The green eggs we're not sure about. The Ham, however, has graduated. Tracy Ham, Georgia Southern's splendid vest-pocket quarterback—who hamboned the Eagles to two straight national titles—is one...

Two major off-season developments are affecting this division. One is the NCAA's new rule, Bylaw 5-l-(j), which mandates minimum acceptable grades. Because 5-1-(j) won't go into effect at this...

Augustana, which has transformed Division III into the Big One and the Little Two Hundred Seven, is gunning for its fifth straight national title. The Vikings have 14 starters back from a team...

At Augustana College, where gridiron theory is not part of the standard curriculum and the Heisman Trophy is discussed in purely theoretical terms, defensive back Dave Torri fits right in. Like...

WITH THE WARTIME DEATH OF THE '39 HEISMAN WINNER, AMERICA LOST A LEADER

Riding the pine involves a little-understood way of life

In 1970, Bob Blackman coached Dartmouth to the Top 20

BOXING—MARLON STARLING scored an 11th-round TKO over Mark Breland to win the WBA welterweight championship in Columbia, S.C. The fight was Breland's first title defense and marked the Olympic gold...

GARY BOTTOPLAINSBORO, N.J.Gary, 13, struck out 26 batters in 11 innings to lead the Braves of the Chestnut Hill Fathers Club League in Philadelphia to a 4-3 victory over the Giants. The win gave...

Paul Molitor extended his batting streak to 38 games in pursuit of Joe D's 56

Marlon Starling terminated Mark Breland's brief reign as WBA welterweight champ

College football taught this ex-player lasting lessons

A much-anticipated Travers turned to slop for all but winner Java Gold

Brazil stunned the U.S. in basketball as the troubled Pan Am Games ended

THE DRAFT RESISTANCE

•Dick Butkus, Hall of Fame middle linebacker, on his reputation for playing dirty: "I never set out to hurt anybody deliberately unless it was, you know, important. Like a league game or something."

THE FREQUENT-FLIER NEWS: A BUMPER CROP OF RECEIVERS WILL BE PILING UP POINTS AND YARDAGE IN '87

Want to see a kickoff run in for a TD? Catch Irish flash Tim Brown

Henry Grunwald's career reads like the script of a Frank Capra movie. At 15 he fled his native Vienna after the Anschluss swept Austria into Hitler's Reich. He honed his English in movie theaters...

LEST WE FORGET, THERE IS A LOT MORE TO BEING A TOP COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYER NOWADAYS THAN BLITZING AND BLOCKING, RUSHING AND RECEIVING

PERSUASIVE HOSTESSES HELP COLLEGES LASSO TOP PROSPECTS

The California Institute of Technology's Battling Beavers are the product of a typical football factory. They would have to be to have lost only one game in the last two seasons (17-1), five in...

When they dedicate the Hostesses' wing at the college football Hall of Fame, the charter members should include the following:

On bronze pigs, John Gagliardi, boring schedules and other urgent matters

PITINO AND PROVIDENCEWhile Providence College regrets the departure of Rick Pitino (POINT AFTER, Aug. 3), it should be pointed out that he did not break his contract. As a matter of fact, he...

In the year 1 A.B. (After Bosworth) of the new millennium, the Sooner wagon is so loaded with talent that the Boz—the All-America linebacker and Dada artist whose greatest canvas was himself—has...

Three national titles in 13 years; since '71, has missed final Top 10 only three times

"You can't worry about the way I drive," says Jamelle (J-Boe) Holieway, his foot pressed firmly on the accelerator of his electric blue El Camino.

Gaston Green, an unabashed Humphrey Bogart fan, has posters of Bogie all over the walls of his room at UCLA. Green admires the way Bogart spoke and dressed and tries to emulate his suave success...

Victorious in last five bowl appearances

David Richards was the biggest fish from the Southern Methodist refugee relocation program, and UCLA was only too glad to reel him in. At SMU, he was an All-Southwest Conference pick at guard as a...

It wasn't exactly the metamorphosis of a butterfly, but Nebraska's coaches looked at Jake Young last spring and instead of seeing an offensive guard, they saw a center.

