Jason Palumbis

After serving an apprenticeship under Coach Bill Walsh, who built the San Francisco 49ers into the NFL's team of the 1980s, Dennis Green installed the 49ers' quick-strike passing attack when he took over as Stanford football coach last season. Green has taught his team well. Cardinal quarterback Jason Palumbis was as efficient as 49er quarterback Joe Montana, and split end Ed McCaffrey was as explosive as 49er wide receiver Jerry Rice in the first quarter of Saturday's game against USC.

After serving an apprenticeship under Coach Bill Walsh, who built the San Francisco 49ers into the NFL's team of the 1980s, Dennis Green installed the 49ers' quick-strike passing attack when he took over as Stanford football coach last season. Green has taught his team well. Cardinal quarterback Jason Palumbis was as efficient as 49er quarterback Joe Montana, and split end Ed McCaffrey was as explosive as 49er wide receiver Jerry Rice in the first quarter of Saturday's game against USC.

Jason Palumbis, who was Stanford's starting quarterback when the 1988 season ended but did not throw a pass last year, has regained the starting job. On Wednesday, the coaching staff named Palumbis, a junior, the winner of a spring practice, three-way competition. The other quarterback candidates were Steve Smith, who started several games last year, and freshman John Lynch. Palumbis underwent surgery in December to correct a shoulder problem which had affected his throwing.

Notre Dame nose tackle Chris Zorich injured his right knee against Pittsburgh and could miss the rest of the season. Zorich, a 1989 All-American, suffered a partial dislocation of the right knee cap Saturday during No. 2 Notre Dame's 31-22 victory at Pittsburgh. . . . Washington State quarterback Brad Gossen will undergo shoulder surgery and miss the final three games of the season, Coach Mike Price said. . . .

Stanford University, one of two choices for Todd Marinovich, Capistrano Valley High School quarterback, has received an oral commitment from a top Louisiana high school quarterback. Steve Smith from Covington High School near New Orleans has announced that he will sign a letter of intent to play at Stanford. Marinovich, the national prep career passing leader, said earlier this week that he had narrowed his choices to Stanford and USC.

Steve Stenstrom, The Times' All-County quarterback in 1989 while at El Toro High School, will probably replace Jason Palumbis as Stanford's starting quarterback this weekend when the Cardinal plays host to Cornell, Stanford Coach Denny Green said Tuesday. Palumbis, who led the nation and set a Stanford record for completion percentage last year, has completed 78 of 135 passes for 782 yards this season, with no touchdowns and four interceptions.

Jerome Bettis ran for three touchdowns and caught a pass for another as No. 8 Notre Dame quashed any notion of an upset with a 42-26 victory over Stanford Saturday night. The victory settled a year-old score for the Fighting Irish, toppled from a No. 1 ranking in 1990 when upset, 36-31, by Stanford at South Bend, Ind. The Cardinal (1-3) had fought back to within 28-14 on Jason Palumbis' two-yard sneak for a touchdown with 7:32 remaining in the third quarter.

Tommy Vardell ran for two touchdowns and Jason Palumbis added another as Stanford beat Arizona, 23-10, Saturday night in Pacific 10 game at Tucson. Stanford improved to 4-6 overall and 3-4 in the conference. Arizona is 6-4 and 4-4. Palumbis, a junior quarterback who led the Pac-10 in passing efficiency coming in with a 68.7% completion average, completed 15 of 19 passes for 181 yards. He was 11 for 13 for 110 yards as the Cardinal took a 14-10 halftime lead.

If San Jose State quarterback Ralph Martini would have impressed Stanford admissions officers the way he did the school's football coaches, the Cardinal may have been on the other end of a 29-23 loss to the Spartans. "BYU and San Jose State recruited me, and I really wanted to come to Stanford, but my SAT scores weren't good enough," said Martini, whose football scores--four touchdown passes and another two-point conversion pass--were more than enough for a San Jose victory Saturday.

Doug Pfaff kicked a 22-yard field goal with 5 seconds left Saturday to give Arizona a 16-13 victory over Washington in a Pacific 10 Conference game at Seattle. The game-winning field goal was set up when Scott Geyer rushed in and caused Washington quarterback Cary Conklin to fumble as he was passing. Nose guard Dana Wells fell on the ball on the Washington 6 with 55 seconds left. Arizona kicked the field goal after running down the clock with two quarterback sneaks up the middle by Ron Veal.

Ed McCaffrey made sure he will have plenty of fond memories of his final game at Stanford Stadium. Stanford's wide receiver caught three touchdown passes and ran for another score to lead the Cardinal to a 31-13 Pacific 10 Conference victory over Washington State on Saturday. In winning its final home game of the season, Stanford, 3-6 and 2-4 in the conference, held Washington State (3-6, 2-4) to 183 total yards and looked nothing like the team that was shut out, 31-0, at Oregon last week.