Scorecard

HIGH PRICE OF FREEBIES
Pro football scouts usually sit in the press box at college games, and press-box seats are traditionally free. But this fall the University of Houston is charging the professionals $10 each to sit there. Some colleges have barred pro scouts because of the antagonism that often rises between the two major areas of the game, but Houston publicity man Ted Nance says, "We aren't mad at anyone. It's just that we have limited facilities in our press box and by charging $10 perhaps we can cut down on the number of requests for seats. There were 20 pro scouts in the press box at two of our games last year, and we had to do something."

SCHOLAR-ATHLETES
Excellence in academics and mediocrity in football have given the Atlantic Coast Conference an Ivy League of the South reputation. Football and basketball coaches alike complain that ACC recruiting standards are too stringent because they go beyond the NCAA's 1.6 rule. Leading proponent of a change is South Carolina, which last year threatened to withdraw from the conference if the bylaws weren't liberalized. A counting of ACC athletes who averaged at least 3.0 (of a possible 4.0) last year would seem to indicate that the Gamecocks are arguing from strength, at least as far as those two main scholarship sports are concerned. Not only did South Carolina win both regular season championships, it listed a greater percentage of such scholar-athletes in those two sports than any other school. Included was the only ACC football player with a perfect 4.0 and two members of the All-Conference basketball team. But there is one rather embarrassing—and telling—catch to all of this. Overall, South Carolina had fewer 3.0 or better athletes than any of the other schools in the conference.