Holtz Realized That O.J. Could Go Just So Far

Coaches Lou Holtz of Minnesota and Earle Bruce of Ohio State, whose football teams will square off Saturday, were assistants to Woody Hayes at Ohio State in 1968, the last year a Big Ten team won a national championship.

In the 1969 Rose Bowl, Ohio State beat USC, 27-16, after the Trojans had jumped off to a 10-0 lead in the first half. The big play was a dazzling 80-yard touchdown run by O.J. Simpson.

Holtz had been working with the Ohio State defense, and at halftime, Hayes approached him and said, “How come Simpson went 80 yards?”

Said Holtz: “That’s all the farther he had to go.”

Denver Broncos Coach Dan Reeves, on the performance of William (the Refrigerator) Perry Monday night: “He was awesome. It was unbelievable. He moved the pile. Maybe he was the pile.”

Add Reeves: According to Gil Lyons of the Seattle Times, when the Broncos played the Colts, they stayed in a hotel that was so far north of Indianapolis, Reeves said: “This place is pretty nice. I think we ought to stay here when we play the Bears, too.”

Trivia Time: When Roger Maris hit his 61st home run in the 1961 season finale against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium, who recovered the ball in the right-field stands? (Answer below.)

In 1978, when Howard Schnellenberger was the football coach at the University of Miami, he arranged for a series with the University of Louisville.

It looked like good scheduling, giving the Hurricanes something of a breather, but there’s one problem. Schnellenberger now is the coach at Louisville, and Saturday, he will be forced to pay the price.

Miami is 5-1 and coming off a 27-14 win over Oklahoma. Louisville is 1-6 and has been outscored, 121-21, in its last three games. Miami is favored by 41 points.

Don’t look for another Oregon State-Washington game.

In the midst of the furor stirred up by the Southwest Conference recruiting scandals, former Oregon State Coach Joe Avezzano, now an assistant at Texas A&M;, told Steve Duin of the Portland Oregonian: “It’s like the Wild West down here. If Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill Hickok came riding in, I wouldn’t be surprised. The people in the Pac-10 ought to thank their lucky stars that as far as recruiting goes, it is a very clean conference.”

From Kansas City reliever Dan Quisenberry, explaining some of his problems this year: “I wasn’t submerging enough. My rudder was low and my periscope was up. But I’d be happy to stink like this every year and save 37 games.”

Trivia Answer: Sal Durante, a 19-year-old fan from Brooklyn. In exchange for the ball, he received $5,000 and two trips to the West Coast.

Quotebook

Florida State quarterback Danny McManus, on being knocked out in the game against Memphis State: “When the Memphis State guy came at me, someone yelled, ‘Look out.’ I heard the look, but never the out. “