RAM TOUGH

Colorado State's gritty fifth-year seniors stopped Michigan State

If a team has to dig itself out of a 16-0 hole on the road in its

season opener, it best be one with 16 fifth-year seniors. "I know

a lot of coaches would have come in at halftime and yelled,"

Colorado State defensive coordinator Larry Kerr said after the

Rams dominated Michigan State in the second half to win 23-16

last Saturday in the Black Coaches Association Classic. "I just

looked at my guys and said, 'You're good. You're better than

this.'"

Yes, they are. Colorado State's roster has the depth of a WB

sitcom and a dearth of NFL prospects--Indianapolis Colts president

Bill Polian was on hand in East Lansing, Mich., on Saturday not

to watch any Rams but to scout Spartans--but it's rich in

experience. With schools limited to 85 scholarships and the top

juniors leaving for the pros, a good number of fifth-year players

"are probably worth two, three games a season," Colorado State

coach Sonny Lubick says. Fifth-year senior linebacker Nate

Kvamme, who showed up in Fort Collins four years ago weighing 185

pounds, is exactly the kind of in-between kid Lubick has

cultivated in developing a team that has won 10 straight games.

"It's not the fastest guys, the strongest guys, that make the

best football team," says the six-foot Kvamme, who's now all of

215 pounds.

In the first half Michigan State junior tailback Sedrick Irvin

rushed for 101 yards on 21 carries. His second-half totals: 19

and 9, respectively. The Spartans' offensive struggles looked

painfully familiar. Last season Michigan State went from 5-0 to

7-5 once defenses put eight men up front to stop Irvin and dared

the Spartans to throw.

The Rams have won three WAC titles in the last four seasons, in

no small part because of Kerr's effective use of a seven-man

front. His reputation has grown so much that last winter Spartans

coach Nick Saban offered him $120,000, almost double his $68,000

salary, to come to Michigan State as defensive coordinator. While

on his interview trip, Kerr happily explained the Colorado State

defense to Saban and his staff.

Kerr turned the job down to remain with Lubick. Imagine his shock

when, two months later, the Rams and the Spartans agreed to play

each other. Kerr figured that Saban would add some wrinkles to

his offense to take advantage of the Rams' seven-man scheme, but

he says that's not why he decided to install an eight-man

alignment against the Spartans. Kerr can watch tape as well as

the next guy. "If they have to pass, we win," he explained after

the game.

Michigan State ultimately did have to pass--but couldn't. Junior

Bill Burke, whose lower back is so tender that the Spartans have

him on a pitch count (from warmup to shower, he isn't allowed to

throw more than 100 passes per day), and freshman Ryan Van Dyke

combined to complete 13 of 25 passes for a scant 97 yards. An

average of 3.9 yards per rush is barely acceptable. Get that per

pass, and you're sunk.

Colorado State had greater success with its rookie quarterback,

fifth-year (of course) senior Ryan Eslinger, who had waited four

years for a chance to play, the last three behind Moses Moreno,

who was All-WAC last season. "I was just fed up," Eslinger says

of the last eight months. "I was so tired of hearing 'Moses this,

Moses that.' Moses is done. He's gone."

Eslinger awoke his slumbering teammates in the second quarter

when he threw a strike on a left-sideline streak to Darran Hall,

who turned it into a 57-yard touchdown. Eslinger finished with

205 yards passing and a very big win. After the game, as Lubick

dressed, he considered whether a team without so many fifth-year

players could have come back the way his did. "I don't think so,"

he said. "It's easy to give up and pretend you're playing." If

the Rams proved anything, it's that they don't pretend.

Louisiana Tech

EDWARDS'S 405 A RECORD HAUL

Nearly every afternoon this summer, Louisiana Tech senior

receiver Troy Edwards and junior quarterback Tim Rattay practiced

pass routes together. They sharpened the timing that they began

to develop last season, when Rattay led the nation in total

offense (3,968 yards) and Edwards in receiving yards (1,707).

They were learning to anticipate each other's every move.

