European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 15, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday september 15, 1989 the stars and stripes Page 23 commentary a giant of a game on monday night Al Michaels almost had it right. When he said As Good As it gets in the monday night football opener he referred to the upcoming notre Dame Michigan game. No. 1 against no. 2 and All that. But this was even better. Michaels own monday night show co starring Frank gift Ord Dan Dick Dorf the new York giants and the Washington redskins. For openers the game was unforgettable in National football league annals. Raul Allegro won it for the giants 27-24 with a 52-Yard held goal As time expired. Until then new York s Lawrence Taylor and Washington s Monte Coltman produced line Backer mayhem. That s As Good As it gets. Especially since it climaxed a wonderful four hours of monday night football memories. This is the 20th anniversary of Abc s football happening and that makes it the fourth longest running prime time program in the history of to after Walt  Sullivan and 60 minutes. To celebrate Abc kicked off with a one hour Spe Cial then sprinkled highlights Between Taylor and Coltman heroics. Monday nights from 1970 through 1988 from Namath to Stabler to Dorset to pay ton to Montana. There was Joe Namath in the first monday night or of sept. 21, 1970. His jets lost 31-21 at Cleveland. Abc s Keith Jackson whose monday night play by play Job lasted that one season called the clincher first Down. New York at their own 18-Yard line. Forty seven seconds to play. The Browns Lead 24 to21. Before More than 85.000 people. Snidow almost gets Namath. The pass intercepted it is intercepted by number 52, Billy Andrews. Touchdown and no penalty flags on the Field. There s a depressed Joe  eleven years later came the longest monday night pass. Detroit s Eric hippie hit Leonard Thompson for 94 Yards against Chicago As Gifford and do Meredith told us play action. Hippie. Watch out. He s got the speedster Thompson. That s it. You will not catch Thompson. Ninety four Yard  in 1987, a much Shorter touchdown had harder Impact. When the raiders to Jackson ran Over the so Hawks Brian Boson a on a 2-Yard  Dierdorf had to Sec it again watch the Boz. He plays it perfectly. Flows to the football meets Bobucky Fox Jackson at the 2. Sorry 220 beats 240.  then there was the voice of monday night foot Ball Howard Cosell. It has been six years since he bellowed his what a football Pla Yuh gems. Cosell starred again monday. At halftime Abc asked fans to vote on the Best Rushing play in Mon Day night history. The options were . Simpson s 59-yarder in 1975, Earl Campbell s 81-yarder in 1978, to s 91-yarder in 87, Tony Dorsett s 99-Yard or in the 82 season and refrigerator Perry s a yarder in 1985. Fans quickly leaned toward Dorsett s sprint at Minnesota. The Dallas touchdown flashed on the screen again with Meredith saying of no. Ninety nine Yards and a half. Can you believe that Howard sure because they were in Short Yard age defense. All bunched up. And that s the 99-and a half Yard run. I think it s the longest in the history of the  Dandy Don it  if Abc polls viewers about the top 10 games in monday night history i m calling in these 1. Giants 27, redskins 24, sept. Ii 1989. Taylor owning the first half. Ricky Sanders and Gary Clark catching fire in Washington s comeback. Frk stadium in a frenzy. Allegre tying it then winning it. Can t beat it. 2. Baltimore 34. New England 27, sept. 18. 1978.the Joe Washington show. His halfback touchdown pass and two to dashes All came in the fourth . He clinched it with a 90-Yard Kickoff return with 1 18 left giving the Colts a shocking Victory and Cosell a Shock what a football game this turned out to be 3. Buffalo 21, Oakland 20, sept. 16, 1974. The Bills and raiders totalled three ads in the final two minutes. Joe Ferguson found Ahmad Rashad twice for scores the last a 12-Yardcr with 26 seconds left. Alex Karras marked his debut As color Man by spot Ting inc steaming Bald Skull of Oakland defensive tackle Otis Sistrunk and saying he s from the University of  4. Atlanta 20, Minnesota 14, nov. 19, 197.v the Vikings marched on Atlanta with a 9-0 record and the Falcons cracked it. Hob Lee outplayed fran tar Kenton who blew Minnesota s last drive by stepping out of rounds a Yard Short of a first Down. 5. Houston 35, Miami 30, nov. 20, 1978. The Astrodome rocked to the beat of Luv a Blue pompous. Earl Campbell souped up the crowd with 199 Yards and four ads including his 81-yarder that had Howard saying. What you be seen tonight ladies and gentleman is truly a great football  6. Oakland 42, new Orleans 35, dec. 3, 1979. The saints led 35-14 in the third Quarter. But they faced Ken Stabler. The Snake fired four to passes three in the fourth Quarter to silence the super Doc. 7. Dallas 31, Washington 30, sept. 5, 1983. The super bowl Champion redskins led 23-3 at halftime. In the Teeth of Frk s Din Danny White rallied the cowboys with three to passes. Two covered 75 and 51 Yards to Tony Hill. Dorset had a 77-Yard run but was caught from behind at the 6 by Darrell Green. No one has since questioned Green s Speed. 