The Week

WEST

Poor Ricky Bell. Now that he doesn't have to sit on the USC bench or block for Anthony Davis, people around L.A. are saying that Bell is good. He's just not as tough as O.J. Maybe not, but with 1,068 yards in six games this season, Bell is averaging 178 per game. He carried for a mere 128 in USC's 17-3 defeat of Oregon.

Chuck Muncie of California and Eddie Ayers of UCLA had big days as the Bears trounced Oregon State 51-24 and the Bruins belted Washington State 37-23. Muncie ran for three touchdowns, gained 149 yards and threw a 47-yard touchdown pass. Ayers also scored three times while Quarterback John Sciarra had 213 yards total offense.

Washington freshman Robert Gaines blocked two Stanford punts, both of which resulted in touchdowns, but the Huskies succumbed nonetheless, 24-21.

Unbeaten Arizona stormed back to beat Texas Tech 32-28, but only after heroics by Quarterback Bruce Hill and Placekicker Lee Pistor. With the Red Raiders leading 28-27, 47 seconds to play and no time-outs left, Hill marched the Wildcats 32 yards to the Tech 24 and Pistor kicked a 41-yard field goal with six seconds showing on the clock. A safety on the ensuing kickoff accounted for the Wildcats' final two points. Arizona State coasted past Colorado State 33-3.

1. USC (6-0)
2. Arizona (5-0)
3. Arizona State (6-0)

SOUTH

The Tide is rolling and everybody in the Southeast Conference now knows it as Alabama beat Tennessee 30-7, stopping the Vols' diversified run-pass offense cold. End Leroy Cook led a savage charge that dropped the Vols' quarterbacks 10 times and held Tennessee to 12 yards rushing. Bama's Richard Todd took his team on drives of 59, 80, 80, 47 and 70 yards, and ran for three of the Tide's four touchdowns.

Florida rolled to an easy victory over Florida State 34-8, as Jimmy DuBose picked up 204 yards on 22 attempts. Georgia crushed Vanderbilt 47-3, Auburn scored the last 21 points of the game to nip fumble-prone Georgia Tech 31-27, South Carolina squeezed by Mississippi 35-29 and Mississippi State edged North Texas State 15-12.

Maryland, defending ACC champion, won its 13th straight conference game, 27-0 over Wake Forest. But the real excitement took place in Raleigh where North Carolina State and North Carolina replayed the script from their game of three years ago—this time with a different ending. In 1972, State scored a touchdown in the last 10 seconds, went for two points on orders from Coach Lou Holtz and lost the game 34-33. This year it was the Tarheels who scored with 12 seconds left to pull within a point at 21-20. Carolina went for two points on orders from Coach Bill Dooley and failed. Said Holtz, "The moral is simple. Don't go for two." Duke beat Clemson 25-21 when an 18-yard punt by the Tigers set up a 19-yard touchdown scamper by Tony Benjamin. Virginia Tech won its fourth game in a row, defeating Virginia 24-17.