Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 14, 1985)
/ iiiiiw Thursday, February 14, 1985/The Battalion/Page 13 : I m USFL trophy headed Tor a ‘new’ franchise Associated Press BALTIMORE — The ampionship trophy of the United States Football League will be headed for a new city this season, even if the defending champions re peat,. {■ Last year’s winners, the Philadel phia Stars, have shifted their fran chise to Baltimore as one of a series of moves by a mercurial league that will operate under its third align ment in three years. But the Stars will continue to ractice in Philadelphia, and will play home games at the University of Maryland at College Park, Md., until a fall schedule permits a more rmanent move to Baltimore in 986. The Stars have posted the best re- rd in each of the USFL’s First two ars. They were 15-3 when the ague was composed of three four- am divisions in 1983, and im proved to 16-2 in regular season fi lay under the 1984 setup of four ivisions within two conferences. With the number of teams re duced from 18 to 14, the new format . calls for two seven-team conferences in 1985. rSln ® Joining the Stars in the Eastern Conference will be the Doug Flutie- wsourl i e( j N ew Jersey Generals, the Bir- ^ PH jfiingham Stallions, the Tampa Bay lassJt; Bandits, the Memphis Showboats, the Jacksonville Bulls and the Or- ndo Renegades, who operated as the downtrodden Washington Fed eral in the league’s first two seasons. Missing from last year’s confer ence alignment are the Pittsburgh ! ' Maulers, who folded after tying of t)r' Washington with a 3-15 record, and ten vef|v‘ hingK the New Orleans Breakers, who shifted to Portland, Ore., and are now in the Western Conference. Baltimore quarterback Chuck Fu- sina was the top-rated passer in the USFL last season, witn 31 touch downs, 3,837 yards and only nine in terceptions. Running back Kelvin Bryant was the No. 2 rusher in the lead with 1,406 yards. New Jersey, 14-4 last season when they dealt the Stars their only two losses before losing to them in the playoffs, sent quarterback Brian Sipe to Jacksonville after signing Heis- man Trophy winner Flutie to a mul- timillion-dollar contract. With Herschel Walker, another Heisman winner, rushing for 1,339 yards and Maurice Carthon adding 1,042, the Generals ran twice last season for every pass attempted. Tampa Bay, with basically the same roster as last season, and re vamped Birmingham, both with 14- 4 records, figure to be contenders in the Eastern race. Spurrier, a noted passer when he won the Heisman Trophy, has molded the Bandits in his own image. Quarterback John Reaves, who like Spurrier played at the Uni versity of Florida, passed for 28 TDs and 4,092 yards last season. Birmingham had the top-rated of fense in the East last season, paced by Joe Cribbs, the USFL’s No. 1 rusher with 1,467 yards, and Cliff Stout, the No. 2 quarterback who passed for 3,121 yards and 26 TDs with just seven interceptions. Birmingham, 9-0 last year, has added safety David Dumars, who played out his option with Denver in the National Football League, line backers Doak Field and Ken Kelley from the USFL allocation draft, and defensive ends Doug Smith and Don Reese. Smith was the team’s top draft pick but did not play last year, while Reese has been out of football for four years. Memphis, which allowed 455 points last year while going 7-11, bolstered its defense with rookie de fensive backs Mossy Cade and Leon ard Coleman. They also picked up defensive end Sam Clancy and line backer John Corker in the allocation draft. The Showboats picked up Tim Spencer and Harry Sydney, the USFL’s No. 3 and No. 5 all-time rushers who combined for more than 2,100 yards last year, but they have yet to produce. Jacksonville has added Sipe, plus former Heisman winners Mike Ro- zier and Archie Griffin since fin ishing 6-12 a year ago. Rozier played for Pittsburgh last season while Grif fin took a year off since playing for Cincinnati in the NFL. Orlando had only 11 players who performed with the Federals, but they included Joey Walters, who caught 98 passes a year ago; 1,000- yard rusher Curtis, and Mike Guess, who intercepted 11 passes. Quarterback Mike Hohensee was released after the Renegades signed veterans Reggie Collier, Jerry Gols- teyn and Steve Pisarkiewicz. :stofo USC hoop makes splash in Pac 10 after 24 years Associated Press LOS ANGELES — A year ago at this time, the Southern California basketball team was well on its way to an 11-20 season and critics were f screaming for Coach Stan Morri son’s scalp. Morrison is still around, so are all but one of his players from last year, and the Trojans, 6-12 in the Pacific 10 Conference in 1983-84, are in a position to win their first conference championship in 24 years. Winners of eight of (heir last nine ^■outings, Southern Cal brings a * league-leading 9-2 record and a 15-5 overall mark into its game against visiting Arizona State Thursday ni g ht - I Southern Cal, 1-13 in road games 1,-111® last year, is 8-2 this season and has lOfM won all six league games on the — i ■ road, including an improbable ® Vsweep at Oregon State, Washington and Washington State. The sweep fc topped off a stunning four-game, Jl eight-day period that began with a 211 78-77 overtime victory over UCLA. —The win at Oregon State, over the 18th-ranked Beavers, was the first there for the Trojans since 1974 and the triumph over Washington, the pre-season favorite in the Pac-10, -When nopkWmm year, anything that < go wrong tal Now, team arou, the The players percent U$C avenged a 66-50 setback last month. “It was amazing,” Morrison says of those four games. “There were several built-in reasons for losing. No one would even offer them, let alone listen to them. The potential emotional overkill was there after each of the first three games.” Southern Cal is working from a senior nucleus — Wayne Carlander and Ron Holmes lead the team with 15.7 scoring averages and Clayton Olivier and Glenn Smith also play key roles. Point guard Larry Friend, jldli •ace! who provides 6.2 assists per game, is a junior and forward Derrick Dow ell, leading rebounder with an 8.9 average, is a sophomore. Despite their recent success, the Trojans remain unranked, although two of their five losses are to fifth- ranked Memphis State and seventh- ranked Duke. But Morrison, in his sixth year as the Southern Cal coach, says, “I thought this team had a chance to be very good if it remained healthy.” “Nobody’s interested in excuses and we don’t offer any. When I look back to last year, anything that could go wrong did. It was like coaching General Hospital. Now, we’re the only team around that’s started the same five every game. “The players deserve 100 percent of the credit. They’ve matqred. They’ve stayed committed. It has not been a one-man team. They’ve played with very good balance.” Morrison says he’s not thinking about the NCAA Tournament, much less the conference title. “Our only goal is to win Thursday night, and nothing more than that. You talk about a day-to-day team... We can’t afford the luxury of looking down the road.” SWC Hoop (continued from page 11) 6-6 in the SWC, while Baylor dropped to 9-13 and 2-9. Baylor hit just one of its first 10 field goal attempts. Nutt paced the Frogs to an early 10-3 lead, and he had 15 points at intermission. After TCU’s early success, Baylor staged a comeback and tied the game at 16 on Eric Johnson’s free throw with 10:48 remaining in the first half. With just under five minutes left in the opening period, Baylor guard Carlos Briggs tied the game at 29 on a 15-foot jump shot. Briggs finished the night with a game-high 26 points. TCU held a 43-35 lead at half time. In second-half action, Baylor could come no closer than three points on Johnson’s 15 footer with TANK MCNAMARA 9:53 left, which cut TCU’s lead to 57-54. TCU then reeled off 10 un answered points to clinch the vic tory. Texas Tech 61, Rice 60 HOUSTON — Guard Bubba Jen nings scored 28 points, including a pair of free throws with eight sec onds left, to pace Texas Tech to a 61-60 victory over Rice Wednesday night in Southwest Conference bas ketball play. With Tech holding a 59-58 advan tage, Jennings sank two free throws to secure the win for the Red Raid ers. Rice’s Tony Barnett cut the Red Raiders’ lead to one point with a dunk shot as time expired. Tech led 56-47 with five minutes left to play, but the Owls rallied to outscore the Raiders 1 1-4 and shaved the Red Raiders’ lead to 59- 58 with 14 seconds left. Jennings, who went into the game as the SWC’s second leading scorer with a 19.2 average, ripped the Owls with long-range jump shots to help Tech improve its record to 7-4 in SWC play and 15-7 overall. Greg Hines scored 20 points for the Owls and Terrance Cashaw added 14. The Owls, 2-10 in the conference and 9-13 overall, led most of the first half, going ahead 8-4 with 16:30 left in the first half. Rice maintained a narrow lead until Tony Benford scored three baskets in the final 3 minutes of the first half to put Tech ahead to stay, 32-27. SHORTENING C Good Feb. 14 & 15 only with this coupon. Limit one with every $20.00 purchase. Not good with any other offer. 3 LB. CAN TEXAS STYLE ROCK & ROLL Presents LADIES NIGHT OUT LADIES ONLY 7-10 p.m. BEST IN MALE DANCERS OPEN BAR FOR LADIES 7-8 p.m. GUYS COME IN AT 10 SPRING BREAK 1985 College Travel Unlimited DAYTONA BEACH!! March 9-16 $199 ^v° by Jeff Millar & Bill Hinds INCLUDES: • Roundtrip transportation • 8 Days/7 Nights ® Ocean Front Hotel • Your Choice of Hotels • Free Beer Party Enroute • Poolside Happy Hour Daily • Poolside Entertainment Limited number of trips left... Call: Steve 260-3225 Mike 260-2187