1995_09 The Daily Collegian September 1995

              THE DAILY
COLLEGIAN
Thursday, September 28,1995
S
PORTS
Sports Editor: Brian R. Fisher
Telephone: (209) 278-5733
Rose Bowl awaits 'Dogs-Bruins match
By Douglas Stolhand
Staff Writer
The Fresno State Bulldogs were
two minutes away from heading
into Saturday's game 4-0 and had
confidence oozing from their pores.
Instead, they will walk into the
Rose Bowl a 3-1 team that is com¬
ing off of a heart-breaking loss to a
team they should have beaten.
UCLA, on the other hand, will
come into the game 2-2, and after a
very impressive win over the Uni¬
versity of Miami. In week one in
which the Bruins looked over¬
whelming, they suddenly look very
mortal.
A week three loss to Oregon at
home followed by a week four loss
to the Washington State Cougars on
the road has handed the Bruins two
tough conference losses and has
dimmed their hopes for a trip to the
Rose Bowl Jan. 1.
The old cliche in football is that
the game is won and lost in the
Venue: Rose Bowl, Pasadena
Kickoff: Saturday<7:00 pm
Broadcast: KMJ-AM
Outlook: Both teams come off
unexpected losses last week and
will try to prove those games
were flukes Saturday.
The 'Dogs have had little
luck historically against UCLA,
never beating them, and was un¬
able to score in its last Rose
Bowl appearance, a 17-0 loss in
1987. But if the 'Dogs can over¬
come UCLA away, they have a
shot at rankings for the first time
in^wo years.
trenches. That will never be truer
than this week. The Bruins offen¬
sive line, led by All-American left
tackle Jonathon Ogden will be more
than a formidable task for the Bull¬
dogs' front seven, who struggled
last week in stooping Ute running
backs Juan Johnson and Chris
Ma'afala.
"We have to prove that we can
stop the run and force them to go to
their passing game," said Bulldog
junior strong safety Omar
Stoutmire. "We also have to run to
the ball and take out the cut-backs
by their running backs."
Stoutmire currently leads the
WAC in tackles with 69, 24 com¬
ing against Utah.
Head coach Jim Sweeney has a
simpler plan: "Just win."
Sweeney does note the areas that
he is concerned with the most
"We have to avoid letting them
get big plays from the kicking
game. Their kicking game will kill
you and we have to control that."
The Fresno State offense will
once again be led by Richie Donati,
who has moved into 10th place on
the Bulldogs career passing list for
total yards. Donati currently has
2,774 and trails No. 9 Dave
Telford's 2,970. On the season,
Donati is 38 for 72 with 520 yards,
four touchdowns and five intercep¬
tions. In the backfield, the Bulldogs
will once again go with Jerome
Oliver and Reggie Brown.
Michael Pittman has not prac¬
ticed this week and his knee is still
too bad to play on.
Oliver has filled in nicely in his
absence as he went for 143 yards
on 28 carries. Sweeney was com¬
plaining that he carried the ball too
! much in the Utah game, so look for
Paul Martinez — The Daily Collegian
Bulldogs' Reggie Brown will be employed this week against UCLA. The fullback rushed for 91
yards and one TD in this game at Utah last Saturday.
a limited role for Oliver this week.
Defensively, the 'Dogs' main
objective will be stopping Karim
Abdul-Jabbar, UCLA's tailback
who has torn up opposing defeases
this year.
"He's got great speed, great in¬
stincts, and the ability to break tack¬
les and make you miss. Ricky
Whittle, Napolean Kaufman, guys
in the PAC-10 who have been re¬
ally good the past couple of years.
Abdul-Jabbar is better than all of
them as far as I'm concerned,"
Sweeney said. Abdul-Jabbar aver¬
ages 5.2 yards-per-cany this season.
The game will start at 7 p.m. and
will be broadcast live by KMJ.
NFL Preview: Rams hot, 49ers not
By Douglas Stolhand
Staff Writer
New England Patriots
at Atlanta Falcons
The Patriots will be without
starting quarterback Drew
Bledsoe for the first time since
1992. *
The starter in the game before
Bledsoe's arrival? Scott Zolak.
The starter this week against the
Falcons? Scott Zolak.
In pre-season, Zolak looked
horrendous."but that was working
against first-team defenses and
with the second-team offense.
Still, he's no Bledsoe. In fact, he's
not even a Chuck Long.
Zolak will need a BIG game
out of rookie running back Curtis
Martin. Also, the Patriots, who
have not scored a touchdown in
eight quarters and have only
scored one all season, must find
a way to return to their form of a
year ago. Atlanta's Red Gun of¬
fense is always a threat, espe¬
cially against the Pats' suspect
secondary.
St. Louis Rams
at Indianapolis Colts
4-0. The Rams must be pinch¬
ing themselves.
Again, head coach Rich
Brooks deserves a heap of credit
for finding a way to win without
good performances from Jerome
Bettis and Chris Miller at quar¬
terback.
Miller sustained yet another
concussion last week and should
consider wearing the Don Beebe
double-helmet for protection. Not
since Steve Grogan has a quarter¬
back taken so many hits and yet
still played so well.
The Colts must find a way to
stop Issac Bruce from looking
like the best Rams receiver since
Flipper Anderson. Marv Cook,
the Rams' tight end, should have
a difficult time against the skilled
linebackers of Indianapolis.
NY Giants
at San Francisco 49ers
The 49ers proved that they are
beatable while the Giants proved
that they can win.
'Frisco should win this game
easily, but they must prove that
they can stop Rodney Hampton if
they are to do so.
Last week, Hampton had four
touchdown runs and set a Giants
team record in the process. Last
Monday night, the 49ers stopped
Barry Sanders for little or no gain,
but the concentration on the run
opened up the pass.
Giants QB Dave Brown must
be ready to throw the ball a lot
and take the open pass if the G-
Men are to have a chance.
San Diego Chargers
at Pittsburgh Steelers
The Chargers are starting to
look like the team that went to the
Super Bore last year. Junior Seau
has finally arrived as has Natrone
Means.
Humphries has some confi¬
dence again now that his running
game is on track and the team is
starting to click. The Steelers are
trying to forget that they got pum-
meled by an overrated Minnesota
team.
QB Neil O'-Donnell may be
back, and once again, Mike
Tomczak should sigh with relief
every time he checks the waiver
wire.
If O'Donnell is not to play or
to reinjure the finger he broke, or
sustain a new injury, kiss the
Steelers' hopes goodbye.
Buffalo Bills
at Cleveland Browns
The Browns are struggling
slightly, and poor Vinny
Testaverde still has to prove
himself. A message to all crit¬
ics of Testaverde: He's the best
QB the Browns have got, and
he's also a lot better that most
starting QB's. Also, his team
is currently on the inside track
to steal the AFC Central. Leroy
Hoard must pick up his run¬
ning game and hope that
Michael Jackson keeps up the
Pro-Bowl year he's having.
Andre Rison, it's time to start
earning your paycheck. The
Bills have a solid chance to
win the game simply because
their defense is very impres¬
sive and the offense is going
back to the no-huddle non-
sense of the early 1990s.
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