College Football Spotlight : BETTER LATE THAN NEVER FOR THE “ICEMAN” DEBUT

Around Kutztown, Pa., the biggest question throughout the football season has been: “When will the ‘Iceman’ play?”

On Saturday, that question was answered when Chuck (The Iceman) Roseberry, a 46-year-old grandfather of four, played for three downs in Kutztown’s 18-14 home loss to Shippensburg.

Roseberry, a 6-foot-4 sophomore defensive tackle, entered the game to a standing ovation with 4:14 remaining in the second quarter with Kutztown ahead, 14-3. On first down, Roseberry was slow to react to the snap and was blocked by Shippensburg’s 6-foot-4, 271-pound tackle Dwaine Shultz.

“I thought they were going to double-team me, so I hesitated to see who was going to block me,” said Roseberry, who had played in his last football game as a senior at Warren Hills High of Washington, N.J., in 1965. “That’s why I didn’t get off the ball so well.”

On second down, Shultz knocked Roseberry down with a block and then smashed Roseberry’s helmet into the grass after the play.

“After he did that, (Shultz) said to me, ‘How’s that old man?’ ” Roseberry said. “I said, ‘I’m fine. Just bring it again.’ ”

On third down, Roseberry played Shultz to a standstill on a pass.

“When I took two steps out on the field, the crowd went crazy, it was bedlam,” Roseberry said. “The kids (Roseberry’s teammates) said, ‘Are you ready?’ and I said, ‘Are you kidding? I’ve been waiting all my life for this.’ ”

Roseberry was in for three plays. His statistics: zero tackles, zero assists, zero sacks, zero interceptions, zero forced fumbles and zero fumble recoveries.

Kutztown Coach Al Leonzi said Roseberry will travel with the team for the final two road games at Towson State and East Stroudsburg State.

WATCH OUT PENN STATE, HERE COME THE DUCKS

After upsetting No. 11 Arizona, 10-9, Oregon has a chance to do something it has not done in 37 years. Play in the Rose Bowl.

With a 4-1 Pacific 10 Conference record, Oregon is tied for first place. The Ducks have defeated two of the teams they are tied with, USC and Arizona, but lost to Washington State.

Members of the 1957 Oregon team, which is the last to play in the Rose Bowl, were honored guests at Autzen Stadium and watched as Oregon’s “Gang Green” defense was just as dominating as Arizona’s touted “Desert Swarm.”

“It’s obviously a surprise that Arizona and Oregon were playing a game of this importance, not from Arizona’s standpoint but from ours,” Oregon Coach Rich Brooks said. “Most of the preseason polls picked Oregon to be eighth or ninth or 10th in the league.”

TAKE THIS SIGN AND . . .

Nebraska quarterback Brook Berringer had a difficult time trying to ignore a sign on a wall behind the Cornhuskers’ bench before their home game against No. 2 Colorado. The sign read:

“Quarterback. We don’t need no stinkin’ quarterback.”

To answer his critics, Berringer completed 12 of 17 passes for 142 yards and one touchdown in an effort that would have made even injured starter Tommie Frazier proud.

“I feel like everybody on this team has a lot of confidence in me and that I’ve shown a lot of poise and leadership,” said Berringer, who has recovered from a collapsed lung he suffered early in the season. “I hope everyone is convinced now. I think that I’ve put all the doubts--if there were any left--aside.”

. . . AND THE GOAL POST TOO

Nebraska fans let ESPN’s Lee Corso know how they felt about his pre-game prediction that Colorado would win.

The fans ripped down the goal posts following Nebraska’s 24-7 victory and deposited part of one on the set used by the ESPN television crew.

“This isn’t out of line with our image as classy fans,” a Nebraska student said. “I mean, hey, we put the thing on the guy’s desk, we didn’t beat him with it or hang him from it!”

TIRED LEGS

Arnold Mickens rushed for more than 200 yards for the eighth consecutive game and broke the NCAA Division I-AA single-season rushing record as Butler defeated Evansville, 49-14, at Indianapolis.

Mickens, a transfer from Indiana, scored three touchdowns and gained 244 yards to total 2,111 yards this season, breaking the 11-year-old record of 2,016 held by Akron’s James Black.

. . . MORE TIRED LEGS

Undefeated Allegheny (Pa.) gained an NCAA Division III record 774 yards in total offense and had five players rush for at least 60 yards in a 62-7 defeat of Wooster (Ohio).