But 30 minutes into the Bulldogs' opener at Nebraska last

Saturday, they weren't clicking. Though Edwards had caught nine

passes for 97 yards, he had no touchdowns, and Louisiana Tech

trailed 35-6. In the locker room Edwards and Rattay talked about

their long summer sessions, and in the second half it was as if

the two of them were alone on a field again. In what may hold up

as the best individual performance of the season, Edwards

finished with an NCAA-record 405 yards on 21 receptions--three

short of Jerry Rice's single-game mark for catches--and scored on

passes of 52, 94 and 80 yards in a 56-27 loss.

"Does it surprise me?" said Bulldogs coach Gary Crowton

afterward. "Absolutely not. You should see these two guys in

practice; the ball never hits the ground. Troy is the type of

player who can dominate any game, no matter who we're playing."

Against Nebraska, which has seven starters back on a defensive

unit that was the fifth best in the nation last season, Louisiana

Tech chalked up 590 yards passing, the most ever surrendered by

the Cornhuskers. Rattay completed 46 of 68 passes.

Edwards, a 5'10", 195-pound Shreveport, La., native, hopes

Saturday's performance proved he can play in the NFL. He wants to

make it as a pro not only for his sake but also for his family's.

He's the youngest of eight children. His father, Sentell, puts in

12-hour days as a construction foreman, and his mother, Ruthie,

works as a cook and caretaker for the handicapped. "God gave me a

gift, and every day I sacrifice my body so I can take care of my

family," Troy says. "My parents have worked hard for me, and they

deserve to live much better than they are now. Every day I push

myself for them. It's what I thought about all summer and what I

think about every time I step on the field." --B.J. Schecter

Extra Points

AN INAUSPICIOUS BEGINNING

Answer: The Big Ten and 54. Question: Name two things that had

disappointing opening weekends. Not only did Michigan State and

Purdue lose--the latter 27-17 to USC--but one of the conference's

marquee players, Wisconsin tailback Ron Dayne, also sprained an

ankle and is likely for the Badgers' opener.... It looks as if

artificial turf is going the way of the run-and-shoot. This

season 73 of 112 schools will play on grass fields. A decade ago,

55 of 104 played on turf. Colorado already has announced it will

return Folsom Field to grass next year.

COLOR PHOTO: JOHN BIEVER Show stoppers The Rams put the clamps on Irvin in the second half while surging to a 23-16 win. [Sedrick Irvin being tackled in game]

LOOKING AHEAD

OHIO STATE AT WEST VIRGINIA

Mountaineer Field under the lights is a rowdy place. Says West

Virginia nosetackle John Thornton of the Mountaineers'

hard-drinking fans, "At night everybody will be nice and ripe."

But here's some music that's harsh to the 'eers: Outside of Ann

Arbor, Ohio State is 13-1 in the last three regular seasons. The

Buckeyes don't know they're supposed to be scared. Key matchup:

Thornton and linebacker Gary Stills versus an Ohio State line

that learned on the job in '97.

MICHIGAN AT NOTRE DAME

The quarterback is Jarious.

His talents are various.

Or so Golden Domers believe.

Will Michigan stop him?

Can Tom Brady top him?

Nope--the Wolverines go home to grieve.

TENNESSEE AT SYRACUSE

They wear orange, and their quarterback can throw deep and run

the option with equal skill. Nope, not just the Orangemen. Junior

Tee Martin debuts for the Volunteers, who have too many weapons

for a Syracuse defense that's more green than Orange.

WASHINGTON AT ARIZONA STATE

In each of the last two seasons, a game played on the opening

week of the Pac-10 season turned out to be decisive in the league

race. The Huskies lost a 45-42 shootout to the Sun Devils two

years ago and finished second to Arizona State by a game. Then

last year Washington State defeated UCLA and used that win as a

stepping-stone to the Rose Bowl. Welcome to Life Ain't Fair, Part

III. The Huskies' offense (wanted: one running back) is no match

for Arizona State's defense. --I.M.