College Football

The coach of the team with the country's No. 1-ranked defense has a paradoxical explanation for the rise in scoring. Arizona's Dick Tomey, whose stingy defense is allowing an average of 189.2 yards per game, thinks that the big numbers are due in part to dominating defenses. Great defenses, Tomey says, force turnovers, sometimes scoring off them themselves and sometimes setting up easy points for the offense. "There are a lot of good athletes all over the field, on defense too," says Tomey. "And some of those good athletes get their hands on the ball."

A lot of those good athletes play in Tallahassee. So far this season Florida State's opponents have scored a total of five touchdowns. The Seminoles' defense has scored six.

MULTIPLE THREAT

Merlisa Lawrence filed this report from Madison, N.J.

It's too early for awards, but we feel safe in naming Vic Moncato of Fairleigh Dickinson-Madison the most versatile athlete in Division III—or any division, for that matter. As of last Friday the 6'2", 205-pound Moncato was third in the division in punting, with a 41.9-yard average. Last season he was tops in punt returns, with a 24.3-yard average. Nobody at any level has led the country in both categories.

When he's not kicking or fielding punts, Moncato, who's a junior, usually lines up at wideout for the Jersey Devils, and as of Friday his average of 103.8 receiving yards per game ranked eighth in Division III. He has also played quarterback and running back. "He's not a jack-of-all-trades and master of none," says Fairleigh Dickinson-Madison coach Bill Klika. "He's close to mastering them all."

But wait. There's more. Moncato's best sport after football is baseball. Last season he batted .368 as an outfielder and DH for Fairleigh Dickinson-Madison, and during a doubleheader against Manhattanville, he pitched 13 innings and struck out 15 batters.

So why, with all his many skills, isn't Moncato somewhere in Division I? Well, he was. After graduating from High Point High in Sussex, N.J., in 1989, he accepted an appointment to Army but soon discovered he didn't care for the atmosphere at West Point. Then, after transferring to East Carolina in Greenville, N.C., for the spring of '90, he left again, in part, he says because "I didn't like the South, and the South didn't like me." He decided to return home—only there was really no home to return to. His mother had divorced his stepfather and was living in Sarasota, Fla., and Moncato had never been close to his father. So Dr. Ronald Liss, the father of Moncato's best friend, Steve, agreed to let Moncato work his 90-acre farm in Sussex in exchange for room and board.

Moncato next enrolled at the County College of Morris in Randolph, N.J., where he caught the eye of Jim McDermott, the Fairleigh Dickinson-Madison baseball coach. Moncato transferred again last fall after he inquired about resuming his football career. Klika was glad to get him, especially after Moncato boomed an 80-yard punt in practice.

Last summer Moncato worked as a security guard for the New York Giants during their preseason camp in Madison. When he wasn't on duty, he fielded punts and solicited advice from Giant punter Sean Landeta, an eight-year NFL veteran. As for whether he will have a pro career, Moncato says, "I hope so—you can get three players for the price of one."