribune Sports Writer SAN DIEGO The Holiday Bowl, which has never had a host team other than Brigham Young University and which has never seen a visiting team with the awesome potential of an Ohio State, puts its fifth annual toe into the football Friday at 7 p.m. (MSD in Jack Murphy Stadium. The Buckeyes, the second-bes- t team in the Big Ten and radiating a confident (some characterize it as cocky) aura, and the Western Athletic Conference Cougars will be meeting for the first time ever on a football field. It has been convenient in the past to analyze a Holiday Bowl by saying this one is hard to figure. On the contrary, Friday nights confrontation in front of a sellout in Murphy Stadium smacks of predic- tability. USU Now On the one hand, State playing what theres Ohio fourth-yea- r Buckeye head coach Earle Bruce calls the best football team of any team Ive coached here." The 3 Buckeyes (7-- 1 in the Big Ten and d conconqueror of Rose ference king Michigan) won their last six games, rolling up 470 yards total offense per game in the process. And Ohio State is a team these days. No more of that stuff (and a cloud of dust . . . thats a thing of the past since the Buckeyes played all 11 games this year on artificial turf). Sophomore quarterback Mike has completed 85 passes for over 17 yards per reception. On the other side of the coin is for seven consecutive BYU years the champion of the WAC and for the fifth straight year, the 8-- Bowl-boun- well-balanc- three-yards-a-p- To-mcz- ... home team here in what said it oddsmakers (and even some of the most devoted proCougar followers) figure the Mountain Cats to be a perhaps 7 underdog? Simple. Its the schedule . . . and1 have practices down" here this week. The coaches said they were not going to change anything from what ever had. What makes the 6Vi-poi- Ohio States like were another western." To that end, the Buckeyes More Bow l, cord. BYU is stuck with the schedule thorn. You just cant balance off UTEP, Colorado State, Hawaii, etc., with one star," that being Georgia. Not when Ohio State shows Baylor, Stanford, Florida State and a steady diet of Big Ten foes. BYU didnt appear to be awestruck with the Buckeyes on the eve of what junior linebacker Todd Shell calls our biggest game, ever." If anything, the Cougars are a little peeved (be it paranoia or not) that the Buckeyes are sorta looking down their noses at BYU as Shell did not full-scal- re- tradition-steepe- d North- D-1- 4 weve been doing, so there was no reason to bang away at each other with scrimmages, one Buckeye insider revealed. Shell, who has played in two previous Holiday Bowls, figures its all part of the Buckeye ploy. They just run the ball, from tackle to tackle. They dont do anything tricky, or fancy. They just try and shove it down your throat. And when they get you set up with the run they try the game-breake-r, the big pass, usually to that (Gary) well-know- n Williams. Hes a super athlete and lightning fast. Shell said the defense will have to play its best game of the season, even better than against Georgia (a BYU loss), "nils team is better than the Georgia team we played on Sept. 11. Ohio State has some great blocking schemes. They open holes and those backs (Big Ten rushing leader Tim Spencer and fullback Vaughn Broadnax) find the holes. Spencer is the caliber of Georgias (Herschel) Walker and SMUs (Eric) Dickerson. Shell contends if he and his Cougar defensive cohorts can prevent the Buckeyes from drives, and if Steve (Y oung) is on to where he can blast em with passes (Shell pointed out that Northwestern was able to pass for almost 400 yards against the See Page l, Column 2 17-1- 4 d time-consumi- D-l- Aggies Blast Past Weber By Roger Graves Tribune Sports Writer LOGAN Utah State basketball Coach Rod Tueller doesnt like to look back. He present, not the past. But to truly appreciate what Tueller and the Aggies have accomplished dur- ing the first: quarter of the 1982-8- 3 season, one must peer into the gloomy past to grasp the bright present. In a word, what Tueller and Utah State have done in less than one year is extraordinary. And, for many of the same reasons, what the rival Aggies did to down-stat- e Weber State, while giving the Wildcats a 2 flogging Thursday night in The Spectrum before 8,110 fans is equally extraordinary. To jog your memory, Utah State owned an inglorious 7 record at this time last year and was going nowhere fast. The Aggies concluded 3 the year with a history-makin- g record. However, Thursdays undressing at Weber State signaled the official turnaround of the USU program. Suddenly, instead of the Aggies are 1 and own the best record among Utahs four major colleges. Last years dart boards have become this years darts. But perhaps even more extraordinary