Football's Week

THE SOUTHWEST

1. ARKANSAS (7-1)
2. SMU (6-1)
3. HOUSTON (6-1)

Determined to stop ARKANSAS' ground game, Rice threw an 11-man line against the Razorbacks and did manage to drag Quarterback Jon Brittenum down for 40 yards in losses. Meanwhile, however, Brittenum passed over the Owls enough to enable Arkansas to win 31-20 and start thinking about this week's big showdown against SMU in Fayetteville.

SMU did it again, coming from 14 points behind in Dallas to nip Texas A&M 21-14 in the fourth quarter. Little Jerry Levias made another big play when he raced 83 yards with a punt for the winning touchdown, pulling off a couple of nifty maneuvers Coach Hayden Fry said he had never seen before, "not even in the pros." The neatest runner of the day in the Southwest, however, was TEXAS Halfback Chris Gilbert, who gained 235 yards as the Longhorns stunned Baylor 26-14.

Under the Houston Astrodome, speedy Warren McVea finally broke loose as a rusher with 158 yards, and might have got more had he not been evicted in the fourth quarter against Tulsa, along with one other Cougar, for arguing with an official. Expulsion didn't matter. HOUSTON bombed its visitor by a record 73-14.