The Week

WEST

1. USC (6-0)
2. UCLA (5-1)
3. AIR FORCE (5-0)

Week after week the Washington Huskies looked bad yet won, but last Saturday in Palo Alto they just looked bad. The Huskies not only lost a game to Stanford 24-0, they also may have lost their star quarterback, Sonny Sixkiller, for the rest of the season. Sixkiller injured his left knee in a first-quarter collision with Stanford Safety Dennis Bragonier, but even while he was at the controls the Washington offense had its usual case of jitters, fumbling the ball away twice. Stanford scored all three of its touchdowns in the first half, then added a 32-yard field goal by Rod Garcia in the third quarter. Cardinal Quarterback Mike Boryla had target practice in the Husky secondary, completing 24 of 44 passes for 293 yards and throwing touchdowns of 23 and 30 yards to Eric Cross and Don Alvarado. Stanford's third TD came on a fake field-goal attempt from the Washington 20. Holder Steve Murray rose up at the snap and hit Miles Moore with a scoring pass. "I've been waiting three years for that play," said Murray, who also doubles as a substitute safety.

USC had only a light workout against California. The Trojans stretched their undefeated record to six games and will probably keep stretching it effortlessly until they meet UCLA on Nov. 18. The USC front five of Monte Doris, John Grant, Jeff Winans, James Sims and Dale Mitchell kept the Golden Bears in check until late in the game. Quarterback Mike Rae ran for two touchdowns and his substitute, Pat Haden, came on in the second half to keep things rolling with scoring passes of 40 and nine yards to Charles Young as the Trojans won 42-14.

UCLA bobbed up with some alert defensive work by Tackle Rich Gunther and a good substitute quarterback of its own in a 37-7 rout of Oregon State at Corvallis. The Bruins led at the half 17-7, plowing in to score from three and eight yards out after Gunther had jumped on a punt that had been blocked by teammate Rick Baska and then recovered a fumble by the Beavers' Dick Maurer. UCLA added another touchdown in the third quarter and two more in the fourth when Rob Scribner came on with the second-string back-field as a substitute for Quarterback Mark Harmon, gained 156 yards on eight keepers and ran 23 yards for a touchdown on the game's final play.

In a wild one at Tempe, Arizona State, getting and giving up touchdowns like Monopoly money, scored 45 points in the first half, then held on to beat Utah 59-48. Despite the loss of Woody Green, the nation's leading rusher, with a first-quarter knee injury, the Sun Devils amassed a total of 632 yards on offense. They trailed 20-17 after the first quarter, but in the second Quarterback Danny White engineered four touchdown drives. He passed to Wingback Steve Holden for one score and dived over himself for another, while the defense blanked the Redskins and put the game out of reach, despite the loser's final-quarter flurry of 22 points.

SOUTHWEST

1. TEXAS (3-1)
2. ARKANSAS (4-1)
3. RICE (2-1-1)

For the first time in nine years Oklahoma, leading the nation in total offense (621 yards per game), rushing (498.7) and scoring (56.3), was favored in its traditional game with Texas at the Cotton Bowl. The Sooners won as predicted, 27-0, but it was the defense, not the offense, that provided the punch. It blocked a punt, intercepted four passes, recovered four Texas fumbles and scored two touchdowns as the Longhorns were shut out for the first time in 101 games. Playing with almost hysterical energy, Texas more or less contained Greg Pruitt (81 yards on 11 carries) and the rest of the Oklahoma offense (273 yards), trailing only 3-0 with three minutes left in the third quarter. Then Tackle Derland Moore broke through to block a third-down quick-kick attempt by Texas Quarterback Alan Lowry from his own 25-yard line and Guard Lucious Selmon fell on the bounding ball in the end zone. "I know a lot of folks who paid $7 will question that play," Texas Coach Darrell Royal said later, "but nothing is good that backfires."

Lots of things have seemed to backfire for Arkansas this year. The Razorbacks lost their opener at home to USC, squeezed out narrow victories in their next three games and last week had to tussle and hustle right down to the wire to beat Baylor 31-20 in Fayetteville. Arkansas Running Back Dickey Morton had a fine day, with 157 yards gained on 34 carries, and so did the Razorback defense, stealing four Baylor passes and recovering on three fumbles, but the offense was erratic on a soggy field. The Razor-backs led 28-6 late in the third quarter, but Baylor made it 28-20 with 11 minutes to play. Then Mark Hollingsworth choked off two Baylor drives with interceptions and Mike Kirkland kicked the clincher, a 23-yard field goal with 1:49 left.