8. Miami 38, Chicago 24, dec. 2, 1985. The bears entered the Orange bowl at 12-0 and left without a Chance of Matching the dolphins unbeaten season of 1972. Dan Marino made sure of that with three touchdown passes. 9. Washington 14, Dallas 7, oct. 8, 1973. Another redskins cowboys Battle at Frk. The redskins clinched this one when Ken Houston Lassord Bronco Buster Walt Garrison at the 1-Yard line with 16 seconds left. 10. Chicago 24, los Angeles rams 23, oct. 10, 1977. Namath s last gasp. Having arrived from new York in the off season he figured to Lead . To the super bowl. But on this night at Soldier Field Namath threw four interceptions. He yielded to Pat Hadyn in the fourth Quarter and never started again. Ten monday nights to remember. As Good As they get. Irish to win Early showdown by Rick Warner a football writer notre Dame and Michigan stage the earliest 1-2 showdown in College football history saturday 9 30 . On an to. The top ranked fighting Irish travel to Ann Arbor to meet the no. 2 wolverines in a rematch of last year s thrilling opener which notre Dame won 19-17on a last minute Field goal by Reggie to. This year notre Dame already has played one game a 36-13 thrashing of Virginia in the Kickoff classic. Michigan has yet to play but the wolverines Start off with the Home Field advantage and a Strong returning cast from last year s Rose bowl Champion team. Before this the earliest meeting Between no. I and no. 2 was the Southern California Oklahoma game sept. 26, 1981. Top ranked Southern Cal won 28-24. Going into that game Southern Cal was 2-0 an Oklahoma 1-0. No. 1 Purdue and no. 2 notre Dame were each 1-0 when they met in 1968, but the game was played on sept. 28. Purdue won 37-22. Saturday s game will be the 25th Between the top two teams since the associated press poll began in1936. The no. 1 team holds a 15-7-2 Edge. The Odds makers arc calling this one a tossup. Notredame will win 24-21. California plus 27 at no. 3 Miami who needs Jimmy Johnson and Steve Walsh the hurricanes can still blow away the opposition. Miami 58-7. Utah plus 30 at no. 4 Nebraska Utah a a Scott Mitchell is dynamite but his supporting cast in t Good enough to beat the Corn huskers. Nebraska 48-28. Southern Mississippi plus 17 at no. 5 Auburn Southern Mississippi opened with an upset Over Flor Ida state before losing to Mississippi state. Auburn is coming offa 55-0 rout of Pacific. Auburn 31-21. No. 6 Oklahoma minus 7 at Arizona without Barry Switzer this was supposed to be a Down year for Oklahoma. Don t believe it. Oklahoma 38-21. No. 7 Clemson minus 11 at Virginia tech Clem son looked Good against Florida state. Clemson 28-7. No. 10 Illinois plus 5 at no. 8 Colorado Illinois pulled off an amazing comeback at Southern Cal. Col College predictions Orado is off to a 2-0 Start and has its Best team since the Early 70s. Colorado 17-10. Tulsa plus 13 it no. 9 Arkansas Tulsa upset Oklahoma slate ast week to go 2-0. This is the opener for Arkansas which comes off a 10-2 season that ended with a Cotton bowl loss to Urcla. Arkansas 21-17. Army plus 15 at no. 11 Syracuse army has been on the March since Jim Young installed the Wishbone in 1984, but Syracuse has the weapons to halt the assault. Syracuse 38-21. South Carolina plus 8 at no. 12 West Virginia major Harris is the major reason West Virginia is still the beast of the East. West Virginia 17-14. Utah state no line at no. 13 Southern Cal the trojans arc still steaming Over their loss to Illinois. Southern Cal 38-0. Purdue plus 21 i at no. Is Washington both teams started strongly last week. Washington opened with a win Over Texas am while Purdue blanked Miami of Ohio. Washington 24-14 Memphis state plus 19 at no. 16 Alabama line Backer Keith Mccants leads a Strong Alabama defense. Memphis state already has lost to Mississippi and a Kansas stale. Alabama 24-0. Duke plus 7f at no. 17 Tennessee Tennessee has won seven straight including last week s 24-6 upset of Urcla. But Duke has a dangerous offence featuring wide receiver Clarkston Hines. Upset Spe Cial. Duke 28-27. No. 19 . State minus 7 i at Wake Forest the Wolf pack could go undefeated in the regular season if it beats Clemson oct. 21. . Slate 38-7. No. 20 Urcla minus 19v, at san Diego slate Terry Donahue says his Bruins Don t deserve to be ranked after their performance against Tennessee. But they re still Good enough to beat san Diego state. Urcla 24-14. Florida state even at no. 21 Louisiana stale Florida state is off to an 0-2 Start for the first Tim since 1976, and things won l get any belter at death can Utah quarterback Scott Mitchell bomb Nebraska Valley. Leu 24-2 1. No. 22 Texas a4m minus 11 at thu thu s new triple shoot offence fired Blanks against Missouri. Texas am 31-10. Oregon stale plus 9w at no. 23 Washington state. Washington stale has an explosive offence. Bombs away. Washington state 35-21. Oregon plus 3 at no. 24 Iowa the ducks were 6-i last season before quarterback Bill Musgrave broke his Collarbone and 0-5 after that. Musgrave is healthy again. Second upset special. Oregon 20-17. Last week 8-8 straight up7-6 spread. Season 16-11 straight up10-1 1 spread