than Utah States overall about-fac- e is realizing how seemingly effortlessly the Aggies disposed of Weber State. It was just 12 days ago that the Wildcats humbled USU to the embarrassing tune of 26 points. Why the dramatic turnaround? Well, we overreacted to Webers pressure defense in Ogden and we didnt shoot the ball well, analyzed Tueller, who is doing a lot more smiling these days now that Utah State has completed an sweep of Utah, BYU and Weber in The Spectrum. We took care of the 74-6- 1--7, 7-- te basketball tonight and we had fun playing with the lead. If we get the lead, we can stretch our matchup zone much easier. And we shot the ball much, much better tonight. Oh, how the Aggies shot the ball on this night. While being beat up in Ogden by Weber 12 days ago, USU shot only 44 percent from the field and 52 percent from the free throw line, hardly numbers that are redeemable for victory. But Thursday, the Aggies couldnt miss. They lit up the place with 60.9 percent shooting from the floor and 81.8 percent accuracy from the line. It was just another chapter in USUs amazing turnaround. In our staff meetings before the season started, we did think we could conceivably be 1 or 2 at this time, admitted Tueller, whose losing Aggies broke a three-gam- e streak opposite Weber State with If youre looking the victory. for surprises, this team is a lot better defensively than I thought it would be, and were much improved defensively over last year. Defense is 50 or 60 percent mental, and we have some kids who take a lot of pride in playing defense. 7-- 6-- Defense? That has been something of a foreign word to Utah State followers the last few years. The Aggies, even in their triumphant days, were usually, known as team. a running, offense-oriente- d However, Utah States defense was something special against the Wildcats. The Aggies limited Weber to 19 first-ha- lf points, the Wildcats lowest first-ha-lf output of the year. And USU held Weber to 42.3 percent shooting from the field. Utah States shot selection was better tonight, noted Weber Coach Neil McCarthy, who didnt move far off the bench after being ejected against Utah last Tuesday night. We seemed to miss a lot of shots. Id like to credit the Aggies defense, but it didnt seem to be much different than it was 12 days ago. The Aggies just shot the lights out. Ive watched them play several ftririi nwin ffrTribune Stiff Photo by Tim Weber States John Price (11) steals the ball away from Utah States Ron Ence as times this year and they seem to shoot much better when they have the lead. If they get the lead early, Utah State shoots it loose and easy. McCarthys assessment was accurate. The Aggies, who dealt Weber its second straight defeat and knocked the Cats to 2 on the advantage year, seized an early and played relaxed, confident basketball the rest of the way. I referee Darrell Ogden struggles to watch the play and get oat of the players way. In Ogden on Dec. 4 when Weber State coasted to victory in the second half, the Wildcats tiptoed away from a narrow advantage in the first four minutes of the second Ijalf to ice the triumph. But, on this occasion, Utah State outscored Weber 1 to begin the second half to open a 38-2- advantage. 9-- 0 7-- 3 Eric Petersen, a 7 senior, was the Utah State catalyst in the first half. Petersen scored 10 of a 12 points in the initial 20 career-hig- h minutes and helped the Aggies pull away from a tenuous 2419 lead to a halftime advantage. Then came perhaps the most critical shootout. portion of the intra-stat- e 6-- 29-1- 9 Chris McMullin, the former Orem High and Dude College standout, connected on a short follow-uLance Washington popped in a former East High stalwart Greg Grant contributed a three-poiplay, and Washington scored on a spinning drive to elevate Utah State to its sudden lead. From there, the Aggies coasted, with Weber State able to pull within 10 points in the waning moments before settling for p, final nt decision. TTiat first five to seven minutes of the second half were very important to us, agreed Tueller, remembering the early stages of the second half in Ogden. We got the ball, and McMullin and Lance scored and we were on our way. It was important to get out quickly in the second half. who exploded for 13 of his points in the final 20 minutes, led all scorers, while McMullin contributed 14 points and Ron Ence 13 (seven in the second half). Grant, a fabulous freshman, was also the Ags top rebounder with eight. Royal Edwards and Tom Heywood each collected 12 points for Weber, which managed to Utah State, 3421. Grant, 15 Power Play Tallies Boost Eagles Past South Stars Mattsson stopped 47 of the 52 Salt Lake shots Thursday night. Our goals were tough to come by. They got ahead of us twice. Then when we