Scorecard

Morgan got to the second round against deWit before being sent reeling into the ropes with a left to the flab and decked with a right to the head. DeWit then put him away for good with a flurry of punches. Spectators hooted at the mismatch, which prompted Morgan's trainer, Harold Burcham, to shout at them, "You try getting in here." Morgan blew a kiss to one heckler, and later, in his dressing room, he grabbed a roll of fat on his stomach and said, "This is a spare tire. This comes from eating a lot of steaks. This is out of shape to be an opponent for a guy's professional debut."

DeWit said, "I'm just glad to get the first one out of the way."

HOPE FOR THE HUSKIES

If Washington upsets Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, the Huskies could win the national championship, assuming that certain other things also happen—a Michigan defeat of BYU in the Holiday Bowl, an LSU victory over Nebraska in the Sugar Bowl and a spurning of outlaw Florida by the polls. If all this comes to pass, Washington will have finished No. 1 in the country but No. 2 in its own conference. The Huskies, 10-1 on the season, finished 6-1 in the Pac-10 and were runner-up to 7-1 USC.

To find a comparable situation, one need only look at Steubenville ( Ohio) High's fate. Steubenville was edged out this year by Brooke (W. Va.) High in the 11-team AAAA division of the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference, which consists of schools in eastern Ohio and northern West Virginia. Steubenville had a 10-0 regular-season record, and Brooke was 9-1, but the conference determines its divisional champions on the basis of an exotic rating system that takes into account such factors as the number of boys in the school and difficulty of schedule as well as won-lost records. But Steubenville found considerable solace by going on to win Ohio's Division II state championship, beating previously undefeated Columbus Whitehall in the final game 12-9 in overtime.

It's a happy ending story that Washington should find inspirational.

RUN IT DOWN THE FLAGPOLE
Nike, the sports shoe company, prints its logo prominently on the bottoms of its football shoes. In case you're wondering why, the thinking is simple: Football players spend a lot of time on the ground, with the soles of their feet visible. When TV focuses in on those feet, there's NIKE for all the world to see. Hey, that's heads-down thinking, guys.

DIRECTIONS

Auburn fans aren't laughing about the football Tigers' 17-15 upset on Dec. 1 by Alabama, which cost the team a trip to the Sugar Bowl. Instead the Tigers will play Arkansas in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis. Nor are Auburn fans laughing about the circumstances of the defeat, which was sealed in the closing minutes by Brent Fullwood's failure to score from the one-yard line when he ran right as two of his blockers mistakenly went left. But Tiger rooters especially aren't amused by the joke that has since been making the rounds in Alabama:

Q. What's the quickest way to get to Memphis?