Chuck Bremer ran for 109 yards on 18 carries and two scores, John Jones ran for 90 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries and Mark Schiano caught two touchdown passes from Paul Bell for the Gators.

HEISMAN MATERIAL

Steve McNair continued to make his case for being the nation’s top player when he broke the Division I-AA career passing yardage record in leading Alcorn State back from a 35-7 deficit to tie Samford, 45-45, at Birmingham, Ala.

McNair, who completed 37 of 63 passes for 563 yards and four touchdowns, scored on a six-yard run with 55 seconds remaining, then scored the two-point conversion to tie the game.

“I’m not cocky or arrogant, but if they pick the best college football player,” McNair said, “I believe I am the best college player out there.”

McNair broke the passing record in the third quarter, with an 11-yard completion to Kobie Jenkins to bring his career total to 13,487. The previous record of 13,220 was held by Neil Lomax of Portland State from 1977-80.

FOURTH-STRING STARTER

In Cal’s 26-23 loss to Washington State, the injury-riddled Bears were forced to use wide receiver Ziv Gottlieb at quarterback for most of the second half.

Gottlieb, a native of Israel who attended Beverly Hills High, was a backup quarterback last year as a freshman and switched to wide receiver before this season. He was five of 11 for 61 yards and had six carries for 17 yards.

“It didn’t quite turn out the fairytale ending, but I just gave my all,” Gottlieb said. “My lack of snaps contributed to the confusion.”

With starter Dave Barr out for the season because of a broken collarbone, second-stringer Pat Barnes sidelined with a bruised nerve in his shoulder and third-stringer Kerry McGonigal down with a shoulder separation, Gottlieb might get the call again next week at Arizona.

WHAT’S NEXT, A NUMBER ON THE HUFFINGTON NANNY?

Did Stanford’s band, all 100 or so irreverent members, tone it down Saturday? It depends on whether you are a proponent of Prop. 187 and a fan of Gov. Pete Wilson.

The Cardinal band wasn’t, but Wilson and the proposition got off comparatively light, compared to O.J. Simpson. The band had done a halftime show lampooning Simpson’s troubles two weeks ago when Stanford played USC.

On Friday, 23 band members played outside the Los Angeles County Courthouse during the Simpson jury selection process, and when he saw them on CNN, Ted Leland, Stanford’s athletic director, said enough.

He said the band would not perform at halftime of the UCLA game at the Rose Bowl on Saturday, then changed his mind 20 minutes before game time, allowing for the relatively tame spoof on Prop. 187 and Wilson.

“We have a set of guidelines that the band has to work in, but somehow they always find a way to offend somebody with their shows and stay within the guidelines,” Leland said. “Who would have thought they would have been able to go to court and get on CNN news?”

Anybody who knows the Stanford band.

CAN YOU SAY MEDIOCRITY?

For the first time since 1984 and only the second time in Southwest Conference history, the football champion will have two losses. At least.

In the 80th and second-to-last SWC season, Rice, Texas Christian, Texas Tech, Baylor and No. 19 Texas are tied for first and all have at least two losses. Houston is 1-3 and Southern Methodist is 0-4-1 after a 21-21 tie with No. 7 Texas A&M;, which is 4-0-1 but ineligible for the title because of NCAA violations.

QUOTEFEST

--”Hey Gibbs, Delta is ready when you are.”-- A banner flying over the stadium in Norman had this message for Oklahoma Coach Gary Gibbs, whose team fell to 4-4 after a 37-20 loss to Kansas State.

NOTEWORTHY

No. 6 Miami linebacker Rohan Marley, son of legendary reggae star Bob Marley, suffered a torn medial collateral ligament in the Hurricanes’ victory over Virginia Tech and will miss the remainder of the season. . . . Dartmouth’s Brian White, the son of former Boston Celtic JoJo White, tied a school record by returning a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown in the Big Green’s 35-12 loss to Harvard. . . . Kevin Bouie, who entered with 273 yards on 68 carries, rushed for a school-record 217 yards and one touchdown in Mississippi State’s 47-7 victory over Kentucky. . . . Kez McCorvey caught 10 passes for 207 yards in Florida State’s 59-20 victory over Duke. . . . Jake Plummer threw for a career-high 327 yards and three touchdowns as Arizona State beat Brigham Young, 36-15. . . . Penn won its 18th consecutive game, 14-6, over Yale. The Quakers have the longest winning streak in Division I-AA. . . . Columbia defeated Princeton, 17-10, for its fourth victory of the season. It is the first time since 1971 that Columbia has won four games. . . . Illinois’ Simeon Rice had three sacks against Northwestern in the Illini’s 28-7 victory. Rice leads the nation with 16 sacks and has 33 in 31 career games. . . . Iowa State lost, 34-20, to Missouri to fall to 0-7-1 this season. The Cyclones close the season with games at Kansas State (5-2), against Nebraska at home (9-0) and at Colorado (7-1).

