The Week

As he did against the Nittany Lions, Wildcat Quarterback Derrick Ramsey repeatedly stung the Bulldogs with first-down passes. He also scored on a three-yard run to give the Wildcats a 17-0 halftime lead. All told, Ramsey connected on nine of 17 passes for 138 yards, including a six-yard touchdown toss to Dave Trosper.

For its part, the Wildcat defense held State to 185 yards total offense.

Emulating older brother Garo, Berj Yepremian kicked a 28-yard field goal with 86 seconds left, enabling Florida to tie 15th-ranked Pitt 17-17. The game was marred by 10 lost fumbles (six by Pitt) and marked by the return of Panther Quarterback Matt Cavanaugh, who played with a "soft" cast on his left wrist, which was broken in the Notre Dame game. Cavanaugh was responsible for three of those fumbles but led Pitt to two touchdowns, including one he scored on a three-yard plunge. The Gator defense scored both Florida's TDs, one with a forced fumble, one with a blocked punt.

Pepper Rodgers celebrated his 46th birthday with a 24-8 defeat of Tennessee at Knoxville. It was Georgia Tech's first triumph over the Vols since 1966, the year Bobby Dodd (see page 117) retired as head coach, and the Yellow Jackets accomplished it without throwing a single pass.

In defense of his all-out ground attack, Rodgers said, "If I were coaching the Atlanta Falcons with Steve Bartkowski at quarterback and didn't throw a pass, I'd be pretty stupid. But if I threw 25 times a game with our quarterback [Gary Lanier], I'd be stupid, too." Tech held the Vols without a first down through the first 29 minutes and set up two touchdowns following fumble recoveries and scored another on a pass interception.

If it is possible to bemoan a victory, Coach Bo Rein of North Carolina State did just that after a 17-15 defeat of Auburn. "We thought we could prove a lot by coming down here and having a great win," he said. "As it is we won, but we didn't prove much." N.C. State (5-1) averaged 457 yards and 28 points per game going into the game, but finished with 338 yards and scored only after Auburn lost a fumble on its four-yard line and had a punt blocked on its 36.

"We took advantage of weaker outside coverage on the short side, made a couple of alterations in blocking, gave the ball to Charles Alexander and watched him run," said Coach Charlie McClendon, explaining the strategy change that brought LSU from a 15-0 deficit to a 28-15 win over Vanderbilt. Alexander rushed for 183 yards and three touchdowns.

Ole Miss' upset of Notre Dame obviously was an ill omen. Since that happy Saturday the Rebels have lost three straight by a total of 15 points, most recently a 14-13 game to Georgia in Athens. The Rebels did all their scoring in the last quarter but fell short when a two-point conversion attempt failed.

Duke rallied for 22 points in the second half to beat South Carolina 25-21, as sophomore Fullback Ned Gonet rushed for 110 yards (and two touchdowns) on 19 carries. Senior Defensive Back Earl Cook scored the Blue Devils' winning touchdown on a 30-yard pass interception return with 4:45 left in the game. The pass Cook intercepted was thrown by Ron Bass, his high school teammate in Alexandria, Va.

After three straight losses, Maryland got untracked to beat Syracuse 24-10, substitute Quarterback Larry Dick leading the Terps to 17 points in the second half after Mark Manges fractured his right hand. Clemson hammered Virginia 31-0; Miami edged Kansas 14-7; North Carolina beat Wake Forest 24-3, and Tennessee State (6-0) defeated Grambling (3-1) 26-8.