did get ahead of them they tied us up. It was a very close game. Carlston had tied the score for the second time at 3 with less than 13 minutes left in the third period. But a giveaway of the puck by Birminghams Bob Boileau while the South Stars were about to launch a shorthanded break spelled the difference in the outcome. Crawford was able to steal the puck away from Boileau and cleanly beat Mattsson with a slap shot to give the Eagles a 43 lead. Hickey ended the drame by racking a billiard shot off the boards and into-aempty net. Hickey had scored earlier in the third period to give the Eagles a 2 St. Louis Blues president and coach Emile Francis was a spectac-to- r lead. The two teams now move on to in the press box as the Golden Eagles moved to within one point of Birminghams Jefferson Civic second place Colorado in the CentrCenter for a pair of games Friday al Hockey League points race. and Saturday nights. I would like to think having Mr. Hickeys first period stats showed Francis in the arena would have an a pair of fighting majors but that effect on the teams play, Evans didnt tell the whole story. Hickey said afterwards. If I were a player was able to draw a pair of BirmingI would like to give my best shot to ham defensemen (Dave Lrgan and try and get back into the big Pat Richter) to the penalty box with leagues. Im sui thats what the him. That left Birmingham Coach Gone Ubriaco with two less players players were doing." Evans watched earlier in the to use in an already diminished lineup. season when Mattsson turned aside better than 30 or more Salt Lake Skjodt scored on a rebound of his shots en route to his victories. own shot at 17:37 of the first period By R.C. Roberg Tribune Sports Writer Despite dropping a 3 decision Thursday night to the Salt Lake Golden Eagles, Birmingham goalie Markus Mattsson certainly earned his paycheck. "Hes a good goalie, observed Salt Lake Coach Jack Evans. He doesnt get caught out of the net or anything. Hes playing extremely well." The Golden Eagles used power play goals from Charlie Skjodt, Perry Anderson and Bobby Crawford along with a pair off the blade of Pat Hickey to defeat Mattsson for the second straight time in six outings. Dan McCarthy, Jim Dobson and Steve Carlston had goals for the South Stars in a losing effort. 6-- 3 5-- Drill for Coach Everyone relaxes differently once the hard workouts and preparations are concluded for a postseason bowl game, but Lavell Edwards may have the strangest, he goes to his dentist. approach For the third year in a row, Coach Edwards has gone to see his dentist friend, Dr. DeVan Robins, on the Thursday morning before the Holiday Bowl game. DeVan, a former Davis High player, and I were teammates at Utah State. I was a center and DeVan an end," LaVell recalled. "Years ago, DeVan promised, IH save your teeth and you can save my soul. But when he took one look and my mouth and teeth, DeVan chided, I got the worst of this deal; my job will be a lot tougher than yours, La Veil remembered. Dr. Robins lives in the Bay area, but he makes most of the trips with the BYU teams, so LaVell has dental service whenever he feels the need to get his mind off football. 3-- two-on-o- 3-- Observation Ward mind off football, nothing will. everyone concedes is the most prestigious matchup the Bowl has 7-- 1 d Theres one thing for certain, If a trip to the dentist doesnt take your 4 as teammate Bob Bolleau gets out of way at Palace. following a hooking penalty to Dobson. Both Richter and Logan looked on as Skjodt tallied his seventh goal of the season. Skjodts power play goal, the eighth for the Golden Eagles in as many games, erased a 0 Birmingham lead supplied by McCarthy. The first Hickey altercation with' Lvgan sent the South Stars blueliner to the penalty box for a total of 15 minutes. To compound the injury, most of Logans punches fell on the body of linesman A1 Poland, who was trying to separate the fighters. But Poland was not as fortunate the second time and neither was Richter landed a Birmingham. solid blow to the facial area of Poland. The punch forced Poland to leave the ice surface for medical attention. Poland returned later to finish the first period, but Richter only played one brief shift the remainder of the game. The blow apparently resulted in some kind of injury to Richter's left thumb. The Eagles put considerable pressure on Mattsson in the second period with 25 shots. Only one, that by Anderson, found its way past the besieged goaltender. Salt Lake goalie Rick Heinz, who made a record-settin- g 130th appearance, needed only to make four saves in the period. Dobson had given the South Stars a 1 lead in the second period. Actually, the puck was deflected by Skjodt into the net while he and See Page Column 1 2-- D-1- 5, |