Top Performers PASSING

Player Comp. Att. Yds. TD STENSTROM, Stanford 28 45 408 2 KANELL, Florida St. 23 41 394 3 McCOY, Utah 25 36 391 3 WALSH, BYU 32 54 386 2 BURRIS, Temple 21 42 336 2 RYAN, Pittsburgh 18 29 330 4 PLUMMER, Arizona St. 15 25 327 3 HANDY, Missouri 20 31 320 1 GUSTIN, Wyoming 22 34 315 1 WHELIHAN, Pacific 17 34 305 4 COOK, UCLA 19 25 296 2 MILANOVICH, Maryland 25 35 291 3

RUSHING

Player Carries Yards TD DAVIS, Auburn 27 246 3 DAVIS, TCU 30 221 0 BOUIE, Mississippi St. 23 217 1 PITTMAN, San Diego St. 33 183 2 RENAUD, Michigan St. 36 181 2 LEVINE, Kansas 20 161 1 SOLOMON, Clemson 17 159 1 WILSON, Utah St. 28 159 0 OLIVER, Fresno St. 24 155 0 WEST, Pittsburgh 28 149 1 BROWN, Utah 18 142 4 CARTER, Penn St. 19 137 4

RECEIVING

Player No. Yards TD ARMOUR, Stanford 11 220 1 McCORVEY, Florida St. 10 207 0 JORDAN, UCLA 8 146 1 ASKEW, Pittsburgh 8 138 1 CLAIBORNE, Utah 7 128 2 SANDERS, Auburn 7 128 1 B. DAVIS, Pittsburgh 7 116 2 LEWIS, Clemson 7 108 1 BECH, LSU 6 149 0 ATKINS, Pacific 6 139 2 TILLMAN, Wyoming 6 112 1 GAMBLE, Northwestern 5 138 1

HOW THE TOP 25 FARED RANK: 1

TEAM: Penn State (7-0)

SYNOPSIS: Defeated Ohio State, 63-14; The Nittany Lions had a 25-point lead over Nebraska in poll last week; will blowout of Buckeyes offset Cornhusker victory over Colorado? We’ll see.

NEXT: at Indiana

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RANK: 2

TEAM: Colorado (7-1)

SYNOPSIS: Lost to Nebraska, 24-7; Only two of first eight Buffalo opponents were not ranked at one time this season. Tough schedule could explain why Colorado appeared a bit flat in huge game.

NEXT: Oklahoma State

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RANK: 3

TEAM: Nebraska (9-0)

SYNOPSIS: Defeated Colorado, 24-7; Quarterback Brook Berringer might be the biggest thing to hit the Midwest since the thresher and dinner theater productions of “Oklahoma.”

NEXT: Kansas

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RANK: 4

TEAM: Auburn (8-0)

SYNOPSIS: Defeated Arkansas, 31-14; In this age of over-hyped Heisman wanna-bes (yoo-hoo, Rob Johnson), Stephen Davis, who rushed for 246 yards against Razorbacks, has been a surprise.

NEXT: East Carolina

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RANK: 5

TEAM: Florida (6-1)

SYNOPSIS: Defeated Georgia, 52-14; Quarterback debate? What quarterback debate? Danny Wuerffel completed 12 of his first 13 passes and the refrain in Gainesville became “Terry Who?”

NEXT: Southern Mississippi

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RANK: 6

TEAM: Miami (6-1)

SYNOPSIS: Defeated Virginia Tech, 24-3; Like death, taxes and Temple losing all its Big East games each season, you can be certain Hokies won’t beat the Hurricanes. They are 0-12 against them.

NEXT: at Syracuse

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RANK: 7

TEAM: Texas A&M; (7-0-1)

SYNOPSIS: Tied SMU, 21-21; First, Texas gets crushed, then Aggies lay an egg at the Alamo Dome. Southwest Conference football season blows a rod in final turn, limps to finish. Fitting.

