SPOTLIGHT: Saturday’s Games at a Glance

THAT’S NO BULL

Mississippi State Coach Jackie Sherrill, who was practically pilloried in early September for having a bull castrated in front of his players before the Texas game, won’t have the well-being of the animal on his conscience any more. Wild Willie, the bull who became a steer as Sherrill’s “motivational and educational” demonstration, was bought by two Mississippi businessmen for $4,000, about 10 times the animal’s market value. They’re looking at Willie as a marketing bonanza and are seeking donations to buy him a home. T-shirts with “Willie has it made in the shade” are expected soon. “In about a month, he would have ended up in a steakhouse,” said Frank Turitt, one of the new owners. “Willie deserved a better fate than that. He’s been through enough humiliation.”

Oh, yes, on the field, Mississippi State ran its record to 3-1 with a 30-6 victory over Florida on Thursday, though the Bulldogs lost quarterback Sleepy Robinson to a knee injury. Doctors confirmed Saturday he will be out for the season.

KICKING NIGHTMARES

Central Michigan’s Chuck Selinger missed three field-goal attempts, including a 36-yarder with the score tied early in the fourth quarter, and had a 24-yard attempt blocked in a 17-14 loss to Bowling Green. . . . North Carolina State’s Steve Videtich missed four field-goal attempts, including a 51-yarder with 11 seconds remaining, in a 16-13 loss to Georgia Tech. . . . West Virginia’s David Mayfield blocked a 43-yard field-goal attempt by Boston College’s David Gordon with 19 seconds remaining to preserve a 24-24 tie for the Mountaineers. Gordon, a sophomore, was making his first collegiate start. . . . Brad Foster blocked a punt with 1:38 left, setting up Frank Dolce’s eight-yard touchdown pass on the next play, in Utah’s 33-29 victory over Colorado State, which wasted 548 yards of offense.

ON THE MARK

San Jose State kicker Joe Nedney, whose longest field goal was a 49-yarder last season against Utah State, kicked a Big West Conference record 60-yarder as time ran out to give the Spartans a 26-24 victory over Wyoming. The Cowboys tried to rattle the sophomore kicker by calling three timeouts before his winning kick. The crowd at Laramie, Wyo., had seconds before gone delirious over an 80-yard scoring drive engineered by Scott Jones, a redshirt freshman quarterback with no game experience. Jones was put into the game with a little more than three minutes to play after starter Joe Hughes bruised a thigh and backup John Gustin failed to move the team.

Scott Sisson’s 29-yard field goal, set up by a 54-yard pass play from Shawn Jones to Keenan Walker with a second to play, gave Georgia Tech a 16-13 victory over North Carolina State.

Terry Venetoulias kicked a 21-yard field goal as time expired to give Texas A&M; a 19-17 victory over Texas Tech, which had called two timeouts to try to unsettle him. Jon Davis had given Texas Tech a 17-16 lead with 5:19 left with a 30-yard field goal into a stiff wind.

Lance Nations’ 21-yard field goal with five seconds remaining broke a tie, and an interception return on the last play gave Southern Mississippi a 33-24 victory over Tulsa.

REALISTIC APPRAISAL

Ohio State Coach John Cooper was offering more than coaches’ hype before the game against Wisconsin: “We’ve been all right the past four years against them, but they’re a much improved football team. Wisconsin sure seems to be on the rise.” The Badgers beat the Buckeyes, 20-16.

IN QUOTES

Miami linebacker Micheal Barrow, after Florida State’s Dan Mowrey missed a 39-yard field-goal attempt in the final seconds of the Hurricanes’ 19-16 victory: “We figured they’d choke; God works in mysterious ways . He folded under pressure. I think we have a bigger heart than they have.”

Clemson middle guard Brenston Buckner, before the Tigers, who had lost two of three games, beat Tennessee Chattanooga, 54-3, a Southern Conference team that has been outscored by Atlantic Coast Conference teams, 393 to 61, in 12 games: “We’re frustrated. We’re planning to take out our frustrations. We plan on returning back to the old Tigers. It just so happens that UT - Chattanooga is coming in here at the wrong time.” Boston College Coach Tom Coughlin, whose Eagles were tied, 24-24, by West Virginia: “It’s discouraging -- there’s no satisfaction. There’s no words for a tie.”

