The Week

The Pail and Shovel Party, which is "dedicated to the 4-year-old in all of us," has taken over the campus political scene at Wisconsin. It has conducted a toga party for 12,000 students and helped the student senate change the school name to the University of New Jersey so that "kids from Wisconsin can say they graduated from a prestigious Eastern school." For a few moments it seemed the Pail and Shovel group had somehow infiltrated the game against Michigan State in East Lansing, where the Badgers grabbed a 2-0 lead. That, though, was the end of Wisconsin's fun. For the third time in four games Ed Smith of the Spartans passed for more than 300 yards. This time he gained 334 yards, hitting on 19 of 29 passes, four of them for touchdowns. Leroy McGee contributed 124 yards rushing to State's 645 yards of total offense that led to a 55-2 wipeout.

Tied with Michigan State for second place in the Big Ten were two other winners, Michigan and Ohio State. The Wolverines shredded Minnesota 42-10 as Rick Leach accumulated 205 yards total offense while passing for three touchdowns and running for two more. Freshman Butch Woolfolk took over for the injured Harlan Huckleby and gained 131 yards in 23 cracks. Eight Buckeyes scored, four tailbacks ran for a total of 332 yards and the ground game netted 511 yards as Woody Hayes ran up his biggest score in 28 years at Ohio State. Actually, Hayes tried to keep the score down, but could not keep his troops from routing Northwestern 63-20. Woody used 71 players, shut down the passing attack and once took a four-yard gain rather than a 15-yard penalty. Indiana also won convincingly, drubbing Illinois 31-10.

Notre Dame won its fifth straight game, blanking Miami of Florida 20-0. The Irish defense yielded only 123 yards, while the offense churned out 390 and Vagas Ferguson scored both of Notre Dame's touchdowns.

Because he was recovering from a concussion suffered the week before, David Spriggs of New Mexico State was not expected to pass much at Wichita State. But with a 14-mph wind at his back, Spriggs threw on three of his first four plays. He completed all three, one for 45 yards and another for a 17-yard touchdown to Gary Steele that started the Aggies on their way to a 31-21 win that gave them sole possession of first place in the Missouri Valley Conference.

Tulsa stayed half a game back, piling up 576 yards in total offense while downing Drake 44-20. Dave Rader passed for three Golden Hurricane touchdowns and Sherman Johnson rushed for 151 yards and two scores.

It took St. John's of Minnesota only 18 seconds to score at Macalester. That was nothing new to the Scots, who went on to lose 44-0 and to set an NCAA record with their 40th straight loss. When it was over, all that Macalester President John B. Davis could say was, "We worked toward this day for a long time and now we can make some new plans."

1. OKLAHOMA (8-0)
2. NEBRASKA (7-1)
3. MICHIGAN (6-1)

SOUTH

"I'd rather be playing Slippery Rock," said Virginia Tech Coach Bill Dooley before taking the field at Alabama. Just as Dooley feared, it turned out to be a long afternoon as the Tide plucked his Gobblers clean 35-0. While 'Bama won its 21st consecutive homecoming game, Dooley could only marvel as the Tide showed its offensive versatility by gaining more yardage passing than rushing, 233 to 211. Eleven of Alabama's 14 passes were on target. Grabbing five of them for 148 yards was Keith Pugh, who twice had to dive for receptions, once for a 45-yard touchdown and later for a 30-yard gain to the one-yard line. Meanwhile, Slippery Rock (Pa.) State lost 17-14 against Edinboro State.

In another out-of-conference contest, Auburn defeated Wake Forest 21-7. Joe Cribbs of the Tigers scored twice on a one-yard plunge and a two-yard run, giving him 12 touchdowns.