Has played in bowl games 18 consecutive years, longest streak in the nation

A tradition has ended at Auburn. From the mighty mites (diminutive pro stars Joe Cribbs, James Brooks and Lionel James) to the tried (Heisman winner Bo Jackson) and the truant (academic AWOL Brent...

In '86, 379 points, second-best ever

How often can Jimmy Johnson go to the well? How many seasons in a row can a coach use a falling-off in a game for the national championship to motivate the next year's team? The Hurricanes have a...

Regular season record1970-76: 28-81980-86: 63-15

All-America offensive tackle John Elliott (6'7", 306 pounds) is so huge and tailback Jamie Morris (5'7", 183) is so tiny that Michigan's opponents will feel they are chasing a weasel darting from...

Led nation in average attendance (105,210) 13th straight year

Joe Paterno remembers 1983, and he wants to make sure his players remember it, too. After Penn State won its first national championship, in 1982, the Nittany Lions stumbled out of the blocks the...

Opponents' .607 win percentage since 1977 is best in Division I-A

With 18 seconds to go in the Fiesta Bowl, Penn State had a four-point lead, but Miami had the ball at the 13-yard line. It was fourth down for the Hurricanes and national championship to go. Vinny...

This is a tale of two Buckeyes—one who stayed and one who was asked to leave. The former is coach Earle Bruce, who mulled over a reported $300,000 package from Arizona before deciding to stay in...

Just 11 losing records since 1890 season

Oh no, thought Charles (Sonny) Spielman. My kid is nuts. It was 1971, an October afternoon in northern Ohio. Sonny, then the head coach at Timken High in Canton, was running practice when he spied...

We interrupt the depressing news about the Southwest Conference to bring you this welcome anomaly—a preseason All-America safety who makes straight A's and majors in philosophy. Senior Kip...

Since 1972, 62 Aggies have been drafted by the NFL. The total since 1924: 113

O.K., trivia fans, after USC, which school will have the most alums in NFL uniforms this season? Ohio State? Alabama? Wrong and wrong again. Don't get down on yourself for not knowing the answer...

Seven home games are the most since the 10-2 '81 season that ended with a Rose Bowl win

If your favorite Indian is a Seminole, you've probably had it with Florida State coach Bobby Bowden, who has lost six straight to Florida. Not that you don't credit him with considerable...

Arizona State guard Randall McDaniel is an enormous talent. He stands 6'5" and weighs 265 pounds. He has a vertical leap of 36 inches, can deadlift 620 pounds and has run the 40 in 4.59. "There's...

You say there's a better young quarterback in the country than LSU's Tommy Hodson? Bite your tongue.

"I might start a new trend," says Dan McGwire, the Hawkeyes' 6'8" quarterback and brother of Mark, baseball's home run hitting rookie. "Offensive linemen are getting taller, and other quarterbacks...

"We're not as conservative as people think we are," says Greg Thomas, the senior quarterback with the flypaper hands and radar-guided arm. Good execution sometimes looks conservative. Operating...

Arizona's all-conference safety, Chuck Cecil, is an impact player. His bone-jarring, teeth-rattling tackles refute the laws of physics: No 185-pounder should be able to hit that hard.

If running backs are really only as good as their linemen, Clemson's neophyte backfield is in for a fine season. Forget the fact that of the six players vying for the celebrated I-back position...

"Look at this!" said coach Lou Holtz, dropping his pants. Pants-dropping is not an approved faculty activity at Notre Dame, but this was not even a venial sin. Holtz was simply showing off a deep...

In 1964, Alabama coach Bear Bryant walked onto Georgia Tech's Grant Field wearing a football helmet to protect himself from objects hurled from the stands. Watching Bryant that day was a a...

"I look for positives in challenges," says Michigan State coach George Perles, whistling past a potential graveyard of a schedule. "A schedule like this can make you better. You can get great...

Michigan State tailback Lorenzo White is consumed with self-doubt. "I don't know what it's going to take to get that feeling that I'm a good football player," says White, his voice, as usual,...

ACC

Conference membership may have its privileges, but some of the best teams in the nation are wild cards; so don't be surprised to find Pitt and South Carolina joining Penn State, Miami, Florida...

An unknown a year ago, Mike Perez might well be the best quarterback in the land

ERK RUSSELL OF GEORGIA SOUTHERN HAS NO PEER IN DIVISION I-AA