Virginia’s Terry Kirby, after Coach George Welsh suggested he should have stopped short of the goal line to run out the clock near the end of a 31-17 victory over Wake Forest: “That was the first thing he told me when I came off to the sidelines. He said ‘You should have fallen at the five . ‘ I don’t know. I saw end zone. . . . In the heat of the moment, who’s ever going to think about falling down on the five and letting the clock run out.”

DESPERATE MEASURES

Michigan State’s George Perles, usually a conservative coach, knew he had to do something different to get a victory after losses to Central Michigan, Notre Dame and Boston College. Twice in the second quarter, he threw a curve at Indiana. Trailing 14-0, the Spartans eschewed the field goal on fourth and one at the 19, and Craig Thomas broke free for a touchdown. Michigan State drove to the Indiana 16 on its next possession, and in went the field-goal unit. Mill Coleman, the holder, took the snap and went around the left end for a touchdown. The Spartans won, 42-31.

HIGH TIDE

True, Alabama might not have been going against Tennessee, but the Crimson Tide defense, which leads the nation in rushing, passing and overall defense, continues to dominate. And for a change, the defense didn’t have to do it all Saturday against winless South Carolina. The Crimson Tide has been held under 20 points twice, but won, 48-7. Alabama built a 38-0 lead before the Gamecocks got a first down. South Carolina had only 43 yards rushing, 191 yards of total offense.

WHAT CHANCE?

Notre Dame Coach Lou Holtz, on the 3-1-1 Irish’s chance for a national championship after losing to Stanford: “It hurts our chance.”

NOTEWORTHY

Virginia’s Terry Kirby rushed for more than 200 yards for the second consecutive week. He had 214 yards in 24 carries, with three touchdowns, in a 31-17 victory over Wake Forest on Saturday. In the previous game, he ran for 207 yards in a victory over Duke. . . . Virginia ended Boston College’s shutout string at 203 minutes when Rodney Woodard scored on a one-yard run in the second quarter. Boston College, which had shut out three consecutive opponents, was tied, 24-24. . . . Winless Navy, which lost to North Carolina, 28-14, avoided its fourth consecutive shutout when Cleavon Smith scored on a nine-yard run in the fourth quarter. That ended a scoreless string of 227 minutes 4 seconds. Oklahoma quarterback Cale Gundy, who completed 21 of 28 passes for 333 yards in a 17-3 victory over Iowa State, moved into second place on Oklahoma’s career passing list with 3,056 yards. The leader is Bobby Warmack with 3,527. Tommy Thompson, Oregon’s barefoot kicker, tied a school record with five field goals in a 30-20 victory over Arizona State. . . . Southern Methodist, riding its first three-game winning streak since 1986, saw that streak ended, 49-7, by Baylor. SMU, no stranger to sanctions on its football program, was playing without 12 players, serving part of a two-game suspension for selling books paid for by the university.

STREAKS

Miami extended its winning streak to a nation’s longest 22 games and its string in the Orange Bowl to 48 with its 19-16 victory over Florida State. It is the second-longest home streak in NCAA history, behind Alabama’s 57 consecutive victories from 1963-82.

Washington’s 17-10 victory over USC was the Huskies’ 18th in a row.

Virginia defeated Wake Forest, 31-17, for the ninth consecutive time. The Cavaliers have a 23-11 edge in the series, the only series involving Atlantic Coast Conference teams it leads.

Texas extended its winning streak over Rice to 27 with a 23-21 victory.

RUDE WELCOME

Players and coaches at Marshall, the top-ranked team in Division I-AA, were excited about playing Missouri on Saturday, eager for the chance to prove their mettle against a Division I-A team, albeit one that had lost eight consecutive games. The Thundering Herd, which had given up 51 points in its three victories, was put in its place by the Tigers. Missouri’s Joe Freeman scored four touchdowns to tie a school record, and the offense rolled up 641 yards, 24 short of a school record, in a 44-21 victory.