The Week

MIDWEST

With home teams finding it tough to win and upsets coming in clusters, Big Eight teams were fit to be tied. And that's just what five of them were—Missouri, Nebraska, Colorado, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State sharing first place with 2-1 records.

Early in the week, Charlie Weatherbie of Oklahoma State got the word: because of disappointing performances he was not going to be the starting quarterback against the Sooners. With the game barely a minute old, Weatherbie watched from the sidelines as Cowboy Halfback Terry Miller zipped 72 yards for a touchdown. (Miller finished with 159 yards.) And Weatherbie was watching minutes later while Abby Daigle made it 10-0 with a 25-yard field goal. Still watching, he saw the Sooners bounce back to take a 21-13 halftime lead.

Because one of the Cowboy coaches had argued too strenuously that time had not run out at the end of the half, his team was assessed a 15-yard penalty on the second-half kickoff. The Sooners recovered their own on-side kick, giving them the ball on State's 28. But from there on the Cowboy defense became obstinate and allowed just 68 yards and one first down. The best the Sooners could do on that first series of plays in the third period was to get a field goal.

Then, with 8:13 left in the period, State fell on an Oklahoma bobble on the Sooner 37. That's when Charlie Weatherbie stopped watching and got into the action. In six plays—one a 16-yard pass—he guided the Cowboys to a score, Skip Taylor going over from six yards out. A Weatherbie-to-Taylor pass was good for a two-point conversion that sliced Oklahoma's margin to 24-21.

Minutes later, the Cowboys punted from deep in their own territory. There followed a remarkable display of ineptitude by the Sooners, one having the punt bounce off his chest, another kicking the ball and a third picking it up and dropping it. Cowboy Steve Stephens finally came up with the ball on the State 29. Oklahoma State failed to capitalize on this break, but later the Cowboys took advantage of a 26-yard Sooner punt, Weatherbie climaxing a 43-yard scoring drive with a five-yard pass to Ricky Taylor to take a 28-24 lead with 6:46 left. Daigle booted his third field goal, a 46-yarder after another not-so-booming Sooner punt that went 11 yards.

Following the 31-24 upset victory by the Cowboys, Weatherbie said he had not been bothered by his benching. "I was there if needed," he said. "The Lord was on my side. Psalms 37, verses 23 and 24 tell you, 'All good men who walk with the Lord will,' uh ah, I can't remember it now. But it helped in that last half."

Colorado put together five quick scoring drives ranging from 51 to 82 yards to down Iowa State 33-14. Thus the Buffaloes became only the third Big Eight team in 12 conference games to win one at home. Kansas won at Kansas State 24-14.

Visitors also dominated the Big Ten: Michigan State slugged Illinois 31-23, Wisconsin beat Northwestern 28-25, Iowa rocked Minnesota 22-12 and Michigan drubbed Indiana 35-0. It was a particularly bad week for Minnesota (3-1 in the Big Ten), which was placed on indefinite probation by the NCAA. The Gophers, who spurted to a 12-0 lead, lost to the Hawkeyes as Bill Schultz scored on 70-and 28-yard pass plays. Rob Lytle of Michigan rambled for 175 yards in 25 carries. The only home team to win in the Big Ten was Ohio State, which beat Purdue 24-3. But the Buckeyes lost Quarterback Rod Gerald for the season when he suffered three fractured vertebrae. Keeping the Buckeye offense going was Tailback Jeff Logan, who picked up 175 yards.

Bowling Green (4-1) absorbed its first MidAmerican setback, a 9-7 loss to Miami of Ohio. First-place Ball State (2-0) took a non-conference game from Appalachian State 20-7. And Ohio U. (4-1) lost to outsider William and Mary 20-0.