NEXT: at Texas

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RANK: 8

TEAM: Alabama (8-0)

SYNOPSIS: Idle.

NEXT: at LSU

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RANK: 9

TEAM: Florida State (6-1)

SYNOPSIS: Defeated Duke, 59-20; Yes sir, one of these days the Seminoles will lose an Atlantic Coast Conference game. Probably not this year, but one of these days.

NEXT: Georgia Tech

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RANK: 10

TEAM: Michigan (5-3)

SYNOPSIS: Lost to Wisconsin, 31-19; Get this: Bickering Badgers defeat the Wolverines, then claim victory means more than winning Rose Bowl last season. Sure it does.

NEXT: at Purdue

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RANK: 11

TEAM: Arizona (6-2)

SYNOPSIS: Lost to Oregon, 10-9; In a league supposedly crawling with good quarterbacks, Wildcats’ Dan White can’t complete a pass on final two possessions of game. Run the ball next time.

NEXT: California

*

RANK: 12

TEAM: Utah (8-0)

SYNOPSIS: Defeated Texas El Paso, 52-7; He’s no clown, that Charlie Brown. He scored four touchdowns and rushed for 143 yards as “We’re No. 1” chants echoed from Salt Lake City. And why not?

NEXT: at New Mexico

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RANK: 13

TEAM: Virginia Tech (7-2)

SYNOPSIS: Lost to Miami, 24-3; Another season as Big East pretenders for the Hokies, who rushed for minus-14 yards, thanks partly to six sacks, and committed three turnovers.

NEXT: Rutgers, Nov. 12

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RANK: 14

TEAM: Syracuse (6-1)

SYNOPSIS: Idle.

NEXT: Miami

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RANK: 15

TEAM: Washington (6-2)

SYNOPSIS: Defeated Oregon State, 24-10; Napoleon Kaufman complained last week he carried only 23 times against Oregon. Saturday he got 21 carries. Would this have happened to him in NFL?

NEXT: at Stanford

*

RANK: 16

TEAM: Duke (7-1)

SYNOPSIS: Lost to Florida State, 59-20; Blue Devils could also easily lose two of their next three, but it won’t matter. By then, basketball will again be king in Durham, N.C., as it should be.

NEXT: Virginia

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RANK: 17

TEAM: Colorado State (7-1)

SYNOPSIS: Idle.

NEXT: Wyoming

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RANK: 18

TEAM: Virginia (6-1)

SYNOPSIS: Idle.

NEXT: at Duke

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RANK: 19

TEAM: Texas (5-3)

SYNOPSIS: Lost to Texas Tech, 33-9; You have to root for any team with a quarterback named Zebbie Lethridge, and Red Raiders’ fans certainly will after his three touchdown passes.

NEXT: Texas A&M;

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RANK: 20

TEAM: BYU (7-2)

SYNOPSIS: Lost to Arizona State, 36-15; Western Athletic Conference teams learn that their superiority to Pac-10 teams this season has its limits. Ouch. There’s always the Utah game Nov. 19.

NEXT: NE Louisiana

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RANK: 21

TEAM: Ohio State (6-3)

SYNOPSIS: Lost to Penn State, 63-14; The last time the Buckeyes gave up more than 60 points was in 1902. Of course, Penn State wasn’t in the Big Ten then.

NEXT: Wisconsin

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RANK: 22

TEAM: Washington State (6-2)

SYNOPSIS: Defeated California, 26-23; Thanks to the Cougars, there is a four-way tie atop the Pacific 10 and next week’s game at the Coliseum now becomes critical for both teams.

NEXT: USC

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RANK: 23

TEAM: Kansas State (5-2)

SYNOPSIS: Defeated Oklahoma, 37-20; Wildcats have a 9-2 look to them: Only Iowa State, Missouri, Oklahoma State and Nevada Las Vegas remain on schedule.

NEXT: Iowa State

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RANK: 24

TEAM: North Carolina (6-2)

SYNOPSIS: Defeated North Carolina State, 31-17; Tar Heels solidify their hold on third place in the ACC and earn bragging rights in their state, which isn’t saying much.

NEXT: Clemson

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RANK: 25

TEAM: USC

SYNOPSIS: Idle.

NEXT: at Washington State