TOP OF THE LINEUP : COLLEGE FOOTBALL.

REBUTTAL: University of Houston football coach Kim Helton insisted Tuesday he didn't want to get into a war of words with UCLA quarterback Cade McNown. Then he did. ``I don't think he's accustomed to throwing laying on his back,'' Helton said, responding to accusations from McNown that the Cougars played dirty and the Houston campus field conditions were pitiful during the Bruins' 42-24 victory Saturday. ``Some quarterbacks like to stand in the pocket and not get touched. The young man got knocked down 16 times. There were no flags, no personal fouls for roughing the quarterback.''

BOXING

BABY BOOM: One week after his second wife gave birth to their first child, Evander Holyfield admitted that he has fathered two children out of wedlock in the past year. Holyfield, the IBF and WBA heavyweight champion, now has nine children - the newborn Elijah Jedidiah to his wife, Janice; three with his first wife, Paulette, from whom he has been divorced since 1991, and five others born out of wedlock to four women.

NBA 

COACH KAREEM: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wants to get into coaching. His first job? Alchesay High School in the Phoenix suburb of Whiteriver. Yes, Alchesay, a school that features a 6-foot-2 center and sits on the White Mountains Apache Reservation in northeastern Arizona. Abdul-Jabbar, who fell in love with the area the past three years while doing research for a book on the buffalo soldier, expressed interest this summer with the school and recently sent a letter of commitment. Last week, the school board approved Abdul-Jabbar to come on as a volunteer assistant basketball coach.